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MARK H. McCormack became a celebrity after he wrote a book, What They Don't Teach You in Harvard Business School. It was a most sought after book among MBA graduates.

Interestingly, this celebrity set up a firm that now has 2,000 employees working out of 67 offices in 26 countries. The agency ropes in celebrities for product endorsement. The International Management Group (IMG), as it is known, handles the accounts of the likes of Michael Jordan of NBA fame.

Advertising for products and services has always featured people. It is nothing unusual for a marketer to segment a market and use a person who appeals to the segment it is intended for. But its implications are many.

Hindustan Lever's Lux soap in India has been using popular film actresses to endorse the product since its launch four decades ago. The heart-throbs of Bollywood and Kollywood have been standing behind Lux and implying to the market that they owe their stunning looks to Lux.

Demand for a product spurts on the assumption that the stars are the regular users. But, then, paid endorsement seldom finds celebrities who are regular users. If the product is inexpensive, the chances are still less so. More often than not, the emotional appeal inexpensive items bring home is insignificant or nil. In such situations, using celebrities for brand promotion may not get the desired effect. Yet, makers of edible oils and Hawaii chappals use film personalities to garner customer mind-space.

The strategy exploits the emotional attachment of the admirers or the fans of the celebrities. At another level, endorsing a product without actually using it seems to be a betrayal of the trust reposed in them, and ethically incorrect.

Notwithstanding the ethical issues, the use of celebrities is on the rise. Pepsi and Coke in India are showing the way of using celebrities to sell their colas in India. Film-stars Shah Rukh and Amitabh, in the north, and Vijay and Madhavan in the south can build enough hype around the product to boost the sales of the colas.

Yet, using big names in advertising is not free from pitfalls. The match fixing controversy saw many cricket celebrities being removed from ads for fear of negative perception over the brand. Frequent changes of figures can harm the brand over a period of time! It can still be worse when personalities from diverse fields are used. The signal from a film personality is different from that from a religious personality.

Firms gain credibility by using a brand ambassador. The view of it is long-term. Use the star in all stages of the life cycle. It helps in the long run to gain synergy with the celebrity. Brand extensions, whether in form, depth or width, could leverage the person's public appeal and reduce branding cost. Absolute care is necessary as the personalities selected must appeal to all; else the brand could hit roadblocks in certain pockets.

L. Jayarangan

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