Inspiring from Ryan Abushinov’s blog i wish to raise the point that, ‘ Is marketing strategy based on celebrity endorsement an effective method in today’s fast paced world’?

Earlier ‘Celebrity Endorsements’ were thought of as a tool of providing a distinct differentiation but in the recent past many brands have adopted similar strategies and hence loosing the differentiation focus of celebrity endorsements. I believe in the present era of marketing, companies think beyond celebrity endorsements for the brand building process. Consider companies like ‘Apple’ and ‘Abercrombie & Fitch’ have achieved tremendous amount of success by achieving a marketing strategy that did not involve any kind of celebrity endorsements.

Firstly,It is true that celebrities act as role models for the specific target audience of a particular product but a shift in this trend has been observed in the recent past. These days, rather than relating themselves to celebrities, people prefer to relate themselves with other common people with similar characteristics. For example, Hollister hires young people to wear their brand of clothes and do word of mouth advertisement rather than just putting up a poster of a celebrity. I believe following this strategy of marketing increases communicability among the consumers and gives a personal touch.

Secondly, celebrity endorsement relies heavily on the credibility of the celebrity. This point is evident from Accenture’s decision to end maketing relationship with Tiger Woods after his recent controversy. At the end of the day, endorsers are still humans and they are bound to make mistakes at times.

Finally, i would say that the method of ‘Celebrity Endorsements’ is still effective in spreading the brand name but it may not be a sustainable marketing strategy in the long run.