The Effect Of Celebrity Endorsement On Brand Promotion.

The Effect Of Celebrity Endorsement On Brand Promotion.

Michael Owusu-Kyei^{1, 2*}, Yusheng Kong¹, Michael Owusu Akomeah² and Stephen Owusu Afriyie^2
1Jiangsu University, School of Finance and Economics, 301 Xuefu Road, Zhenjiang, China.
²Ghana Communication Technology University, I.T. Business, PMB 100, Accra-North, Ghana

ABSTRACT

The main objective of the study was to examine the effect of celebrity endorsement on brand promotion using Kabfam Ghana as case study. The study took a descriptive approach to the subject. The population of the study comprised all employees of Kabfam Ghana (Head Office). They are three (300) in number. Looking at the small number of population, all 300 employees were sampled out for the study. Hence the sample size for the study was 300. The study adopted a purposive sampling technique. Questionnaires have been utilized as a tool for data collecting. The Social Science Statistical Package (SPSS) was utilized for data analysis. Modern day consumers are well informed and intelligent; they know that famous people are paid for this and may not even utilize the items. Celebrity advertisement has transformed the conventional manner of marketing entirely. The study therefore concludes by identifying a positive relationship between celebrity endorsement and brand promotion. It was recommended that companies should also closely evaluate celebrities’ suitable personalities for promoting their items. Also, organizations involved should undertake cost-benefit analysis to ensure that the sum paid to the celebrities’ services is worth the usage of a celebrity.

Key Words: Celebrity Endorsement; Brand; Promotion; Consumer; Performance.

INTRODUCTION

In today’s competitive world, consumers are exposed to thousands of voices and images in magazines, newspapers, and on billboards, websites, social media, radio and television (Quesenberry, 2020). The espoused scenario is of advantage to media houses in terms of revenue, however, the implication for the corporate sector is that consumers are exposed to floods of product-related communication messages (Kujur & Singh, 2020). Advertisers attempts to steal at least a fraction of a person’s time to inform him or her of the amazing and different attributes of the product at hand. Because of the constant media saturation that most people experience daily, they eventually become numb to the standard marketing techniques. The challenge of the marketer is to find a hook that will hold the consumer’s attention. (Ertugan & Mupindu, 2019) asserted that the hook that holds consumer’s attention are celebrities. Celebrities are individuals who enjoy public recognition by a large share of a certain group of people. (Osei-Frimpong, Donkor, & Owusu-Frimpong, 2019) defined the term “celebrity” as an individual who is known to the public, for example, actors, sports figure, and entertainers, among others. (Schouten, Janssen, & Verspaget, 2020) suggested that celebrity endorsements can contribute to higher consumer and brand awareness, advertisement ratings and favourable product evaluations. A celebrity is a means to an end, and not an end in itself. Celebrity endorsement is a way to get the brand noticed amidst the rush that is there in the market place (Dey & Gayathri, 2021). In recent years, most adverts have a celebrity that projects the products or services by way of using the product and with this, has influence on the buyers and customers of these products and services. Basically, a celebrity is described as any famous and influential person that is admired and much spoken about by most people in a society (Ouvrein, Pabian, Giles, Hudders, & De Backer, 2021). A celebrity endorser is “any individual who enjoys public recognition and who uses this recognition on behalf of a consumer good by appearing with it in an advertisement” (Kumar & Ramana, 2019). The use of celebrities has been adopted by various advertising agencies and is used in the advertisement of products and services. Celebrity endorsements are now common place in the advertising world. Celebrity endorsements influence brand image through a transfer of meaning from the endorser to the brand. Communication activities establish a pattern of connectivity between the image of the celebrity and the image of the brand. According to (Zaichkowsky, 2020), “when you get a celebrity to endorse your company or sign licensing agreement, you benefit from customer awareness of the property, which could include the perception of the quality, educational value or a certain image. If a celebrity is endorsing or the business is selling the product of a well-known person or entity, then people assume they must be a good company to deal with. Celebrity endorsement is a very unique and advance technique for brand promotions (Elango & Suryakumar, 2022). Poor judgment in the choice of celebrity endorser could harm not only sales and corporate image but may hasten commercial failure of products in markets where morality and ethical standards are of high essence. It is also significant to know that celebrities can also play a devastating role that can lead to the collapse of the company or product. Some few years back, companies that had their products endorsed by Tiger Woods and Lance Armstrong in advertising their products experienced a drastic decline in sales as a result of the negative moral questions that hanged over the necks. Indeed, the two personalities were named as the worst celebrity endorsement of year the 2010, a U.S study revealed (Rocha, de Oliveira, & Giraldi, 2019). Therefore, in choosing a celebrity to endorse, the credibility of the person should be considered since any mishap can affect the buying behaviour of customers (Chatzopoulou & de Kiewiet, 2021).

Problem Statement

Endorsement is a channel of brand communication in which a celebrity acts as the brands spokesperson and certifies the brands claim and position by extending his/her personality, popularity, stature in the society or expertise in a field to the brand (Al & M, 2019). In a market with a very high proliferation of local, regional and international brands, celebrity endorsement is thought to provide a distinct differentiation. Celebrity endorsements have proven very successful, due to increasing consumerism. It is considered a status symbol to purchase an endorsed product. Advertisers have attempted to quantify and qualify the use of celebrities in their marketing campaigns by evaluating their awareness, appeal, and relevance to a brand’s image and the celebrity’s influence on consumer choice. Today, consumers are over-exposed to the media. A person living in an over populated country will be exposed to one thousand advertisements on average per day. But the viewers tend to forget 80% of the information within 24 hours (Haenlein et al., 2020). In order to deal with this, marketers use celebrity endorsement to reinforce their marketing messages considering the massive amount of celebrity endorsement practices in advertising. There have been several studies on celebrity endorsement, however, majority of these studies were conducted in advanced economies. Therefore, as far as can be determined very few of such research are conducted in developing countries of Africa particularly in Ghana. This gap in literature is somewhat alarming given the emerging changes in consumers’ behavioural pattern that seem to be a snowball of the pattern in developed and developing economy’s. Also, studies carried out on celebrity endorsement have focused mainly ‘traditional celebrities’ such as actors, athletes, etc. leaving out the ‘new age celebrities such as Twitter and Tiktok influencers, etc. This study seeks to combine both.  The study therefore examines the effect of celebrity endorsement on brand promotion.

Significance of the Study

This study promises a new perspective of Ghanaian consumers about celebrity endorsement. This is important in order to ascertain whether celebrity endorsement has positive value transfer as it is suggested elsewhere. This study will also help to know whether celebrities’ endorsers are able to influence consumer choice or not. It is also significantly valuable for marketers, researchers, students and advertisers. There have been many studies on celebrity endorsements but the major aim of this research is to gain extensive consumer knowledge through thorough assessment of the effects of celebrity endorsement.

This will therefore serve as a guide and successive-competitive tool for both the existing and emerging companies in mapping out objectives and effective strategies with the customer as the focal point.

Scope of the Study

The purpose of this study is to ascertain the effects of celebrity endorsements on brand endorsement. The organisation that was used is Kabfam Ghana. As such, perspectives will be sought from customers of Kabfam Ghana within the Accra Metropolis.

Limitation of the Study

The research is concise to study consumer’s perception towards celebrity endorsement. The area of research is restricted to the Accra Metropolis with a sample size of 300 persons. The study was limited to only one organization and hence cannot be generalized for all other organizations in the country.

LITERATURE REVIEW

This discusses literature that is directly related to the research topic. Review of related literature is imperative in order to provide a clear understanding of the overall background of research studies done on this particular topic.

