Influence Of Celebrity Endorsement On Sales And Patronage Of Infinix Smartphones

This study examined the influence of celebrity endorsement on sales and patronage of infinix smartphones. The purpose was to know how to effectively use celebrity endorsement to positively influence the consumer buying behaviours and how to best utilize this tool for organizational success in today"s competitive market. The objectives were to find out whether celebrity endorsements affect consumers" buying behaviour, to examine the influence of celebrity endorsers as compared with "non celebrities" endorsement. To ascertain whether celebrity endorsements is a worthwhile venture. The study tested among others the hypothesis that if celebrity endorsement is a worthwhile venture. A descriptive survey research design was adopted for this study. Questionnaire was the major instrument used to collect data for the study. Cronbach"s Alpha Reliability co-efficient for all the construct items in the study were ascertained via the outcome of the pilot study. The result of the pilot study indicates a low level of internal consistency among four (4) constructs: celebrity endorsement (0.717), consumer buying behaviour (0.831), worthwhile venture (0.836), and celebrity and non-celebrity (0.862). The study used random sampling technique in selecting the respondents and a sample of 80 respondents were used which comprised 80 Infinix smartphones users in Faculty of Management Sciences. The Linear Regression method was used for analysing the data and the entire hypotheses were tested at five percent level of significance. The study found out that celebrity endorsement influenced customer consumer buying. The study also reveals that celebrity endorsement cannot be relied upon as a worthwhile venture by the organization under investigation. It further shows that effective use of celebrity promote sales than non-celebrity. The study therefore recommends that care should be taken when using a celebrity to endorse products, in order not to get a negative outcome. Management should therefore get to know what entices consumers in celebrities and what factors make their consumers hate or like a celebrity. The study also recommends that management should not overlook other important strategies, even as they work to get the best out of celebrity endorsement.

Introduction

1.1 Historical Background of the Study.

There is no way one can really talks about celebrity endorsement without tracing it down to one of the marketing 4Ps, (which is promotion). Promotion as defined by Pride & Ferrell (1997) "is a means of communicating with individuals, groups, or organisations to directly or indirectly facilitate exchanges by informing and persuading one or more audiences to accept an organisation"s products, brands or services". Therefore, promotion is often saddles with the following objectives: (a) creation of awareness (b) stimulation of demand (c) encourages product trial (d) to identify prospects (e) to retain loyal customers, (f) to facilitate reseller support, (g) to combat competitive promotional effect and to reduce sales fluctuation. For the aforementioned objectives to be achieved, promotion uses promotional mix which includes: Advertising, Personal selling, Public relation, Sales promo etc. for the very purpose of this study, advertising will be look into.

Advertising has gone through a major phase of change over the past century and half, from classical to modern view. Today, marketers are employing strategies using various appeals including sexual, emotional, humour among others (Belch and Belch, 2001). The Motive behind formulating such strategies is to gain high brand exposure, attention, interest, desire and action (Belch and Belch, 2001). Therefore, advertising was defined by Pride &Ferrel (1997) "as a paid non- personal communication about an organisation and its product that is transmitted to a target audience through a mass medium such as television, radio, newspapers, magazine, direct mail, mass transit vehicles, or outdoor displays". Therefore, marketers use various tools and strategy to advertise their products to both current and potential customers. These, marketers" do by employing well known and famous personalities. As stated by McCraken (1989), celebrities try to make greater impact on the consumers" buying behaviour. McCraken (1989) further states that "celebrity endorsement advertising is a ubiquitous feature of modern marketing".

According to SilveraAustad (2004), "Celebrities are people who enjoy public recognition among a large group of people and possess distinctive qualities like attractiveness, trustworthiness among other things". There is need be to states that many big companies and brands have recognised the importance of celebrity endorsement as a marketing communication tool (Soderlund, 2003). Katyal (2007) was of the opinion that "marketers spend huge sums of money on celebrity endorsement contracts annually". Thus, showing the importance of celebrities in the advertising industry.

Recently, the famous Ice Prince has turned down an endorsement deal from major telecom company Infinix smartphones. He said" the offer doesn"t worth it" little, knowing his worth, therefore demanded for a whooping sum of $1m (N157,000,000) or no deal (Tope Orekoya, 2013). Similarly, the famous golfer Tiger Woods refused a 75 million Dollar endorsement offer from bookies Power Paddy saying, "The deal wasn"t lucrative enough". It was reported that Tiger Woods earned around 110 million Dollars through endorsement, with Nike being the largest contributor with 30 million Dollars (Celebriscoop 2010). Looking at the prices companies are willing to pay and the effect it has on consumers" buying behaviour, celebrity endorsement appears to be a very popular advertising tool in today"s modern day marketing (McCraken, 1989; Belch, 2001; Soderlund, 2003).

Celebrity endorsement: could be defined according to (Businessdictionary.com) "as a form of brand or advertising campaign that involves a well-known person using their fame to help promote a product or service". Therefore, celebrities with a large number of fans are always sought for in order to endorse a product which will capture the minds of their fans or target market, as people like to associate themselves with a product or service endorsed by a well-known celebrity.

