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Hey there đź‘‹ - Abhi here!
Happy Thursday to the 28,668 marketers reading today :)
I spent the entire week planning out and running my first event! We had 50+ founders and CMOs from 8/9-figure DTC brands attend, and I’m still processing all the new things I learned last week.
Including all the research-backed nuggets I’ll be sharing with you today on the tactics that make celebrity-endorsements a more effective strategy for your brands.
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Celebrity Endorsements
I don’t know how many of you watched the NBA Eastern Conference finals, but it was an amazing game! At least, that’s what I heard… I was busy watching all those ads in between.
Some of them are amazing. Some really miss the mark. But most of them have some sort of celebrity endorsement. And that caught my attention. What makes some of these endorsements work? What makes these other ads so nonsensical?
I dived deep into the rabbit hole, so you don’t have to. Here’s the best of what I found...
3 Science-Backed Tactics For Your Next Celebrity Endorsement
Power distance beliefs (PDB) refer to the extent to which people may accept the unequal distribution of power, state, or wealth in society.
And research has shown that PDB moderates the effect of celebrity endorsements on advertising evaluations and brand attitudes, such that:
In countries with high-PDB, like India, the effect of traditional celebrity endorsements is greater
In countries with low-PDB, like the United States, the effect of such endorsements is weaker
It goes back to the idea that in nations with high-PDB, where people accept the unequal distribution of power, consumers perceive celebrities as more credible and let celebrities influence their decisions more strongly.
As for low-PDB countries though, I would suggest influencers over celebrity endorsements because consumers:
Can identify more with influencers
Can relate more closely with influencers
And, in turn, trust influencers more
2/ Product Type
In a research study conducted on a sample of 237 students, researchers found that:
Celebrity endorsements have a positive impact on the evaluation of durable goods like washing machines, dryers, etc.
Celebrity endorsements do not affect the evaluation of frequently purchased, convenience items like toilet paper and lighters
Another interesting finding, that relates back to our research on marketing products like luxury items, suggests that celebrity endorsements do have an impact on purchase intentions especially when we look at various aspects such as:
Trustworthiness (most significant impact)
Product-celebrity match-up
Physical attractiveness
Celebrity expertise (partially significant)
3/ Increased Visual Complexity
Food is another product category wherein celebrity endorsements often generate more pleasure and arousal than other ads including food experts, for instance.
Further research also found that visual complexity, in the form of:
More objects
More colors
More textures
And more asymmetric elements
May increase favorable responses to ads, such as Instagram Ads.
It would be interesting to see how this insight extends across different product categories and platforms. But, as a fellow marketing psychologist, all I can say for now is that it’s worth testing!
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A Review From A Fellow Marketing Psychologist...
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See you next Thursday,
Abhishek Shah