 The Concept of Celebrity Product Endorsement

A celebrity endorser is “any individual who enjoys public recognition and who uses this recognition on behalf of a consumer good by appearing with it in an advertisement” (Wojdynski & Evans, 2020). This definition explicitly encompasses celebrities who appear to have expertise or a long-term association with the manufacturer, but it excludes typical customer endorsements featuring non-celebrities. According to (Zakari, Dogbe, & Asante, 2019), endorsement is a channel of brand communication in which a celebrity acts as the brand’s spokesperson and certifies the brand’s claim and position by extending his/her personality, popularity, status in the society or expertise in the field to the brand. Because celebrities appear to be gaining increasing influence in society, marketing managers try to exploit the process of meaning transfer from an endorser to products or brands involved (Song & Kim, 2020). Communication activities establish a pattern of connectivity between the image of the celebrity and the image of the brand. Both entities represent nodes in a cognitive network, whose connectivity can be modified according to experience. An image transfer occurs when an advertisement can establish contingency between the two entities (Keller, 2020). Managers pursue such connectivity with the goal of obtaining a favourable brand image outcome. Its importance mainly reflects its ability to provoke unique perceptions of the brand in competitive settings. It also constitutes a meaningful brand value driver and influences the formation of brand equity.

According to (Cuomo, Foroudi, Tortora, Hussain, & Melewar, 2019), product endorsement is a form of testimonial from someone which indicates that they like or approve of a product. Commonly, product endorsements are solicited from people who are socially prominent, allowing companies to advertise their products with statements like as used by such-and-such an actress, or the official product of a company. It’s hard to miss a celebrity endorsements and brand building product endorsement on product packaging and in advertisements. Most companies keep their endorsements front and centre so that they are always in the public eye. The concept of the product endorsement is quite ancient. Consumers are often seduced by the idea of purchasing a product which is endorsed by someone wealthy or famous, as though by buying the product, the consumer also becomes affiliated with the person who endorses it (Frimpong & Alam, 2020). Modern product endorsements can come with contracts worth substantial amounts of money. For example, many sports stars agree to participate in product endorsement campaigns with the understanding that the company will compensate them for the trouble. Some celebrities donate the proceeds to charities they support, using the product endorsement as a public relations campaign. In exchange for an endorsement contract, someone may agree to use the product publicly whenever possible, and they may be restricted from using products made by a competitor (Padmawati et al., 2019). Furthermore, (Schouten et al., 2020) argued that, a product endorsed does not necessarily mean that a product is good. It just means that the company has managed to work its public relations connections to get a big name associated with it. Some endorsements take the form of written testimonials, where people write about how the product changed their lives. Historically, such testimonials were often printed on the product and they were often restricted from using products made by a competitor. Modern testimonials are more commonly included in advertising campaigns, with excerpts only on the packaging. Many companies also use photographs or motion pictures of famous people on their products to create a visual connection between the endorser and the product (Ladhari, Massa, & Skandrani, 2020).

Celebrity versus Non-Celebrity Endorsement

Companies can build and develop characters, which are congruent with their brand values, target audiences and so, have a great controlling power over them, ensuring that these characters are endorsing only one particular product. However, not being always possible to develop these created spokespersons, companies use well-known celebrities, which personality control is limited due to the fact that they have created their public persona over the years (Lee, Chang, & Einwiller, 2020). A consumer that observes messages from two different brands, one containing a celebrity endorsing a product and the other not, believes the celebrity-endorsed product will have more purchases. In side-by-side comparisons, celebrity endorsers were found to be more trustworthy, competent and slightly more attractive than non-celebrity endorsers (Abidin et al., 2021). The study of Perception of Advertising and Celebrity Endorsement (Chan & Fan, 2022) shows that using a well-known celebrity as an endorser could help to improve the subjects rating of the commercial.  (Schouten et al., 2020) argued that the difference between celebrities and anonymous person is that celebrities have the capability to deliver meanings of extra depth, power, subtlety and also offers a range of lifestyle and personality that cannot be matched by anonymous people. In addition, (Tok, Chen, & Chu, 2021) stated that using celebrities to endorse a product enhances positive advertising ratings and product evaluations. According to the authors, a possible explanation for the success of celebrity-endorsed advertisements could be attributed to consumers, who believe that celebrities accept to endorse products as a result of their true emotions towards the product and not because of the payment that they receive. Therefore, it is advisable for companies to consider using a well-known celebrity as an endorser rather than nameless spokesperson so they can have a competitive advantage in differentiating a firm’s products from competitors. However, the advertising practitioner should also have in mind that the use of a well-known celebrity, who can create initial interest and attention for an advertisement, does not necessarily result in attitude change towards the product.  As previously mentioned, the study from (J. Wang, Shen, & Chu, 2021) presents evidence that positive feelings towards advertising and products do not necessarily translate into actual behaviour or purchasing intentions. A possible reason mentioned from (Schimmelpfennig & Hunt, 2020) is that, celebrity endorsement seems to work on the cognitive and affective components of attitudes rather than the behavioural components. Contradicting all the previous findings, (Misra, Mehra, & Kaura, 2019) discovered that celebrity endorsements were becoming less important in influencing purchasing decisions and choice.  (Ferguson & Mohan, 2020) found no significant differences between celebrity and non-celebrity endorsers on persuasion variables such as brand attitudes, advertisement attitudes and intentions to buy.

Influence of Celebrities on Consumer Choice

Celebrities are often hired by advertisers to lend their personality to a product or brand (Dhotre, 2021). The use of celebrities has been widely used as it could provoke attitudinal and emotional reaction than a non-celebrity endorser. In order to be effective a celebrity endorser should have the credibility to attract attention, increase awareness of the endorsed product and influence the purchase decision of the targeted audience (Elango & Suryakumar, 2022).  (Ferguson & Mohan, 2020) found that advertisements featuring a celebrity deliver a higher degree of appeal, attention, recall rate and possibly purchase, compared to the ads without celebrities.  (Y. Liu & Liu, 2020) argued that celebrity endorsements lead to an increased level of product recall. (C. Liu, Zhang, & Zhang, 2020) found that using a celebrity in an ad would increase brand awareness.

Celebrities and Product Endorsements in Ghana

In the Ghanaian society today, most companies use one celebrity or the other in their adverts because of the recognition given to the product through that particular celebrity. They use celebrities from all fields of profession such as film actors, footballers, radio and TV presenters, and the like. Kleesoft in recent years has also recognized the use of celebrities in the promotion of their products. They have accepted the fact that celebrities create awareness of product which tends to increase their sales. Asamoah Gyan, a Ghanaian footballer and the captain of the National Team, and a very influential celebrity to Ghanaian youth recently endorsed kleesoft. The purpose of this endorsement is to send a signal to the public, that, is a far better detergent than others on the market. This implies that anybody who admires Asamoah Gyan will somewhat be moved to purchase kleesoft. This then serves as an influence on the buying behaviour of the targets of Kleesoft. Marketers need to understand more about how celebrities transfer meaning to products which has a bearing on customers’ buying decisions.  According to (Berger, 2020), cultural meanings are also connected to the products not only through text but also through personae associated with adverts. Some adverts contain explicit characters such as real or fictional spokespersons. When the personae are real or fictional spokespersons, such as a celebrity endorser, advertising effectiveness depends on the credibility, trustworthiness, expertise and likeability of the spokesperson (Schouten et al., 2020). Celebrities transfer meaning to a product. The celebrity endorser (media or political figure, cartoon character) develops meaningful personae as a result of the roles he or she has assumed in the past and the social context persons and objects with which he or she has interacted in those roles. In this way, the endorser draws meaning from the culturally constituted world (Tran, Yazdanparast, & Strutton, 2019). Through celebrity recognition, marketers associate brands with celebrity endorsers and so connect the celebrity’s personality and values with them. A consumer ultimately responds to the celebrity in their buying behaviour. It is important that the celebrity does not overpower the brand. The brand must fit the celebrities’ lifestyle or it will not be as effective. The celebrity also must be affiliated with the association or group that they are targeting. If an up and coming brand tries to use a celebrity with a high profile, it will not be effective. All the consumer will remember is the celebrity. All of the attention of the advert or event will be focused on that certain celebrity and the brand or product will take a back seat (Coates, Hardman, Halford, Christiansen, & Boyland, 2020). With brands like Nike that are already well established, they do not have this problem, they could pick any celebrity they want to endorse their product and it will increase sales of their product. It is also shown that when celebrities actually use or like the product they endorse, consumers are more likely to purchase that item (Schouten et al., 2020). When a Ghanaian consumer sees music icon Sarkodie or football star, Dede Ayew, taking fan milk products, it gives him or her more sense of security while making their purchase. Also, the selection of celebrity is important; the image of the celebrity at that point in time is extremely important. Celebrities like Kobe Bryant and Tiger Wood lost endorsements as they were going through a personal crisis and did not look like role models to the consumers. In the future, more companies will use celebrity endorsements because of the power that they have over the average consumer (Schimmelpfennig & Hunt, 2020). As the years go on, businesses will realize more and more how consumers are attracted to the celebrity lifestyle and will do anything to emulate them. Soon we will be seeing celebrities in every commercial, they will be tweeting about various products, and wherever they go it will be like product placement in a movie. As long as the endorsements are in a respectable manner and can help consumers feel better about themselves, there should be no problem with it. After all, consumers do idolize celebrities (Deshbhag & Mohan, 2020).

