Celebrity Endorsement
1.0 Introduction
When the popular celebrity such as Rain (figure 1.1) appears in front of screen, what first come to your mind? An actor, a musician, a song writer, or the brands such as Pepsi, Nike, Adidas? Rain had been voted as the best Asian singer by the Taiwanese media, Rain is positioning himself as one of the most admired Asian stars this year. Wherever he goes, he generates huge public interest and becomes a hot topic of conversation. Marketers have been using images of celebrities for print campaign and promotion. The image celebrity project to consumer can be just as important as their ability to attract attention. On the other hand, such images of celebrities seem to appear frequently in various advertisements since many years ago. Firms have been juxtaposing their brands and themselves with celebrity endorsers such as athletes, actors in the hope that celebrities may boost effectiveness of their marketing and corporate communication attempts for at least a century. One of the early examples is Queen Victoria’s endorsement of Cadbury’s Cocoa (Sherman 1985). David Beckham, England captain Beckham is one of the world's most famous sportsmen, a walking trademark and a member of that elite band whose name is as instantly recognizable (Simon Moon, 2006). As this instant, we have become so used to Beckham's fame that it may seem odd to question why he has been so successful. He is certainly a world-class sportsman, but so are a metrosexual man and a valuable pitchman of a product.
Today, use of celebrities as part of marketing communications strategy is fairly common practice for major firms in supporting corporate or brand imagery. Thus, we can find a number of products in the market are using celebrities as an endorser to advertise everything in everywhere. For example. Hong Kong is the collection and distribution center of world's famous brands of products, fondly known as the "Shopping Paradise". There are countless of tourist travel to Hong Kong
When the popular celebrity such as Rain (figure 1.1) appears in front of screen, what first come to your mind? An actor, a musician, a song writer, or the brands such as Pepsi, Nike, Adidas? Rain had been voted as the best Asian singer by the Taiwanese media, Rain is positioning himself as one of the most admired Asian stars this year. Wherever he goes, he generates huge public interest and becomes a hot topic of conversation. Marketers have been using images of celebrities for print campaign and promotion. The image celebrity project to consumer can be just as important as their ability to attract attention. On the other hand, such images of celebrities seem to appear frequently in various advertisements since many years ago. Firms have been juxtaposing their brands and themselves with celebrity endorsers such as athletes, actors in the hope that celebrities may boost effectiveness of their marketing and corporate communication attempts for at least a century. One of the early examples is Queen Victoria’s endorsement of Cadbury’s Cocoa (Sherman 1985). David Beckham, England captain Beckham is one of the world's most famous sportsmen, a walking trademark and a member of that elite band whose name is as instantly recognizable (Simon Moon, 2006). As this instant, we have become so used to Beckham's fame that it may seem odd to question why he has been so successful. He is certainly a world-class sportsman, but so are a metrosexual man and a valuable pitchman of a product.
Today, use of celebrities as part of marketing communications strategy is fairly common practice for major firms in supporting corporate or brand imagery. Thus, we can find a number of products in the market are using celebrities as an endorser to advertise everything in everywhere. For example. Hong Kong is the collection and distribution center of world's famous brands of products, fondly known as the "Shopping Paradise". There are countless of tourist travel to Hong Kong