Patricia Komlosy otherwise known as Patti Boulaye was born on May 3, 1954. She was a British-Nigerian singer, actress and artist who rose to fame after winning ‘New Faces,’ a beauty pageant in 1978. She was among the leading black female entertainers from the early 1980s to the late 1990s. She is well remembered for starring in Lux soap commercials. Boulaye signalled the beginning of celebrities’ endorsement of brands in Nigeria. We had before and after her many international celebrities such as Mohammed Ali, who endorsed Adidas sportswear and “D-Con” cockroach traps. David Beckham also advertised H&M bodywear underwear, while Pele, the football star, Edson Arantes do Nascimento, advertised for Emirate airline with Christiano Ronaldo.
Celebrity endorsement is now the ‘in-thing’ in marketing, especially in real estate advertising. Endorsement is a channel of brand communication in which a celebrity acts as the real estate brand’s spokesperson and certifies the brand’s claim and position by extending his/her personality, integrity, popularity, status in society or expertise in his or her field to the brand. Celebrity branding or celebrity endorsement is a form of advertising campaign or marketing strategy which uses a celebrity’s fame, moral or social status to promote a product, brand or service, or to raise awareness about an issue. Celebrities are key to creation of awareness and driving home important messages on products, services, events and issues. Brazilian football legend Pelé sued Samsung Company for at least $30m, alleging the Korean company improperly used a look-alike of him in an advertisement that ran in the New York Times without his permission.
Before engaging a celebrity for product endorsement and services or creating awareness of an event, it is important to look critically at the ‘on-stage-character’ and ‘off-stage-character’ of the celebrity. The projected contributions of the celebrity in terms of volume of sale and acceptability by the consumers are also important. It will be absurd for a young musician that has 12 children from 12 mistresses (baby mamas) to be called upon to endorse ‘family planning’ product, event or counsel. Public members understand the actor or act in an advertisement more by what he or she represents in their perception than what he or she says. In some cases, clients (endorsers) have had to withdraw their sponsorship of some celebrities because of their immoral acts. In the wake of Tiger Woods sexual scandals in late 2009, Nike reportedly slashed their contract with him by 50 per cent, cutting his endorsement earnings to less than one-third of what it was in his original contract.
A marketing specialist, Hannah Butler, in Businessing Magazine of November 19, 2020, identified five factors of marketing communication to include persuasion, goal-directed, contact points, stakeholders (opinion leaders or opinion influencers), and the message. Celebrities are ‘opinion influencers’ and can influence the patronage of goods and services. Celebrity endorsement as a marketing strategy builds credibility and can expose and impose a brand to new markets. The celebrity effect is the ability of famous people to influence their numerous fans and others in society. Companies can use that star power and influence of celebrities to boost their own products and services. Celebrities can add credibility and glamour to a brand and event. Celebrity endorsement makes consumers remember a product or service easily because celebrities are ‘known faces’ who can be easily identified with the products they endorse. When you sign a celebrity to endorse your brand, you sign to everything that comes with them.
Celebrity endorsement or celebrity packaging is a highly effective strategy to gain consumer interests, patronage and brand loyalty in a cluttered marketplace. Today’s society is said to be excited with celebrities according to American film historian, Richard Schickel, in “Intimate Strangers: The Culture of Celebrity,” published in 1985 in Garden City, New York by Doubleday. People tend to believe in what their celebrities, role models and opinion influencers do or say or consume. On Thursday, November 7, 1991, Los Angeles Lakers star Earvin “Magic” Johnson announced his retirement from basketball in the wake of having tested positive for HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. At the time, Magic Johnson was one of the most popular figures in sports, both nationally and internationally. Those whose Johnson’s sudden retirement directly affected were his commercial sponsors, a group of companies comprising both sporting goods and other consumer products.
“Papilo, one day, you go make us proud,” is an old commercial of a popular milk firm featuring a popular and admired Nigerian Footballer at the time, Kanu Nwankwo. Reports stated that children who opted for the milk increased after the footballer’s endorsement. Celebrity endorsement is, no doubt, beneficial to corporate organisations. People see reputable celebrities as those who are current, knowledgeable and fashionable. Any product or service they endorse is seen as genuine and valuable. But companies must be careful in their celebrity selection and relationship management so that they do not fall when the celebrity has a catastrophic fall! The act and the product must be synergised. It will be unproductive to ask a malnourished celebrity or skinny guy to advertise a multivitamin brand. It would also be absurd to ask a celebrity who always acts the role of a criminal on stage to canvas a customer for a bank.
Brand Communication is an important part and tool of brand management by which the companies or organisations inform, persuade, enlighten, teach, remind, and enrich the knowledge of their stakeholders about the brand, its strengths, values, fundamentals, and its offerings of products and services. It is an act of communicating and delivering the meaningful and focused messages pertaining to the brand to the stakeholders. Celebrity endorsement or packaging is one of the numerous ways of ensuring effective brand communication. It is effective because the successful celebrity of a community at the time of launching a product or service is usually contacted. Though celebrity endorsement comes with a premium, the benefits usually outpace the cost. Celebrity endorsement is as old as marketing strategy and is becoming more popular in the real estate business world.
- Oyedele is a Lagos-based estate surveyor and valuer
