Celebrity Endorsement

Finally local celeb endorsement seems to be the big thing on marketing scene in Kenya.

From Equity bank to EABL to Optica, the use of local celebrities seems to be the big marketing play. Its nothing new though, i remember some old drinking chocolate ad that had Masaku of Vitimbi fame in it (remember him?) enjoying the beverage hot or cold. Decades later, the Vitimbi cast now endorses Optica eye wear in the jionee tofauti promo. -- While I'm certainly not the target market, its a clever campaign.

I'm more of the Equity Bank and EABL target market. They'v tried to get out hip promos which somehow makes me question if celebrity endorsement really works. The recent fiasco plaguing Tiger Woods actually brought the entire celeb-endorsement dilemma to the limelight. more on that in a sec.

Sussan Owiyo's a great artiste n boy does she know how to get the crowd on its feet and all. Nameless is pretty good. The question I have is if the use of these guys in promos really makes one want to automatically use the associated product. Perhaps it puts many off; resulting in a low return on marketing spend than would otherwise be the case.

INMO celebrity endorsement should very cleverly build both brands. The celeb's brand should be built in return for the associated product's image association. It should not be a one way street and the mutual benefit should be easily recognizable to the customers of both brands.

Take the EABL responsible drinking campaign. EABL benefits multiple-fold, its viewed as a responsible corporation on numerous levels while importantly telling Nameless fans (or those that at least recognise the Nameless brand) that they are that much more valued. On the other hand, the Nameless brand grows particularly in the aspect of market reach - in this case through prime time TV ads. Financial remuneration aside, seems to me that the benefits of association for one brand are much more dominant than they are for the other in this case. Perhaps my score board would be more neutral if Nameless had a new album out or if the campaign in this case were not focused over a two week period.

All said and done, for brands, it is the subliminal association cues that really propel their growth. Hence why any semblance of controversial issues leads to the dropping of associations (case in point; Tiger Woods).