Role of Celebrity Advertising in Consumer Brand Loyalty; A Study of MTN (GSM) Users in Ikeja L.G.A, Lagos State

Role of Celebrity Advertising in Consumer Brand Loyalty; A Study of MTN (GSM) Users in Ikeja L.G.A, Lagos State

CHAPTER ONE

Objectives of the study

The specific objectives of this study include:

To examine the relationship between the use of celebrity endorsement in GSM network service advertisements and the creation of brand loyalty.
To examine the influence celebrity endorsement inGSM network serviceadvertisements have on brand loyalty.
To examine other factors consumers take into consideration when making their choices in GSM network service purchase other than celebrity endorsement.

CHAPTER TWO

LITERATURE REVIEW

Literature Review

The celebrity advertising is today a frequently used approach in marketing for all brand building exercises. The celebrity appeal however needs to be perfectly blended intelligently and strategically to reap the benefits and make brands. It serves as an aid to expedite recall and influence purchase. But, this can also be a nightmare unless accompanied by a powerful idea, effective and impeccable positioning (Khatri, 2006).

This study is an attempt to assess whether the use of celebrity endorsement for advertising can translate into consumer brand loyalty, over a period of time. In this way we can determine whether or not celebrity endorsements can positively influence consumer brand loyalty. More so, the study will consist of the review of past literature on the subject matter such as basic concepts relating to the study as well as review of theories.

Concept of Celebrity

The intense usage of celebrity endorsement as a tool of advertising strategy has increased drastically in the past few years; celebrities have been used to promote various kinds of products and services, from sports to beverages to all kinds of electronics and several other products. The drastic rise of celebrity endorsers is not limited to a specific sector of the economy, companies using celebrity endorsement cut across all industry categories –including packaged goods, telecommunication, financial services and automobile industries (Thompson, 1998; Okorie, 2010; Okorie &Aderogba, 2011). In the United States, 25% of all advertisements in newspapers and magazines employ the use of endorsers (White, 2000). In essence, these measures suggest that many US firms have bought into the hypothesis that celebrity endorsers positively impact consumers’ attitude to an associated brand (Ohanian, 1991; Okorie &Aderogba, 2011).

The significance of celebrity endorsers in brand communication strategies does not only recline in the fact that they are used by firms who wish to increase income, but in how these celebrities add value to a company, brand or product. Amos, Holmes &Strutton (2008) have also observed that celebrity endorsement is more likely to be observed for those products having a high price-production cost margin and on a large customer base. In other words, celebrity endorsements are more typically for nationally marketed products than for local or niche market products. Conglomerates invest huge amounts of money to draw parallels between its products and a celebrity in the belief that it would help attract attention to the products/services endorsed and help transfer the image values of the products/services through the fame of a celebrity (Meenaghan and O”Mahony, 1998).

Some properties such as likeability, expertise, trustworthiness and similarity cause a celebrity endorser to become a source of persuasive information and this creates a sense of certainty which has been revealed in earlier studies (Amos et. al., 2008). Also physical attractiveness of the endorser is considerable in effectiveness of a message (Khatri, 2006). Use of celebrity endorsers to support products is explained by balance theory principles too. According to this theory, successful companies establish an emotional relationship both between the observer and endorser and between endorser and brand (Mowen, 2000).

Celebrity endorsement research has revolved around broadly five themes: celebrity attractiveness (Debevec and Kernan, 1984; Kahle and Homer, 1985; Caballero, Lumpkin and Madden, 1989); celebrity meaning transfer (McCracken, 1989; Langmeyer and Walker, 1991; Miciak and Shanklin, 1994; Erdogan, Baker and Tagg, 2001; Choi, Lee and Kim, 2005); celebritycredibility (Klebba and Unger, 1982; Patzer, 1983); celebrity impact on brands andconsumers (Ohanian, 1991; Tripp, Jensen and Carlson, 1994; Mathur, Mathur and Rangan, 1997; Shimp and Till, 1998; Erdogan, 1999; Silvera and Austad, 2004); and celebrity productmatch-up (Kamins, 1990; Misra and Beatty, 1990; Till and Busler, 1998).

The realm of the celebrity’s impact is confined to bestow a distinctive identity and provide an effective audio visual to the brand; the celebrity does not have the power to improve or debilitate the efficiency and features of the core product (Kamakura, 1995). The health of a brand can definitely be improved to some extent by celebrity endorsement. But one has to remember that endorsement by a celebrity is a means to an end and not an end in itself (Johnson, 1984). An appropriately used celebrity can prove to be a massively powerful tool that magnifies the effects of a campaign. But the aura of cautiousness should always be there (Mccracken, 1989).