Celebrity endorsement has become inescapable in advertising industry in Nigeria, as it becomes a multi-million Naira venture. Therefore, marketers use celebrity endorsement to influence the purchasing decision of consumers so as to increase sales as well as expanding the market shares.

1.2 Statement of the Problem

Over the years, Marketers in Nigeria have adopted the use of celebrity (Christian, Entertainment Industry, Sports, Fashion stylist among others) endorsement as a marketing communications tool. Though it was not clear when the first celebrity endorsement took place in Nigeria, the practice is known to have existed in the country for a number of years. Examples of some of the early endorsement deals in the country were Sunny Neji, Omotola Jalade Ekeinde and Jide Kosoko endorsement for Chivita Juice Drinks, Kate Henshwa for Onga Magi, Pastor E.A Adeboye (G.O. of Redeemed Christian Church of God) and Funke Akindele for Lagos State Inland Revenue (Tax payment).
How effective these endorsements are on consumers" purchase decisions, is a
question researchers are still finding answers to.

Research proves that celebrity endorsement advertising strategies can, under the right circumstances escalate the selling power of a brand to unimaginable heights. Celebrity endorsements if used effectively, make the brand stand out, galvanize brand recall and facilitates instant awareness. In Nigeria, some firms are using celebrities to market their products and reaping the enormous benefits but it is woefully inadequate (Baidoo, 2009).

Telecommunication companies in the country are utilizing this marketing communications tool, signing entertainment and sports celebrities among others, all in the bid to influence consumer buying behaviour, due to research works business and entertainment reasons, now form a big part of telecommunications" customer base. Therefore, the effect of celebrity endorsement decision making is a subject worth looking into. Etisalat sealed an endorsement deal with Bankole Wellington (aka Banky WaRenowned Hip-hop artiste), Affez Oyetoro (aka Saka a Renowned Comedian), Stephen Keshi (Super Eagles Coach) sealed an endorsement with Friesland Wampco Nigeria limited (producer of Peak Milk) and Innocent Idibia (aka Tuface) also sealed an endorsement with Airtel Nigeria Limited among others. John Mikel Obi (A Nigerian born top Chelsea player) sealed an endorsement with Samsung. And Balogun Ibrahim Ayodeji (aka Wizkid) sealed an endorsement deal with Pepsi Cola among others.

Infinix smartphones limited is not left out of celebrity endorsement as it can be seen as a leading firm in Nigeria today as regards using celebrity endorsement. Recently, Glo endorsed Peter and Paul Okoye (aka P-Square), Odunlade Adekola, Funke Akindele, Dapo Oyebanjo (aka D"banj), Adeleke David (aka Davido), all are entertainers, as Ambassadors for one of the leading telecommunication giants, Infinix smartphones limited, with a deal reported to be in the region of over 600Million Naira annually.

However, not all celebrity endorsement always has a positive influence on companies. Some of the endorsements turn out to adversely affect the image of the companies and the product endorsed.

The issue now, is how to effectively use celebrity endorsement to positively influence the consumer buying behaviours. It is this curiosity that has driven me as a researcher to explore the effect of celebrity endorsements on the purchase decision of consumer of Infinix smartphones.

1.3 Research Objectives

The following are the main objectives of this research:

To assess the effect of celebrity endorsements on consumer buying behaviour.

To evaluate the influence of celebrity endorsers as compared with "non- celebrity.

To evaluate the effectiveness of celebrity endorsements in motivating consumers to purchase telecommunication products.

1.4 Research Questions

Does celebrity endorsement affect consumer buying behaviour?

Is celebrity endorsement a worthwhile venture for Infinix smartphones in today"s competitive telecommunications market?

Does celebrity endorsement promote sales than non-celebrity?

1.5 Research Hypotheses

The research tends to test the following hypotheses Where H0 is Null hypothesis

H1 is Alternative Hypothesis

Hypothesis One

H0: Celebrity endorsement does not affect consumer buying behaviour

H1: Celebrity endorsements affect consumer buying behaviour

Hypothesis Two

H0: Celebrity endorsement is not a worthwhile venture

H1: Celebrity endorsement is a worthwhile venture.

Hypothesis Three

H0: Celebrity endorsement does not promote sales than non-celebrity

H1: Celebrity endorsement helps to promote sales than non-celebrity

1.6 Significant of the Study

This study is aimed at making plain the significance of celebrity endorsement as a marketing communications strategy and how to best utilize this tool for organizational success in today"s competitive markets. The researcher aimed to:

To make suitable recommendations concerning the use of celebrity endorsements to market telecommunication products.

To add secondary data, as reference materials for academic and corporate use in future.

1.7 Scope and Delimitation of the Study

This study could have been done on all the mobile phone companies in Nigeria, but the researcher chose to concentrate its study on Infinix Nigeria Limited.

