Philosophy

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CELEBRITY ENDORSERS: SPOKESPERSON SELECTION CRITERIA AND CASE EXAMPLES OF FREDD

Robert A. Swerdlow, Lamar University Marleen R. Swerdlow, Lamar University

ABSTRACT Famous personalities have been used to endorse products for many years. When considering the choice of using a famous spokesperson, a marketing manager must understand the advantages and disadvantages of using celebrity endorsers. A good celebrity-product association can capture a viewer's attention, increase the public's awareness of the product, and cause consumers to purchase the product endorsed. However, a bad celebrity-product association can be very costly and risky depending on the potentially volatile image, nature, and credibility of the spokesperson used. Marketing research has found several models for evaluating celebrities as potential endorsers. FREDD, developed by Young and Rubicam Agency, is a helpful tool for assessing the best characteristics of a celebrity as a potential product endorser. Cases are presented to develop the FREDD assessment. INTRODUCTION Businesses have long sought to distract and attract the attention of potential customers that live in a world of ever-increasing commercial bombardment. Everyday Americans are exposed to thousands of voices and images in magazines, newspapers, and on billboards, websites, radio and television. Ads of all varieties pop up everywhere on streets, in stores and restaurants, and on public transportation. Each of these ads attempts to steal at least a fraction of an unsuspecting person's time to inform him or her of the amazing and different attributes of the product at hand. Because of the constant media saturation that most people experience daily, they eventually become numb to standard advertising. The challenge of the advertiser is to find a hook that will hold the subject's attention and keep them from changing the channel or turning the page. One well-used approach at differentiating advertisements is the use of celebrity...