Single vs Multiple Product and Multiple Celebrity Endorsements

We can categorize celebrity endorsement on the basis of number of products endorsed (single vs multiple products) and the number of celebrities (single vs multiple celebrities). If a celebrity endorsed only one product or brand then it is called single product endorsement. Subsequently, it’s an exceptional case if a celebrity endorsed a single product or brand. Usually celebrities prefer to endorse more than one product or brand.  (Um, 2020) defined multiple celebrity endorsement as; “The use of two or more celebrities in an advertising campaign” He categorized multiple celerity endorsement, on the basis of how celebrities are presented in an advertisement, into two portions. In the first setup, for endorsement of a product two or more celebrities are featured in an Ad. While in second scenario, the endorsement of the same product is done by featuring different celebrities in a series of the Ad. In the industry of marketing and advertisement, endorsing multiple celebrities is not a new sensation for advertisers. Some big brands like Nike, Adidas and American express are using this strategy. Another significant example is Milk Mustache Campaign that featured almost 100 celebrities to promote milk since 1995 (Zhou et al., 2019). According to (Coates et al., 2020), “Multiple celebrity endorsement advertising may help the advertiser to build a sense of consensus, avoid audience boredom and appeal to multiple audience”. According to Cankaya University study, 72.5% Turkish people prefer ads with multiple celebrities over Ads with single celebrity (…) People with this perception explains that multiple celebrity Ads shows that there is agreement regarding product or services quality, hence “increasing the level of celebrity and persuasion” (Breves, Liebers, Abt, & Kunze, 2019). (Hameed, Madhavan, & Arumugam, 2020) claimed in their study that in order to endorse a particular brand, using multiple celebrities is most effective technique for the advertisers. Because by doing this they can influence and attract the whole target market. Although, featuring multiple celebrities in an Ad can also cause misperception regarding brands uniqueness (Jhawar, 2021). If various celebrities are present in an advertisement, they complement each other. A customer has a positive influence on behaviour for the advertisement, behaviour for brand and buying intentions when multiple celebrities are used in a campaign (Osei-Frimpong et al., 2019). While contrary to this, (Khan, Memon, & Kumar, 2019) believes that it causes confusion among customers if multiple celebrities are used for product endorsement. In a study, (Zakari et al., 2019) claimed that, it affects the celebrity’s credibility and likeability if they endorse four different brands or products. And ultimately it loses uniqueness when celebrities concentrate on multiple brands rather than focus on one brand (Arora, Prashar, Tata, & Parsad, 2021).

Implications of Celebrity Endorsement

There are adverts that conveniently use celebrities but fail to integrate the celebrity’s personality with the brand personality or simply use it to hide behind the look of truly creative ideas. There are many elements around the influence of celebrity endorsement on consumer choice and marketing. Marketers must pay tons of money to celebrity endorsers hoping that they will bring magic to the brand they endorse and make them more appealing and successful, but all that glitter is not gold (Luong, 2019). Celebrity success may enhance attitude change for a number of reasons. They may attract more instant attention to the adverts than would non-celebrities or in many cases and they may be viewed as more credible than non-celebrities. Consumers may identify with or desire to emulate the celebrity (Ki & Kim, 2019). Finally, consumers may associate known characteristics of the celebrity with attributes of the product that coincide with their own needs or desire. The effectiveness of using a celebrity to endorse a firm’s product can be greatly improved by matching the image of the celebrity with the personality of the product and the actual or desired self-concept of the target market. Advertising is one of the major factors behind the economic activity of a country as it not only helps to stimulate consumption but also give models for lifestyles and value orientation (Lubowiecki-Vikuk, Dąbrowska, & Machnik, 2021) . Celebrity ads are becoming very common and prominent phenomena in advertising everywhere. Almost 25% of all American ads have celebrities in them and this percentage is more than double, up to 70% in Japan (Yi & Lee, 2020). The effectiveness of a celebrity endorsement strategy may be mediated by variables such as the celebrity or product fit, the product and usage occasion, societal or cultural conditions and the volume of repetitive advertisements featuring celebrities. The use of celebrity endorsements in advertising has become a trend and a perceived winning formula of corporate image building and product marketing. As existing media get increasingly cluttered, the need to stand out has become paramount and celebrities have proved to be the ideal way to ensure brand prominence. Academic researchers have conducted sufficient empirical research to express the benefits of product endorsement, in addition to the intuitive arguments that rationalize this practice (Zollo, 2021). Celebrities have the potential of helping the advertisements stand out from the surrounding clutter. It has been experienced that the products endorsed by celebrities help them to standout and get more noticed while shopping due to their improved level of product recall. The results of the study conducted by (Cuomo et al., 2019) designate that a consumer holds by and large a positive attitude towards celebrity endorsements. Celebrities are people who enjoy public recognition and who often have distinctive attributes such as attractiveness and trustworthiness (Osei-Frimpong et al., 2019).

Celebrity Endorsement Risk

Despite the many benefits of using celebrity endorsement, there are also some high possible risks and the most relevant will be now explained.

Negative Information: One risk associated with the use of celebrity endorsers is the possibility of negative information regarding the celebrity. Since repeated pairings of a brand and celebrity reinforce the link that consumers establish between brand and celebrity, negative information about the celebrity may negatively impact the endorsed brand (Min, Chang, Jai, & Ziegler, 2019). However, (Aw & Labrecque, 2020) argue that a strong associative link between celebrity and product must be verified before that kind of information about the celebrity lowers brand evaluations. In addition, (Legendre & Baker, 2021) conducted a study and found that negative information about the celebrity exercised the largest impact on celebrity endorsement effectiveness in advertising. This result underlined the high risk associated with using celebrity endorsers as well as the huge impact negative information about that celebrity can have on consumer perceptions. The necessity, whenever possible, to pre-empt the arrival of negative information about celebrity endorsers is crucial. Many companies have been badly affected by negative publicity from celebrity misdeeds, such as having celebrity endorsers involved in drug scandals, rape and murder. The harm brought to the reputations of these companies may decrease the trustworthiness and credibility of the consumer about those brands (Hussain, Melewar, Priporas, Foroudi, & Dennis, 2020). A known example is the scandal involving NBA star Kobe Bryant, that clearly demonstrates how this can become a major problem for advertisers. In 2003, it became public that the sports player was charged of sexually assaulting a 19-year-old woman, causing a huge dilemma for marketers. Several major companies, including McDonald’s, Nike, Sprite, and Spalding, had millions of dollars invested in endorsement contracts with Bryant and were faced with the decision to either continue or discontinue the endorsements. While breaking them would have been extremely costly for these companies, continuing them could have caused some damages to their image. Some companies kept him under contract but chose not to run his advertisement for a period of time, while other firms passively dropped him by letting his contract expire in a normal fashion.