1.8 limitation of the Study

Like in every human endeavour, the researchers encountered slight constraints while carrying out the study. The significant constraint was the scanty literature on the subject owing that it is a new discourse thus the researcher incurred more financial expenses and much time was required in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature, or information and in the process of data collection, which is why the researcher resorted to a limited choice of sample size. Additionally, the researcher will simultaneously engage in this study with other academic work. Despite the constraint encountered during the research, all factors were downplayed in other to give the best and make the research successful

1.8 Definition of Terms

Celebrity:

"is a person who enjoys public recognition and who often have distinctive attributes such as attractiveness, credibility, and trustworthiness" (McCracken 1989; Silvera and Austad 2004). The term celebrity "refers to an individual who is known to the public, such as actors, sport figures, entertainers" and others for their achievements in their respective areas other than the product endorsed by them" (Friedman and Friedman, 1979).

Celebrity Endorser McCracken (1989) defined celebrity endorser as any fellow who enjoys overtly recognition and who uses this recognition on behalf of a consumer good by appearing with it in an advertisement

Endorsement:

Is an act of giving public approval or support to someone or something. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/endorsement

Credibility:

Refers to the objective and subjective components of the believability of a source or message. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Credibility

Trustworthiness:

Is based more on subjective factors, but can include objective measurements such as established reliability. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Credibility

Expertise:

Can be similarly subjectively perceived, but also includes relatively objective characteristics of the source or message (e.g., credentials, certification or information quality). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Credibility

Consumer:

Is a person, or group of people, such as the household who are the final users of products or services. The consumer"s use is final in the sense that the product is not usually improved by the use

Consumer Buying Behaviour:

This refers to the buying behaviour of the ultimate consumer. It is also the decision process and an act of people involved in buying and using products.

Problem Recognition:

(Awareness of Need) it is the difference between the desired state and the actual condition.

Information Search:

This is the rigorous steps that a consumer must go through in order to get solution for the identified problem. This includes Internal and external searches.

Evaluation of Alternative:

This is comparing between two or more products, so as to pick the one that can be of quality to the identified need.
Purchase decision: This is the will to choose from the various alternatives the items that can best satisfy the identified need.

Purchase:

This is a clear decision that is taken to buy the product

Post Purchase Evaluation:

This is the outcome of the purchasing decision which can be favourably or unfavourably, satisfactory or dissatisfactory.

Divestment:

This is how consumers would dispose the product after its useful life

Cognitive Dissonance:

This is the inability of the product to meet the need of the consumer or dissatisfy the consumer

Cognitive Consonance:

This is when expectation equal performance i.e. what the consumer is expecting from the product is equal to the performance of the product.

1.10 Organization of the Study

This project work is structured into five chapters. Chapter one covers the background of the study, statement of the problem, research objectives and questions, significance of the study, scope of the study, research method,
organization of the study and definition of terms. Chapter two presents literature review on related topics. Chapter three will presents the research method adopted for the study, chapter four contains the analyses of hypotheses and chapter five presents summary of the study, conclusion(s) drawn and provides recommendations.

Title Page

Certification

Dedication

Acknowledgement

Abstract

Table of Content

Chapter One:

Introduction

1.1 Background to the Study

1.2 Statement of the problem

1.3 Research Objectives

1.4 Research Questions

1.5 Research Hypotheses

1.6 Significance of the study

1.7 Scope of the study

1.8 limitation of the study

1.9 Definition of Terms

1.10 Organization of the study

Chapter Two:

Literature Review

2.1 Introduction

2.2 An Assessment of the Effects of Celebrities Endorsement on Consumer Behaviour

2.3 Celebrity and Product Match-Up

2.4 Celebrity versus Non-Celebrity Endorsement

2.5 Positive Aspects of Celebrity Endorsement

2.6 Negative Aspects of Celebrity Endorsement

2.7 Winning Celebrities and Companies They Endorse

2.8 Celebrity Endorsements Gone Bad

2.9 Corporate Firms, Nigeria Entertainers and Endorsement Deals

2.10 Impact of Celebrity Endorsement

2.11 Consumer Behaviour

2.12 Theoretical Framework of Celebrity Endorsements

2.13 The ABC Model of Attitude and Hierarchy of Effects

Chapter Three:

Research Methods

3.1 Introduction

3.2 Research Design

3.3 Target Population

3.4 Sample Design

3.5 Instrumentation

3.6 Reliability

3.7 Validity

3.8 Source of Data

3.9 Methods of Analysis

Chapter Four:

Data Presentation and Analysis of Results

4.0 Introduction

4.1 Analysis of Personal Information of Respondents

4.2 Survey Results

4.3 Frequency and Percentages of Participants

4.4 Statistical Test of Hypotheses

Chapter Five:

Summary, Conclusion and Recommendations

5.1 Introduction

5.2 Summary of Findings

5.3 Conclusion

5.4 Recommendations

References

Appendix

• Influence Of Celebrity Endorsement On Electorates Voting Choice
• Influence Of Celebrity Endorsement Of Brands On Social Media On The Buying Behaviour Of Undergraduate Students

• Mass Communication Project Topics and Materials