INFLUENCE OF CELEBRITIES ON CONSUMER BUYING DECISIONS By             Course Name Professor’s Name University State/City Date of Submission   Abstract The use of celebrities to influence consumer behavior has been a highly effective marketing tool for organizations. Since the early 80s, the inclusion of famous individuals in advertisements has helped companies increase their sales and make more profits. Celebrities influence the customers purchasing decision through their association with the brand which makes it easier for the customer to recall the product whenever they are shopping. Nonetheless, celebrity advertising also has negative effects, and in some instances, does not have any influence at all. Such cases occur when the celebrity is associated with more than one product, which makes it difficult for the customer to decide whether the celebrity really likes the product, and instead, fails to purchase it. Additionally, celebrities can overshadow the brand rather than concentrating on the product; the attention of the customers is directed towards the celebrity. In such cases, the celebrity does not influence the purchasing decision of the customer. The research entails conducting qualitative research, which will use a survey and focus group meeting to determine how celebrities’ impact on the consumer buying decisions. The findings of the study will help in decision-making to ensure that the marketing strategies are strategic.     Influence of celebrities on consumer buying decisions

Introduction

Background

The modern business environment has become substantially competitive, and the approaches employed by businesses are impacted by consumer behaviors. This has made it imperative for businesses across the globe to focus on different strategies that are designed to increase competitiveness as well as efficiency in how they engage in the market (Hendrayati, Gaffar, and Dwiyanty, 2016). The dynamic consumer behaviors imply that there are various factors that impact on how the business and the customers interact. The marketing strategies used in the modern business environment make use of different channels to engage the customers. This ranges from the world of mouth to high investments in mainstream media and social media. Capturing the attention of the target customers entails focusing on specific characteristics of the information to foster efficiency in how the consumer perceives and understands the information (Ginsberg, 2015; Mansour and  Diab, 2016; Chen, 2017).  Communicating the value of the product or brand is achieved through various approaches in marketing strategies. The strategies adopted are subject to the investments in the marketing initiatives, the target customers, as well as the product or service being marketed. The increased use of advertisements both online and on mainstream media has resulted in the notion that the constant bombardment of the people with marketing products has made the target population emotionless towards the advertisement practices (Mangold and Faulds, 2009). Resultantly, marketers across different industries are focusing on grasping the attention of the consumer by separating their advertisements from the other marketing content used by other businesses. Suggestively, marketers are focusing on developing a unique material that relates to the business, its products or services and effectively communicates value to the consumers. To achieve this, marketers are increasingly engaging celebrities, who are well-known personalities within the target markets to link the value communicated in marketing campaigns with the identity of the individuals. A celebrity is a term that refers to individuals who are famous and influential and are substantially admired and trigger public discourse within society. The celebrity status is associated with individuals in different professionals that include athletes, musicians, actors and actresses, artists, poets, comedians, among an array other talented individuals. From another perspective, celebrity status can be achieved through controversial actions in the society, while other people become celebrities through their actions in politics, social and economic initiatives (Djafarova and Rushworth, 2017). For the marketing industry, celebrities that have been largely engaged in the campaigns are individuals who are identified in various talent fields (Djafarova and Trofimenko, 2018). This is associated with inspiration that people draw from talent and the image as well as reputation associated with the individual. Arguably, an individual who achieves celebrity status through controversial activities is less likely to be engaged in marketing practices. Additionally, for celebrities to be endorsed by a company, the individual has to be willing to be associated with the company and uses public recognition as a drive to market the products or services. Celebrity endorsement has emerged as a strategic approach in marketing campaigns in the local, national, and international markets. It has become a norm for adverting agencies and companies to engage celebrities including in their corporate social responsibilities (Elg and Hultman, 2016). While some companies engage celebrities that are associated with their line of business, others are engaged in different contexts to capitalize on their publicity (Glover, 2009). For instance, athletes are often used to market sportswear, while musicians can be engaged in marketing food products. Celebrity endorsement has proved to be effective a cult following for the products. This is exemplified by the marketing initiative by Nike that saw the endorsement of Michael Jordan, a basketball player in the marketing of shoe products, which has substantially appealed to a large customer base. From this perspective, celebrity endorsements are perceived to be an effective approach in influencing the brand image and transferring the meaning and value from the celebrity to the brand. This is achieved by developing a pattern of connectivity between the image of the celebrity with that of the brand (Cretu and Brodie, 2007). When companies endorse a company, the business has the advantage of increased customer awareness and the potential to increase the customer base by targeting the celebrities’ fan base. This is based on the notion that if a celebrity endorses a product or company, then the people have the assumption that the products are good or the company is trustworthy.

Research Problem

The engagement of celebrities in the marketing initiatives is based on the notion that they can be influential personalities that are focused on promoting the organizational objectives. Additionally, companies are increasingly devoting large amounts of money on celebrity endorsement in marketing strategies. This highlights the need to understand the contribution of these individuals in increasing the company’s sales. Various studies have attempted to develop insights about the role celebrities play in promoting sales. Despite this, there are a few insights that highlight how celebrities influence the purchasing decision by enabling the marketers to hit a distinctive place on the target consumer's mind (Lazakidou, Ilioudi, and Siassiakos, 2008). The researchers highlight the need to understand how the celebrities influence the customers considering the various factors that influence the marketing process, including cultural meaning, the users need for the products or services, the purchasing power and cost of goods, impulse buying, among other factors (Silvera, Lavack and Kropp, 2008; Sharma, Sivakumaran and Marshall, 2010). Celebrity endorsement and involvement in the marketing process are associated with increased brand loyalty among consumers, which makes it important to understand if this phenomenon impacts the purchasing decision. While the involvement of celebrities has been associated with changing attitudes about brands and products among the customers, there are no substantial implications that this influences the purchasing decision (Fadhila, 2018). Additionally, there is a lack of evidence that the engagement of celebrities in marketing initiatives can have a substantial impact on the purchasing decision compared to the endorsement by individuals who are not celebrities. This is premised on the notion that the engagement of celebrities in advertisements can result in more concentration on the individuals instead of the information and products being marketed. Suggestively, there is a need to understand if engaging the celebrities contributes or impacts on the marketing objectives.

Research Aim and Objectives

With the increased focus on celebrity endorsement and the engagement of celebrities in marketing initiatives for different products, it is important to understand the effectiveness of this approach. The aim of this research is to investigate the influence of celebrities on purchasing decisions. This offers an opportunity to draw insights from different perspectives of the marketing process. This will be achieved by focusing on the following specific objectives:

• To determine the current state of consumers’ perception of celebrity endorsements.
•  To determine the impact of celebrity endorsement on the buying behavior.
• To determine the vital factors that may influence the consumer’s buying behavior through celebrity endorsements.

Significance and Justification

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