Amy Dyson and  Douglas Turco (Illinois State University)

Abstract

Sport endorsers were present in 11% of all television advertisements in 1995,
receiving more than $1 billion dollars from U.S. companies for their services. Along with
several positive advertising campaigns, there have been some less successful efforts involving celebrities as spokespersons. The most recent and vivid occurrence is O.J. Simpson and his endorsement with Hertz Rental cars. This article describes the advantages and disadvantages of celebrity-based advertising in sport and examines future directions for this marketing approach.

Approximately 20% of all television commercials feature a famous person from the world of
sport, television, movies or musical entertainment. Of the billions of dollars allocated
annually for television advertising, approximately 10% is spent on endorsers (Agrawal &
Kamakura, 1995). Many companies have had considerable success using celebrities as
spokespersons, especially athletes. In 1995, U.S. companies paid more than $1 billion to 2000
athletes for endorsement deals (Lane, 1996). Sport endorsers were featured in 11% of all
television advertisements that same year (Turner, Bounds, Hauser, Motsinger, Ozmore, & Smith, 1995). Examples of high profile celebrity endorsers include Sheryl Swopes, Deion Sanders, Michael Jordan and Bo Jackson for Nike, Shaquille O'Neal for Reebok, Tiger Woods for Rolex, and Jimmy Connors for Advil. Along with the positive campaigns, there have been several less successful marketing campaigns involving celebrities as spokespersons. The most recent and vivid occurrence is O.J. Simpson and his endorsement with Hertz Rental cars. The purpose of this article is to describe the advantages and disadvantages of sport celebrity-based advertising and to discuss future directions for this marketing approach.

Advantages of Celebrity Endorsements

There are several benefits to having celebrities endorse products or services. Research has
indicated that customers are more likely to choose goods and services endorsed by celebrities than those without such endorsements (Agrawal & Kamakura, 1995). Marketing Evaluations Inc. has compiled a list of 1,500 U.S.-known celebrities with appealing qualities to consumers. Most of the 1,500 were viewed as familiar and likable (Miciak & Shanklin, 1994).

Another advantage to celebrity-based campaigns is that famous people hold the viewer's
attention. In this era of sound-bytes and channel surfing, there is a demand for people's time
and focus. For instance, a commercial with the WNBA's Lisa Leslie or NHL's Wayne Gretzky is more likely to keep a television remote control clicker on the channel versus a commercial with a local doctor or dentist. People want to see Andre Agassi and others of such celebrity. The third benefit of using celebrity endorsers is that s/he can provide testimony for a product or service, particularly when the product has contributed to their celebrity. Consumers may be more likely to try a motor oil endorsed by Al Unser, Jr.. This relationship can increase a
consumer's belief and trust in the product and its benefits. The more familiar an endorser, the
more likely consumers are to buy the endorsed product (Miciak & Shanklin, 1994).

Disadvantages of Celebrity Endorsements

There are some negative consequences to using sport celebrities as endorsers. The first issue concerns the high financial to secure the big name endorsers. Pepsi paid Shaquille O'Neal $25 million to endorse the popular soda product. Tiger Woods received $40 million from Nike to support the company's youth marketing campaign. Although these large companies do not have a problem spending top dollar necessary to acquire famous personalities, most small companies struggle to afford any celebrities, let alone ones that cost $25 or $40 million dollars. It is a bigger risk for the smaller companies to invest large amounts. Their losses are greater if something goes wrong. Nike was not phased by the 1996 case involving Dallas Cowboy wide receiver Michael Irvin, who was caught by police with drugs and prostitutes in local hotel room. Irvin was only a small piece of Nike's endorsement scheme. However, there were 13 small Toyota dealerships that suffered tremendously. They had the Cowboys star lined up to do a series of commercials, worth about $500,000. Not only did they lose the money invested in Irvin and the ads, they also had to incur more expense by finding a replacement for him (Lane, 1996).

Another negative aspect is that a company may not be able to get a celebrity to represent their product exclusively. He/she may endorse several products, sometimes switching their
endorsements to rival brands. This happens frequently when trying to secure someone that is well-liked by society and in high demand for product endorsements. As a result, the credibility and trust in the product and the endorser decreases. It also sends a message to the consumer that, "If the endorser won't stick with a brand, why should I?" Auto racing's Jeff Gordon is an example of one who has multiple endorsement contracts and consequently, is less effective as an endorser.