CHAPTER THREE

METHODOLOGY

Research Methodology is primarily concerned with approaches or methods of getting data and analyzing the data from the population of study by way of testing, so as to come up with reasonable conclusions (Odugbemi&Oyesiku, 2002). In this chapter, the method of data collection and analysis are discussed. This will cover the following; research population and size, respondents and sample size, method of data collection, sources of data, restatement of hypothesis and data analysis method.

Research Design

This is the arrangement of conditions for collection and analysis of data in a manner that aims to combine relevance to the research purpose. It constitutes the blueprint for the collection, measurement and analysis of data. Asika (1991) defines research design as an outline or a scheme that serves as a useful guide to the researcher in his effort to generate data for his study. It involves the way of translating research problem into data that can be analyzed to provide the most valid answers to questions. It involves entire scope of activities following the identification of research problem to and including data analysis. This study adopted simple random sampling techniques to mediate the role of celebrity advertising on consumer brand loyalty.

Restatement of Hypothesis

The research hypotheses to be examined are:

H_0a:There is no significant relationship between the use of celebrity in GSM network advertisements and the creation of consumer brand loyalty

H_1a:There is significant relationship between the use of celebrity in GSM network advertisements and the creation of consumer brand loyalty

H_0b:The use of celebrity endorsement in advertisements has no significant influence on brand perception.

H_1b:The use of celebrity endorsement in advertisements has significant influence on brand perception

Research Population

According to Fagbohungbe (1993), population refers to all objects of a particular type, colour or character. It can be a set of numbers, people, objects or event. The population of this study was restricted to the survey of consumers or users of GSM network services in Lagos State: preciselyGSM Telecom subscribers in Ikeja Local Government Area.

CHAPTER FOUR

DATA PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS

This chapter is concerned with the presentation of data collected during the course of this research study and the analysis of responses received from respondents to questionnaires administered. The data collected were presented and analyzed using ordinary least square method. For the purpose of this research work, two hundred (200) questionnaires were distributed and administered carefully and all were attended to and returned. The questionnaires were grouped into two parts. The first part (section A) covered personal data relating to the respondents while the second part (section B) covered the questions relating to the study.

CHAPTER FIVE

SUMMARY, CONCLUSION, RECOMMENDATIONS AND SUGGESTION FOR FUTHER STUDY

Summary of Findings

This research study critically examined therole of Celebrity Advertising on Consumer Brand Loyalty. Other objectives were: to examine the relationship between the use of celebrity endorsement in GSM network service advertisements and the creation of brand loyalty, to examine the influence of celebrity endorsement in GSM network service advertisements have on brand loyalty, to examine other factors consumers take into consideration when making their choices in GSM network service purchase other than celebrity endorsement.

In Order to enhance a better analysis, the scope of the study was limited to two hundred sample size of the products users of MTN in Nigeria. The Ordinary Least Square method of data analysis was carried out with the use of SPSS to analyze the impact of the tested variables. Results of analysis showed that the use of celebrities has significant influence on consumer’s perception during advertisement. Thus, the alternative hypothesis of the research work was accepted.

Conclusion

Based on the findings of this study, it could be concluded that theuse of celebrities play a significant role in product and services awareness on consumers perception in Nigeria. It is therefore concluded that product manufacturers should engage more the use of celebrities to advertise their products and services to their targets audience as it enables the consumers to easily understand the message and usefulness underlying the patronage and use of such products and services. In the same vain the use of celebrities in product and services advertisement will equally give both new and existing product manufacturers the privilege and advantage to command a large share of the market and also having more consumers who demonstrate loyalty. Lastly product manufacturers who use celebrities in advertisement can wheel for themselves an increase in sale volumes and can diversify into other areas of products and services in the same line of business thus increasing their market share.

Recommendation

To this end, in order to ensure the effective use of celebrities in advertisement among product manufacturers in the country as well as to promote a healthy sense of product awareness on the consumers’ perception, the following recommendations were made:

Firms should choose a celebrity that has a positive goodwill in order to positively contribute to the growth of the firm, while also representing the essence of the brand.
There is the need to for advertising agencies and authorities to make effort in scrutinizing advertisement before aired to ensure that they actually portray the basic intents for which they are designed.
Quality of products and services rendered by the firm must not be sacrificed or substituted for the investment in celebrity advertisements
Celebrity endorsement should not be overemphasized such that the celebrities will not be over paid thus making the net effect of advertisement negative.

Suggestion for Further Study

The above study provides information on consumer’s perception of a product based on the use of celebrities in advertising. It is therefore suggested that further research effort be concentrated on other areas of the research problem such as expanding the scope and area of the study, among other things.

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