Overshadowing: When a celebrity endorser is used, the risk of consumers focusing on the celebrity and failing to note the brand being promoted exists.  (Ditt, 2020) also conducted a research and claims that “the ad then becomes more about the celebrity and his/her looks and appearance rather than in the product it’s being promoted”. (Bennett, Anaza, & Andonova, 2022) stated that overshadowing occurs when the celebrity endorser acts in the presence of multiple other stimuli which all compete to form a link with the celebrity endorser. While the advertiser intends to develop an associative link between the celebrity and the endorsed brand, overshadowing suggests that the celebrity endorser is most likely to build a link with the most dominating stimulus, which might not be the featured brand in the advertisement execution. (Osei-Frimpong et al., 2019) published a research study, which reveals that 80% of the respondents approached for research remembered the celebrity but could not recall the brand being endorsed. To solve this, advertisers should use a celebrity endorser who will attract attention and enhance the sales message, yet not overshadow the brand. According to (Ferguson & Mohan, 2020) a way to decrease the chances of overshadowing effects is making the celebrity and the product the two strongest elements in the advertising.

Overexposure: This problem occurs when a celebrity endorses too many companies, simultaneously or not, becoming overexposed (Pelau, Pop, Ene, & Lazar, 2021) and this negatively influences consumer’s perception of endorser credibility, likeability and also the attitude towards the ad. Overexposure is a common occurrence between highly recognized endorsers and highly competing brands, making the consumer confused and unable to recall correctly which brand the celebrity stands for. Thus, the consumer starts to question if the celebrity really likes the brand or if it is only doing it because of the money (Woodcock & Johnson, 2021).

Financial Risk: It is a big financial risk for companies to invest in celebrity endorsement (Parayitam, Kakumani, & Muddangala, 2020). (Adinia & Hanifa, 2022) argue that this makes it a huge financial risk since it is a two-sides coin. On one side companies must admit that they do not have control over the actions of the celebrity (it can just as easily mean a disaster for the company) but on the other side a good celebrity choice can pay off handsomely. The cost of hiring celebrities as endorsers may cost in some cases several millions of Euros/Dollars to endorse a single product. More recent reports suggest, for instance, that each year David Beckham earns over $40 million and Tiger Woods (before public scandals) was earning over $110 million in endorsement incomes (Zuraikat, 2021). At some point in the decision to use celebrity endorsers, advertisers have to consider the cost effectiveness of their choice. Rather than pursuing a popular endorser, advertisers can do well by looking for a less known, less expensive endorser who nicely matches the message of the brand and appeals to the target segment (Scholz, 2021).

The Concept of Branding

According to (Vredenburg, Kapitan, Spry, & Kemper, 2020), to fully understand the potential of branding in terms of its growth in markets, marketers are more likely to identify the sources of brand meaning, understanding the meaning, and also to manage it in a fast-changing environment. The American Marketing Association (AMA) defines a brand as a “name, term, sign, symbol or design, or a combination of them intended to identify the goods and services of one seller or group of sellers and to differentiate them from those of other sellers (Gleim, Johnson, & Lawson, 2019). Therefore, it makes sense to understand that branding is not about getting a particular target market to choose a product over the competition, but it is about getting a particular market prospects to see the product as the only one that provides a solution to their problem. The influence of brands on consumer buying behavior is a very critical subject and is of great importance in marketing and profit maximization for any company. “A brand can also be said to be a name, term, sign, symbol or design, or a combination of these, that is intended to identify the goods and services of one business or group of business and to differentiate them from those of competitors”  (Keiningham et al., 2020). The definition above is one of the most numerous descriptions of the word brand. Branding more or less for centuries has been a means to differentiate goods of one producer from that of another. Brand studies have always remained a key attention of marketers because of its importance and direct relationship with consumers. Several studies illustrate that; marketers use brands as the primary point of differentiation to get that competitive advantage on other competitors playing an imperative role in the success of the company. Brand holds a very significant place in the life of a consumer. Consumers choose brands and trust them to avoid uncertainty and quality related issues. A significant factor of company’s strategy to increase their market share and then profit is to strengthen their brand image thereby creating the proper product identity and customer loyalty. (Niculescu, Dumitriu, Purdescu, & Popescu, 2019) defines investment in brand awareness and brand image as powerful instrument of marketing strategy, as they are important vehicles on the road to long term profitability. Brand serves as a pivotal role for distinguishing goods and services from those of the competitors (Keller & Kotler, 2022). According to (Keller & Brexendorf, 2019), the emergence of brand equity underlies the importance of brand in marketing tactics and hence provides useful insights for managers.  From the consumer’s perspective, brand is a guarantor of reliability and quality in consumer products. (Krishna, Herd, & Aydınoğlu, 2019) added to this, consumers would like to buy and use brand-name products with a view to highlight their personality in different situational contexts. Nowadays, consumers have a wide range of choice to choose from when they enter a shopping mall. It is found that consumers’ emotions are one of the major determinants which affects their buying behaviour (Santos, Ramos, Sousa, Almeida, & Valeri, 2021). According to a research conducted by (Szczebyło, Rejman, Halicka, & Laskowski, 2020) on shopping habits, nearly one-fourth of the respondents are impulse –buy products they have not budgeted for. When deciding which products to purchase, consumers would have their preference, which are developed in accordance with their perceptions towards the brand. Successful branding could make consumers aware of the presence of the brand and hence could increase the chance of buying the company’s product and services (Y.-S. Chen, Huang, Wang, & Chen, 2020).

The Characteristics of Successful Brands

A brand can be an everlasting and lucrative asset as long as it is maintained in a good manner that can continue satisfying consumers’ needs (Li & Chen, 2022). Although successful brands can be totally different in nature, they share something in common, for instances well-priced products and consistent quality (Deepak & Jeyakumar, 2019). As mentioned by (Teichert, Rezaei, & Correa, 2020), there are four elements for building a successful brand, namely tangible product, basic brand, augmented brand and potential brand. Tangible product refers to the commodity which meets the basic needs of the customers. Basic brand, on the other hand, considers the packaging of the tangible product so as to attract the attention from the potential customers. The brand can be further augmented with the provision of credibility, effective aftersales services and the like. Finally, and most importantly, a potential brand is established through engendering customer preference and loyalty. By doing so, the image of the brand could be well instilled in the customers’ mind.

Brand Equity

The term brand equity refers to a set of assets and liabilities associated with a brand, including its name and symbol, which could impose beneficial or detrimental effects on the values arising from the products or services (Karjaluoto, Shaikh, Saarijärvi, & Saraniemi, 2019). Added to this, (Ebrahim, 2020) points out that brand equity signifies the unique marketing effects imposed on the brand. The positive side of brand equity happens when consumers are willing to pay more for the same level of quality just because of the attractiveness of the name attached to the product. However, brand equity could be ruined if it is not properly managed. For instance, poor product quality and customer services could adversely affect the brand image, giving rise to a reduction in sales volume. One of the quintessential examples regarding brand as a kind of equity is the imposition of laws to protect intellectual property (Dratler Jr & McJohn, 2022). In countries with well-established legal system, the values of brands have been recognized to both the consumers and producers. In order to combat piracy, many countries have set up laws to protect trademarks, patents, designs as well as copyright. In addition, brand is also a tradable product with measurable financial value, (Aryan & Kraft, 2021).