The third and potentially most damaging risk in using high-profile candidates is negative
publicity received by an endorser. Some familiar cases include murder charges brought against O.J. Simpson, rape charges and a jail sentence against Mike Tyson and drug charges against Michael Irvin. Hertz, Pepsi, Kodak, Nike and Toyota all felt the consequences of the
celebrities' actions. When a negative image of the celebrity is portrayed, a tarnished picture
is also painted for the organization, making it difficult to gain consumer trust to buy the
product. Although there is no way to guarantee that detrimental incidents like these won't
occur, some situations might be prevented by evaluating the applicant's personal and
professional behavior to determine if they might be prone to negative situations.

Once all aspects of celebrity-oriented advertising have been evaluated, a company must choose whether to adopt the strategy. If the decision is made decide to proceed, the foundation of a successful endorser selection rests in four concepts, known by the acronym FRED. FRED stands for familiarity, relevance, esteem and differentiation, and was the result of a $6 million study interviewing 30,000 people around the world to find out why brands and their advertising efforts succeed and fail (Miciak & Shanklin, 1994).

Familiarity is the first essential component of an effective endorser. The target market must
be aware of the celebrity, and perceive the person as friendly and likable, and trustworthy.
Recognition by the intended audience is more important than being known worldwide. The next component of FRED is relevance. There should be some link between the promoter and the product, as well as between the promoter and the audience. An example outside the world of sport effectively illustrates this point. It was embarrassing for the beef industry when television star and spokesperson, Cybill Shepherd said she did not eat meat. Also, it's important for the audience to identify with the celebrity. For instance, young African-American boys can relate to Shaquille O'Neal and senior citizens feel a tie to Arnold Palmer. If consumers can associate with the endorser, they will feel more comfortable accepting and buying the product or service. Player free agency and frequent trades in Major League Baseball have also negatively influenced the nature of celebrity endorsers for the sport. All-star players who seemingly move from team to each year team as free agents reduce their consumer identification within a former team's geographic and media markets. In attempt to counter the uncertainty associated with personnel decisions in professional team sports and lengthen the effectiveness of an endorsement campaign, some advertisers depict athletes wearing generic sport uniforms, void of any team name.

The third FRED principle deals with esteem. Consumers must have the utmost respect for the
celebrity in order for the commercial or promotion to be credible. Those viewed by society as
prestigious include sport figures Peggy Fleming, Don Shula, Tom Landry, and Julius Erving. The public has great respect for them, in part, because of their distinguished careers but also
because they endorse relatively few products. Further, the products they do agree to endorse are of the highest industry standards, adding to the their respect and credibility among consumers.

Differentiation is the final component of FRED. The public must see the endorser as different
from all the rest. If there is no perceived disparity among celebrities, then the strategy is
not worthwhile. Michael Jordan is an example of a celebrity that stands apart from the normal
athlete, one of the contributing factors to his success as an endorser. These FRED principles
are not guarantees to success, but can serve as guidelines when selecting a spokesperson. Each organization and its objectives are different, and should be evaluated on an individual basis.

Future Directions

Sport is an integral part of our society, and many advertisers have found that sport stars can
effectively differentiate their products from others. In general, the success of sport
celebrity endorsement is due to the growing interest in sport. In the last 20 years, there have
been significant increases in the number of children playing sport, as well as in the dollars
invested in televising and sponsoring sport. While there are several risks involved in using
celebrity endorsers the continued practice in advertising signals that corporations believe the
risks are worth taking. For some businesses however, the way in which they are using the
celebrities has changed over time. As example, Nike, Reebok and Sprint are re-evaluating their campaign techniques by promoting endorsers at the grassroots level. Instead of using only top national athletes in advertisements, local and regional athletes are used as endorsers to give products more relevance to the average consumer. Since there is usually fan loyalty to hometown teams, marketing local professional sports personalities can be appealing in some markets (Miciak & Shanklin, 1994).

Avia and Hertz have stopped using athletes in their advertising campaigns. Avia is targeting
their advertising primarily toward women. They have de-emphasized athletics by having one
commercial staged in a grocery store. Hertz has also elected not to use professional athletes,
but their action came as a result of the O.J. Simpson embarrassment. These companies appear to be in the minority with respect to their decisions to discontinue using sport endorsers.

References

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Lane, R. (1996 December). Nice guys finish first. Forbes, 158(14), 236-243.

Miciak, A.R. & Shanklin, W.L. (1994). Choosing celebrity endorsers. Marketing Management, 3(3),
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Shanklin, W.L. & Kuzma, J.R. (1992). Buying that sporting image. Marketing Management, 1(2),
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Turner, E. T., Bounds, J., Hauser, D., Motsinger, S., Ozmore, D., & Smith, J. (1995).
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