This Paper has won Consolation Prize in the CoolAvenues' Paper-writing Competition - "In Search of Excellence" - for the Year 2005.

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"A sign of celebrity is that his name is often worth more than his services."

- Daniel J. Boorstin

Introduction

The motif behind total branding may be decocted as an attempt to amalgamate diverse activities to win customer preference. Apropos to this context, the topic "Impact of Celebrity Endorsement on Overall Brand" is a significant one. The crescendo of celebrities endorsing brands has been steadily increasing over the past years. Marketers overtly acknowledge the power of celebrities in influencing consumer-purchasing decisions. It is a ubiquitously accepted fact that celebrity endorsement can bestow upon a product special attributes it might not otherwise have. But everything is not honky-dory; celebrities are after all mere mortals made of flesh and blood like us. If a celebrity can aggrandize the merits of a brand, he or she can also exacerbate the image of a brand.

If I may take the liberty of rephrasing Aristotle’s quote on anger, "Any brand can get a celebrity. That is easy. But getting a celebrity consistent with the right brand, to the right degree, at the right time, for the right purpose and in the right way... that is not easy."

Celebrity endorsements are impelled by virtue of the following motives: -