Most biz people are of the know about celebrity endorsements, but the concept of celebrity licensing is something that many brands either do not know or do not want to consider.
While each of these activities have proven to be successful in different campaigns, it’s important to take a look at both of these to see which one is ultimately the best fit for one’s brand.
Celebrity Endorsements
By definition, celebrity endorsements mainly concerns celebrity star power being used to create an interest in a a particular product or service and awareness of it. This method of marketing has proven to be extremely successful.
Celebrity endorsements are widely used throughout the world and for everything imaginable. World over several celebrities have been endorsing brands. But since we are in India let’s take the case of celebrirty endorsements here.
Let us talk about Aamir Khan initially. He has endorsed brands like Samsung mobiles, Tata Sky, Coca Cola, Titan Watches, Snapdeal etc. Likewise have Amitabh Bachchan, Salman Khan, Akshay Kumar, Ajay Devgn among others.
Advantages:
Endorsements help build brand equity; it helps consumers recall a particular product or service, makes people believe that the product or service contributes to the stardom of the celebrity in some way and helps advertising initiatives stand out from the competition.
Disadvantages:
There is always a risk of something negative happening in the personal life of the celebrity A celebrity endorses so many brands that sometimes it becomes difficult to recall which celebrity has endorsed which particular brand.
Over-exposure is a common occurrence between highly recognized and well-liked endorsers (celebrities) and highly competing brands.This leads to making the consumer confused and unable to recall correctly which brand the celebrity stands for.
This not only compromises the value of the celebrity in the eyes of the star’s fans but also brings to the customers notice the true nature of endorsements which is more compensation inclined and not so brand or product inclined. A general perception of consumers regarding overexposure is that they believe that celebrities use to endorse so many brands for just for money.
Brands can also be overshadowed by celebrities. In other words, if marketing is not handled properly, star power becomes the focal point instead of the endorsed product or service.
In addition, sometimes a celebrity is overexposed. If one celebrity endorses a multitude of products, the celebrity’s credibility starts to suffer. This can have a negative impact on the company.
Celebrity Licensing
Celebrity licensing, which has become extremely lucrative, involves marketing but in a different way. Whether to help position a new product within a market niche or expand notoriety of an existing product, this is a very powerful tool.
Unlike celebrity endorsements, whereby a living celebrity endorses a specific product or service, celebrity licensing involves both living and deceased celebrities. Here, lets take the case of Rajesh Khanna whose advertisement of Havells fans drew considerable attention. The advertisement came on television much after he expired.
With celebrity licensing, a legally protected entity is leased. This can be a number of different things, such as: Character, Graphic Design, Likeness, Logo, Name, Signature, Slogan, Trademark and combination of several entities.
With an endorsement, a celebrity backs or promotes a company’s product or service. With celebrity licensing, the product or service is shown as being the celebrity’s own even though it is actually a business license for the company or organisation.
In other words, to consumers, it appears as if the products or services belong to the celebrity, when in reality, only that person’s star power is being used.
One needs to keep in mind that with celebrity licensing, it is common for a celebrity to take on some type of leadership role and often be a part of the team’s decision-making process regarding design.
Just as with endorsements, there are positive and negative aspects of celebrity licensing. However, because the two types of marketing are unique, there are minor differences.