It is not uncommon to find some familiar brands listed on the stock markets in which they could be bought or sold. Brands like HSBC, Marks and Spencer, Vodafone, Sainsbury and Tesco are all listed on the FTSE 100 index (Yao & Memon, 2019). It is found that the volatility of stock market could affect consumers’ purchasing mood, not to mention the growth or declines of retail sales (Dolega & Lord, 2020). This is supported by the fact that brand equity depends on the number of people with regular purchase. The above examples highlight the values of brand equity for both consumers and the firm. For the consumers, brand equity could provide them with information about the brand which influences their confidence during the purchasing process. There is a high propensity for consumers with good perceptions to buy from the same shop again than those with poor perceptions. Past purchasing experiences and familiarity with the brand could be attributable to the perceptions generated from the consumers (S.-H. Jun, 2020). As for the firm, brand equity could also be a source for the firm to generate cash flow. For instance, the merger between adidas and Reebok in 2015 not only increased their market share so as to compete with Nike in the US sports apparel market, but also attracted more people to invest in the bigger company with high potential (Rasmussen, Dufur, Cope, & Pierce, 2021). Besides, brand equity could also allow higher margins through premium pricing and reduced reliance upon promotional activities. Owning to the positive image, consumers no longer focus on the short-term promotion but the brand on the whole. Brand equity is a broad concept which can be further subdivided into four main areas, namely brand loyalty, name awareness, perceived quality and brand associations (Zhao, Butt, Murad, Mirza, & Saleh Al-Faryan, 2022). These four main areas are to be discussed in the coming sections.

Brand Awareness: Brand awareness is one of major determinants of brand equity. It refers to the ability of a potential consumer to recall and recognize the brand, linking the brand with its corresponding product class (Keller & Brexendorf, 2019). The level of brand awareness lies in a continuum, with brand recognition being the lowest level and the first named brand with unaided recall being the highest level. It is important for the potential consumers to be aware of a product so that it can become one of the purchasing choices. This is due to the fact that the product needs to enter the awareness set before it comes to the consideration set (Abaluck & Adams-Prassl, 2021). An increase in brand awareness is conducive to a higher chance of entering the later set. In this way, brands with higher level of awareness would be more likely to be purchased. This could probably explain why consumers tend to buy a recognizable brand rather than an unfamiliar one (Luan, Shan, Wang, & Xiao, 2019). Several factors can alter the level of brand awareness. In case of China, its geographical location and politics could affect the consumer brand awareness level seriously. According to research conducted by (El Benni et al., 2019), owing to geographical differences, Chinese consumers cannot distinguish US product brand names from the European ones. As mentioned by (Aribarg & Schwartz, 2020), brand awareness can be enhanced through repeat exposure to the brand. In order to achieve brand awareness, two tasks are to be accomplished, namely increasing brand name identity and associating it with the product class. Advertising and celebrity endorsement could be some useful tools for raising brand awareness. It is found that advertisement attitude is attributable to the influence on brand attitudes, affecting consumer’s intention to purchase (Agmeka, Wathoni, & Santoso, 2019). In recent decades, there is an increasing number of advertising campaigns around the world. Consumers are hence well-equipped with comparative elements to judge which product or service to purchase, (Puspita & Chae, 2021). Moreover, celebrity endorsement can give rise to source credibility and source attractiveness. For source credibility, as pointed out by (Lou & Yuan, 2019), celebrities can disseminate messages to particular consumers and hence increase the brand awareness. As for source attractiveness, successful endorsement can associate the culture of the celebrity world with the endorsed product. This association can raise the public awareness towards the brand.

Perceived Quality: Another important attribute to brand equity is perceived quality. It is defined as the customer’s perception of the overall quality or superiority of a product or service (Weinstein & Johnson, 2020). Since it is a kind of intangible, overall feeling towards a brand, it is subjective in nature and hence the knowledge of actual detailed product specifications could have little correlation with the perceived quality. Perceived quality of a brand could help generate values by providing a pivotal reason-to-buy, differentiating the position of a brand, charging premium price, motivating channel members to perform well and also introducing extensions into new brand categories, (Ailawadi & Farris, 2020). In addition, it is found that perceived quality is of utmost importance in determining brand loyalty as well as repeat purchase. Nevertheless, it is becoming more difficult to obtain satisfactory level of perceived quality owing to the fact that fast and continuous product advancement has already strengthened consumers’ expectations on product quality. Similar to brand awareness, perceived quality is determined by a number of factors. To be more specific, perceived quality can further be classified into product quality and service quality. Regarding product quality, there are seven dimensions which affect the consumers’ perception, namely performance, features, conformance with specifications, reliability, durability, serviceability as well as fit and finish. Service quality, on the other hand, is judged by its corresponding tangibles, reliability, competence, responsiveness and empathy (Akdere, Top, & Tekingündüz, 2020). In addition to the aforementioned dimensions, the country of origin of a product is found to affect its perceived quality, and also the perceptions towards the purchased value. As mentioned by (De Nisco, Massi, & Papadopoulos, 2020), consumers are inclined to develop stereotypical beliefs about the products from particular countries. Hence consumers could have their preferences for products made from one country over another. Moreover, price is one of the important cues to evaluate perceived quality. It is found that price is more relevant in judging the perceived quality of a product given that a person lacks the ability to evaluate the quality of a product.

Brand Loyalty: Brand loyalty is one of the core components of brand equity and also positively and directly affects brand equity (S. Jun & Yi, 2020). Under the influence of brand loyalty, consumers continue to buy the brand, regardless of the superior features, prices and convenience owned by its competitors. The more loyal the consumers are towards the brand, the less vulnerable the customer base would be further divides brand associations into three categories, namely attributes, benefits and attitudes (Y.-S. Chen, Chang, Li, & Chen, 2020). Attributes refer to the specific characteristics a product has. Attributes can be further categorized into product-related attributes as well as non-product related attributes. For product-related attributes, the overall features of the product or service are concerned. As for non-product related attributes, price information, packaging, user imagery as well as usage imagery are to be considered. Benefits are another category in brand associations. They can be classified into functional, experimental and symbolic. Function benefits signify the physical or basic advantages a brand may have. For experimental benefits, they are related to consumers’ emotional feelings. Symbolic benefits, on the other hand, refer to the signal effect that a brand may impose on the consumers. Signal effect is determined by the image of consumers and also the personality of the brand.

Brand Association: The fourth dimension of brand equity is association of the brand. According to (Y.-S. Chen, Chang, et al., 2020), brand association is considered to be as a link between a customer’s memory and the brand. Keller (Alvarado-Karste & Guzmán, 2020) adds that, brand equity is supported by the client’s association towards the brand which creates a specific and unique brand image. As for products, considered as tangible items, the intangible specialties (for example, innovativeness and etc.) are included in brand association. According to (Y.-S. Chen, Chang, et al., 2020), brand association could be divided into three sections such as attributes, benefits and attitudes. Attribute is the category where specific characteristics of the product are shown. Attributes could be categorized into product-related and non-product-related attributes. Product-related attributes are considered as general features of the product (i.e. physical make-up of particular good) whereas non-product-related attributes are the ones which are considered as packaging, price and etc. Benefits are the second category of the brand association. Recent category could be classified into functional – the physical advantages, experimental – related to consumers’ emotional behaviour and symbolic – how eye-catching the brand is to the customer. Lastly, the attitude category describes the overall evaluation about the brand – how customers feel about the brand in a long-term perspective evaluating from negative to positive scale (Kucharska & Kowalczyk, 2019). Different brands have various associations to present and potential clients. According to (BUDI, Hidayat, & MANI, 2021), these associations are assumed to be a basis for future purchases or even as a stimulator to attract loyal customers to the brand. Associations about the brand can help to create or improve the value of the brand to the same level as loyal customers. Consumers, when faced with many brands, can forget one brand over another, but associations derived from their memories can help while they make purchasing decisions. Also, the customer having associations about the certain brand can distinguish from other ones and chose the brand which brought most positive or pleasant memories of purchasing experiences. These memory associations serve for well-positioned brands which later would be hard to replace in customer’s preference activities by other brands (Greco & Polli, 2020). However, this is more complicated and harder to achieve because customer’s habits, tastes and also needs are changing quite regularly depending on their lifestyle. Furthermore, sometimes product attributes or client benefits are included into associations dimension as an additional tool to attract customers. By attracting customers, some associations about the brand can create positive feelings for the clients such as slogans, or music in the promotional video, etc. When associations about the brand are combined in a pleasant manner to the customer, the right and strong image can be created (Mao et al., 2020). The brand image has an effect on customers’ perception and purchasing behaviour. There are plenty of similar brands offering the same in terms of utilization and convenience, however, the unique brand image created specifically for the brand is expected to differentiate brand form other while demonstrating price distribution.

Figure 1: Brand Equity

Source: Aaker (2011)

Brand Performance

Performance is often used as a dependent variable in marketing literature (Nguyen, Nguyen, & Hoang, 2019). The performance of brand points out how successful a brand is in the market and aims to evaluate the strategic successes of a brand (Vredenburg et al., 2020). Some researchers considered the performance of brand in two parts including the brand market performance and brand profitability performance. They declare that the brand profitability performance is an index of the financial share of a brand in relation with the retailing profits and is evaluated using the profit and the margin of profit while the brand market performance considers the market demands and evaluates the indices such as sale levels and market share (Zahedi, Salehi-Amiri, Hajiaghaei-Keshteli, & Diabat, 2021). In order to evaluate brand performance, (Sun, Zhang, Gwizdka, & Trace, 2019) proposed some indices related to the evaluation of market behaviour. He considered the market share, price and distribution coverage as the indices of brand performance measurement and he also pointed out that the brand performance measurement using the market share often provides a widespread and sensible reflection of the condition of a brand or its customers. When a brand has a relative advantage in consumer’s mind, its market share should increase or at least not decrease. He also points out that the market share or the sale related information is widely affected by distribution coverage. If a brand has a main market or loses that or it is developing in a region, the sale will be largely affected (Gu & Wang, 2020). (Zhu, Gruca, & Rego, 2021) consider the price elasticity, price premium, market share, cost structure, profitability and the success in category extension as the main indices of brand performance measurement. According to their research, the brand premium is in fact the added price that a customer pays for the brand of a product and the price elasticity is the increase or decrease of brand demand as a result of rise or decline in prices. Market share is an index that measures the success of marketing programs in brand unit sales. Cost structure or the ability to reduce the expenditures of marketing programs of a brand is as a result of the prevailing customer mind set. In other words, because customers already have favourable opinions and knowledge about a brand, any aspect of the marketing program is likely to be more effective for the same expenditure level. In addition, the profitability and the development of opportunities are other factors of performance measurement and demonstrate the brand success. It indicates the potential ability of a brand for development and increase of income flow (Serrano & Kazda, 2020). (Otto, Szymanski, & Varadarajan, 2020) concentrated on relative price and market share as the outcomes of the performance. They defined the relative price as the ratio of a brand price to that of the leading competitors. Meanwhile, they introduced the brand market share as the percentage of a brand sale to total sales of all brands of a product (Hoskins, Verhaal, & Griffin, 2020).

Theoretical Models

The literature dealing with celebrity advertising impacts identifies five models that describe celebrity endorsement. The purpose of each is to clarify the relationship between the product (brand), celebrity, and process by which a celebrity’s characteristics are transferred to the brand (endorsement process) (Vidyanata, Sunaryo, & Hadiwidjojo, 2022). These five models are:

The Source Model: The model is based on the assumption that recipients will believe and accept an advertising message if the celebrity is trustworthy (defined as the perceived willingness of the source to make valid assertions), is an expert (defined as the perceived ability of the source to make valid assertions) and/or is attractive (a celebrity’s popularity, physical attractiveness). This model is based on research carried out in that social psychology field that defines two source model elements – trustworthiness and expertness (J.-W. Kang & Namkung, 2019). The third component of this model, i.e., attractiveness, which also relies on theories derived from social psychology was discovered and empirically verified by (Ellemers, Van Der Toorn, Paunov, & Van Leeuwen, 2019). The source model assumes that using a celebrity with certain characteristics (trustworthiness, expertness and/or attractiveness) in advertising activities relating to any product category will bring positive effects.

The Match-up-Model (celebrity-brand congruence model): The match-up model is based on the hypothesis that the effects of using a celebrity in marketing communications depends on the degree of perceived fit between the brand (product name, symbol, image, benefits and attributes) and image of the celebrity (Schouten et al., 2020). This model is consistent with the social adaptation theory which postulates that adaptive significance of information determines its impact on recipients, thus contributing to positive effects of advertising activities (Gilal, Zhang, Paul, & Gilal, 2019). Celebrity choice is based on the assumption that not every celebrity will effectively advertise every brand in any product category. This accentuates the risks of (1) too many brands using the same celebrity and (2) his or her potential for controversial behaviour in the future. The model’s limitation is its inability to define and measure celebrity characteristics that are important for individual product categories and brands.

The Meaning Transfer Model: The meaning transfer model was developed by (Shim & Lee, 2022), and consists of three stages showing the transfer of characteristics/meanings. At the first stage – “culture” – a celebrity is defined by all characteristics that correspond to his or her image in the media through work performed, statements, roles played, etc. At the second stage – “endorsement” – various associations with the celebrity are transferred to the product (brand) advertised by him or her. The key issue at this stage is to determine the symbolic properties of the brand to be strengthened or created through advertising activities, and to then select a celebrity who is consistent with desired symbolic properties. At the third stage – “consumption” – the desired meanings linked to a celebrity are passed on from the product (brand) to the recipient (consumer). In this situation, the process of consumption or use is given a broader context as the consumer becomes a part of a larger whole, gains self-appreciation and strengthens his or her own self-image through the transfer of such meanings. The choice of celebrity to advertise a brand should take into account the relationship of the celebrity’s image with the desired image and perceived benefits and attributes of the brand. This model is a significant extension of the match-up model because it emphasizes not only the celebrity-brand match-up but also the choice of meanings to be transferred from the celebrity to the advertised brand. An elaboration of this approach is the model proposed by (Febrian & Fadly, 2021), who imply that meanings are not transferred in one direction only, i.e., from the celebrity to the brand, but also from the brand to the celebrity. This is particularly pertinent when a celebrity becomes the face of the brand. Necessary conditions include long-term cooperation of the celebrity with the company (brand) and application of the exclusivity rule (a celebrity advertising one brand only).

The Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM): The Elaboration Likelihood Model is based on the assumption that recipients (consumers) respond to an advertising message (including use of a celebrity) in various ways depending on situational factors (resulting from the importance of a product category, and thus the type of purchasing decisions, medium, message reception time, etc.) (Villanova et al., 2021). On this basis, two situations related to an advertising message reception may be distinguished: high and low involvement. In the first case, the reception of an advertising message is elaborate and systematic, which can lead to a permanent change in the recipient’s attitudes. Because recipients pay attention to the arguments contained in the advertising message and then the celebrity should, first and foremost, be an expert in a given field. In the second situation, the reception of an advertising message is peripheral and heuristic, which weakens its influence on attitudes. Recipients with low involvement focus on superficial characteristics of the message. Thus, a key element is that the celebrity be attractive.

The Dual Entertainment Path Model: The Dual entertainment path model has as a starting point, entertainment and transportation theories (H. Wang & Singhal, 2021). Unlike the ELM model, which is based on a cognitive approach, this model focuses on the recipient’s experience (Horcajo, Santos, Guyer, & Mateos, 2020). Similarly, to the ELM model, two situations are distinguished: the high and low involvement of the recipient. In the first situation, aspirational motives are the key: the consumer wants to be the same as the celebrity and imitate his or her lifestyle. A strong para-social bond with the celebrity then appears, which is determined by emotional investment. The second situation is connected with playful motives. This means a weaker para-social bond with the celebrity. The key for building the recipient’s attention is avoiding boredom and creating the fiction of escaping from real life through imagination and dreams (Givi, 2020).

Empirical Review

(Proctor & Kitchen, 2019) explained that the general belief among advertisers is that advertising messages delivered by celebrities provide a higher degree of appeal, attention and possibly message recall than those delivered by non-celebrities. Marketers also claim that celebrities affect the credibility of the claims made, increase the memorability of the message, and may provide a positive effect that could be generalized to the brand. (C. Liu et al., 2020) argued that repeated association of a brand with a celebrity might ultimately lead consumers to think the brand possesses the attractive qualities that are similar to the celebrity’s. A purchasing decision in favour of the brand may also be made because consumers have preference for or likeness for the celebrity who endorses it. Several reasons had been adduced in extant literature for the use of celebrities in advertising. (Carpenter & Montgomery, 2020), indicate stopping power of the celebrities as a good reason. They argued further that celebrity endorsement enhances advertising messages, message recall and brand recognition as well as helping to create positive attitudes toward the brand and creating a personality for the endorsed brand. Additional argument put forward is that celebrities could influence consumers’ feelings, attitudes and purchase behaviour favourably. According to a study by (Resane, 2021), celebrity endorsed advertisements have high degree of deliverance and sense of appeal than those delivered by non- celebrities. The study was based on both primary and secondary data. The study proved that celebrity endorsed advertisements are reliable and memorable to recall brand. The study concluded that celebrity endorsement if used effectively can make a positive impact in influencing the product demand and the brand image. (Schimmelpfennig & Hunt, 2020), explained that the successful endorsement of a brand depends on a condition that the image of a product should match with the image of celebrity. The researcher concluded that the purchase attitude of customer is influenced by the celebrity endorsement factors as well as quality and price. Thus, celebrity endorsement has a positive impact on customers as greater number of respondents selects those brands which are endorsed by celebrities. According to (X. Chen, Li, & Joo, 2021) celebrity endorsement is a marketing tool that create a point of differentiation among the different brands and also niche in the market. There must be a match between the image of the endorser and the brand. In addition, endorsed brands convey the uniqueness of product to the audiences. They effectively utilize all elements in the communication and deliver the brand message reach to the target market successfully. The research was conducted to find the influence of celebrity endorsement on consumer buying behaviour. It was concluded that celebrity endorsement has a positive visibility to the product endorsed, and celebrities are the easiest way to appeal to the customers. Although the mismatch between celebrity and the product may affect the effectiveness of advertisement. But (Vidyanata et al., 2022) proved that celebrities encourage positive attitude towards the advertisement and brand regardless of the number of endorsements.  According to (Arora et al., 2021), celebrity endorsement has no relationship with brand positioning researcher. He emphasized that, celebrities alone do not promise victory and nor do an effective advertising campaign. Celebrity endorsement are a valuable and potential tool which amplify the effect of operation on brand loyalty as the use of celebrity for endorsements of brands build a positive impact on the consumer and it make a bond which helps to attract the customer towards the product and force them to buy that product. Most of the companies realized that having a celebrity endorsing a brand is not objective in itself because it alone does not promise success.

 METHODOLOGY

(Bell, Bryman, & Harley, 2022), defines research design as the general plan of how the research questions would be answered. The study adopted the descriptive research design specifically a case study approach. The descriptive research was used because of its ability to use either qualitative or quantitative data or both, giving the researcher greater options in selecting the instrument for data-gathering. All the items under consideration in any field of inquiry constitute a population. It can be presumed that in such an inquiry when all the items are covered no element of chance is left and highest accuracy is obtained. The population of the study comprised all employees of Kabfam Ghana (Head Office). They are three hundred (300) in number. Looking at the small number of population, all 300 employees were sampled out for the study. Hence the sample size for the study was 300.

A non-probability sampling procedure was adopted for this study specifically purposive sampling. Purposive sampling refers to a group of non-probability sampling techniques in which units are selected because they have characteristics that are needed in the sample. In other words, units are selected “on purpose”. The study used two main sources for data collection. These are primary sources and secondary sources. The study made use of primary data only. Primary data was gathered from the respondents through questionnaires. A questionnaire was chosen as the data collection instrument. The questionnaire had close-ended questions which respondents were asked to tick the appropriate answer. The questionnaires were divided into various sections to capture the critical areas spelt out in the objectives of the study.

Data collected from the respondents was edited and processed. Quantitative method of research was employed in the analysis of the data. The result was subsequently computed into percentages and frequencies. Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS.v.21) was used to analyze the data collected.

FINDINGS AND ANALYSIS OF DATA

 Demographic Information

Table 1: Gender of Respondents

Source: Online Survey, 2022

Table 1 shows the findings on the gender of the respondents. The survey showed that 78% representing the majority were female whiles the minority (22%) were male. Thus, most of the respondents to this survey at Kabfam Ghana were female.

Table 2: Age of Respondents

Source: Field Survey, 2022

Table 2 has the age of the respondents gathered from the survey. The table shows that, majority of the respondents were between the ages of 25 to 31 years whiles a minority of 44% were between the ages of 18 to 24 years. Thus, most of the respondents to this survey at Kabfam were between the ages of 25 to 31 years.

Table 3: Number of Years at Kabfam Ghana

Source: Field Survey, 2022

The question posed sought to know the number of years the respondents have been working with Kabfam Ghana. The survey showed that, majority (67%) have been working at Kabfam Ghana for 0 – 3 years whiles 17% said they have been with the company for 4 – 7 years. However, 11% representing 3 persons said they have been with the company for 11 years and above whiles a minority of 5% said 8 – 11 years. Thus, most of the respondents to this survey have been working with Kabfam Ghana for 0 – 3 years.

Benefits of Celebrity Endorsement

Table 4: Usage of Celebrities in Product Advertisement

Source: Field Survey, 2022

Here, the question sought to know whether Kabfam Ghana uses celebrities in advertising their products to the public. Table 4 shows that, 67% representing the majority said yes whiles the minority (33%) said sometimes, the company does. Thus, most of the respondents asserted that Kabfam Ghana indeed uses celebrities in advertising their products.

If Yes, How Often

Table 5: If Yes, How Often

Source: Field Survey, 2022

The question further sought to know how often Kabfam Ghana makes use of celebrities in advertising their products to the public. Table 5 shows that, 61% believes the company uses celebrities in advertising their products occasionally whiles 33% said it is done very often. Also, a minority of 6% said Kabfam Ghana rarely makes use of celebrities in advertising their products. Thus, most of the respondents asserted that Kabfam Ghana occasionally make use of celebrities in their product advertisement.

Celebrity Endorsement Yielding Intended Results

Table 6: Celebrity Endorsement Yielding Intended Results

Source: Field Survey, 2022

When asked whether the intended results set by Kabfam Ghana is attained after the use of celebrities in advertising, 61% representing the majority said yes, it does whiles 33% said sometimes. However, 6% representing the minority said the intended results are not produced when celebrities endorse their products. Thus, most of the respondents asserted celebrity endorsement yields the intended results set by Kabfam Ghana.

Type of Celebrity Used by Kabfam Ghana

Figure 1: Type of Celebrity Used by Kabfam Ghana

Source: Field Survey, 2022

When asked the type of celebrity used by Kabfam Ghana in advertising their products to the public, most of the respondents representing 56% said actors and musicians while 28% said business moguls and social media influencers. However, a minority of 16% said sports and entertainment icons are used in product advertisement at Kabfam Ghana. Thus, most of the respondents said actors and musicians are mostly used in advertising products at Kabfam Ghana.

Benefits of Celebrity Endorsement

Figure 2: Benefits of Celebrity Endorsement

Source: Field Survey, 2022

The respondents were asked the benefits that come with celebrity endorsement at Kabfam Ghana. The survey shows that, 50% of the respondents believe celebrity endorsement helps increase sales of products whiles 27% said it helps build brand equity. Also, 17% said consumers are able to differentiate brands from competitors whiles a minority of 6% said celebrity endorsement improves ad recall. Thus, most of the respondents asserted that there is an increment in sales when celebrities endorse products.

Challenges with the Use of Celebrity Endorsement

Table 7: Negative Publicity Having Influence on Consumer Purchase Decision

Source: Field Survey, 2022

When asked whether negative publicity about a celebrity endorser influences consumers’ purchase decision, majority (56%) said yes whiles 39% said sometimes, it does. However, a minority of 5% said negative publicity does not influence consumer purchase decision. Thus, most of the respondents asserted that yes, negative publicity about a celebrity influences consumer purchase decisions.

 Table 8: Challenges to the Use of Celebrity Endorsers

Source: Field Survey, 2022

The question posed sought to know whether there are challenges to the use of celebrity endorsers at Kabfam Ghana. The survey shows that, 50% representing the majority said yes whiles 33% said sometimes there are challenges that comes with celebrity endorsers. Also, 17% representing the minority said no, there are no challenges to the use of celebrity endorsers. Thus, most of the respondents believe there are challenges that comes with the use of celebrity endorsers.

Table 9: Nature of Challenges

Source: Field Survey, 2022

The question further sought to know the challenges that come with the use of celebrity endorsers at Kabfam Ghana. Majority (53%) said there is negative information about celebrities whiles 27% said there is financial risk. Also, 20% representing the minority said there is overexposure. Thus, most of the respondents said the major challenge about celebrity endorsers is that there is negative information.

Regression Analysis of Celebrity Endorsement and Brand Promotion

Table 10: Model Summary

In this study, regression was used to correlate celebrity endorsement to brand promotion. The analysis was carried out at a substantial 5 percent level. Both the independent and the dependent variables were examined. The table shows the regression analysis model summary. The findings in the above table reveal that the correlation coefficient R is 0.739, which suggests a link between the celebrity endorsement and brand promotion. From the aforementioned data, the value of R square suggests that 71.4 percent of the variance in brand promotion originates from celebrity endorsement. From the results of the study, results reveal that the independent variable (celebrity endorsement), as shown by the adjusted R2 of 0.627, accounted for 62.7 per cent of the variation in brand promotion. The research also did an analysis of variance. The findings are as follows.

Table 11: Analysis of Variance

The results indicated that the significance threshold was 0.001a, which is less than 0.05. Therefore, in predicting the way celebrity endorsement impacts brand promotion, the regression model is statistically significant.

Table 12: Coefficients^a

Table 12 shows the influence (B), connection (Beta) and meaning (Sig.) of celebrity endorsement and brand promotion. The B score of 0.815 demonstrated that celebrity endorsement is favorable to brand promotion. This indicates that when customers see items marketed by celebrities, their attention rises to the product. The beta value of 0.873 revealed a positive and significant association between celebrity endorsement and brand promotion. The substantial value of 0.000 shows that the celebrity endorsement is important to brand promotion.

Discussion of Findings

The first objective sought to identify the benefits of celebrity endorsement. The study revealed that celebrity endorsement helps increase sales of products, build brand equity, help differentiate brands from competitors and improves ad recall respectively. Similarly, (Vahid & Muhammad, 2022) said advertisers often believe that advertising messages given by celebrities have more attraction, attention and possible reminder of messages than non-celebrities. Marketers also argue that celebrities influence the trustworthiness of the statements presented, boost memorabilia and can generalize the favorable effect to the brand (Tang, Hinsch, Lund, & Kharouf, 2020). (Osei-Frimpong et al., 2019) also suggested that celebrity approval leads to an increase in product recall. In an earlier research, it was said that the celebrity’s physical attractiveness influences the attitude change process, because they exude sexuality and increase stimulation which affects the processing of the information. Information adopting attractiveness is better communicated faster than other’s information (Labanauskaitė, Fiore, & Stašys, 2020). The second objective sought to analyze the challenges that come with the use of celebrity endorsement. The study revealed that negative information about celebrities, financial risk and overexposure were the major challenges that come with the use of celebrity endorsement respectively. Similarly, (M. Y. Kang, Choi, & Choi, 2019) have performed a study and discovered that negative celebrity information has the biggest influence on the efficacy of celebrity support in advertising. This finding emphasized the considerable risk involved with the use of celebrity endorsers and the large negative impact on consumer views. Moreover, (Rifon, Jiang, & Wu, 2022) claimed a large number of firms were adversely harmed by negative advertising of celebrity transgressions, such as the involvement of prominent supporters of drug scandals, rape and murder. The damage to the reputation of these firms might reduce the consumer’s confidence and credibility in these brands. The third objective sought to identify relationship between celebrity endorsement and brand promotion. The study identified a positive relationship between celebrity endorsement and brand promotion. On the contrary, (Arora et al., 2021) asserted that celebrity endorsement has no relationship with brand positioning researcher. He emphasized that, celebrities alone do not promise victory and nor do an effective advertising campaign. Celebrity endorsement are a valuable and potential tool which amplify the effect of operation on brand loyalty as the use of celebrity for endorsements of brands build a positive impact on the consumer and it make a bond which helps to attract the customer towards the product and force them to buy that product. Most of the companies realized that having a celebrity endorsing a brand is not objective in itself because it alone does not promise success.

SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Summary

The main objective of the study is to examine the effect of celebrity endorsement on brand promotion using Kabfam Ghana as case study. The specific objectives of the study were;

1. To identify the benefits of celebrity endorsement.
2. To analyze the challenges that come with the use of celebrity endorsement.
3. To relationship between celebrity endorsement and brand promotion.

The study took a descriptive approach to the subject. The population of the study comprised all employees of Kabfam Ghana (Head Office). They are three hundred (300) in number. Looking at the small number of population, all 300 employees were sampled out for the study. Hence the sample size for the study was 300. The study adopted a purposive sampling technique. Questionnaires have been utilized as a tool for data collecting. The Social Science Statistical Package (SPSS) was utilized for data analysis. The first objective sought to identify the benefits of celebrity endorsement. The study revealed that celebrity endorsement helps increase sales of products, build brand equity, help differentiate brands from competitors and improves ad recall respectively. The second objective sought to analyze the challenges that come with the use of celebrity endorsement. The study revealed that negative information about celebrities, financial risk and overexposure were the major challenges that come with the use of celebrity endorsement respectively. The third objective sought to identify relationship between celebrity endorsement and brand promotion. The study identified a positive relationship between celebrity endorsement and brand promotion.

Conclusions

The discussion has shown that celebrity advertisement is a powerful and effective instrument that amplifies the influence of a campaign. However, celebrities alone do not guarantee the success of any excellent advertising campaign or the greatest product imaginable. The combination of numerous aspects, in particular the price and other components, works together for the brand’s success and its acceptability in the eyes of customers and their market share. Modern day consumers are well informed and intelligent; they know that famous people are paid for this and may not even utilize the items. Celebrity advertisement has transformed the conventional manner of marketing entirely. It is recognized as an omnipresent aspect of modern marketing. Advertising is always a means of drawing a consumer’s attention. Prominent people have been the easiest method to introduce a new product and will continue to do so in the near future, given its massive appeal and a world of star-stuck dedicated followers. The study therefore concludes by identifying a positive relationship between celebrity endorsement and brand promotion.

Recommendations

Based on the findings of this study;

1. Organizations are encouraged to step up the use of celebrities in support of their products.
2. Companies should also closely evaluate celebrities’ suitable personalities for promoting their items.
3. Organizations involved should undertake cost-benefit analysis to ensure that the sum paid to the celebrities’ services is worth the usage of a celebrity.
4. Companies should critically assess to see if the use of celebrities is really necessary so as to avoid misallocation of resources.

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