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6. Mohammad Azharuddin - Britannia (Change of the Celebrity Image)

Mohammad Azharuddin, at the peak of his career was a brand ambassador for an assortment of products. But the match-fixing case besmirched his image and all of the products started disassociating their endorsements from him.
Thus, a product is sold on basis of the qualities of the endorser and with a change in the inherent value system of the celebrity; the bond with the consumer is lost.

7. Narain Karthikeyan - Jordan / Formula 1 Racing (Entering International Markets)

A celebrity's endorsement through various cultural and social roadblocks is one of the critical applications of our model; Narain is a case in point. The popularity of F1 as a sport in India owes its genesis to use of Narain as a brand ambassador of the sport. His image and persona has been used by the sport and the Jordan team to create brand awareness in India.

8. Sachin Tendulkar - Fiat Palio (Financial Viability)

Sachin Tendulkar was paid a huge sum of Rs. 12 Crore to endorse Fiat Palio, even though Tendulkar as a brand could command such an exorbitant amount. It's for the company to evaluate if the returns generated by the endorsement would commensurate the initial spend. In this case due to excessive spending and failure of the product to take-off the advertisements had to be withdrawn.

Conclusion

As has been identified in the analysis framework, the impact of any Celebrity endorsement campaign depends on three factors - Brand, Customer and Endorser as well as the interrelationship between -

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* Contributed by: -
Ankur Khera & Rahul Chowdhury,
PGPM - Batch 2004,
Management Development Institute (MDI), Gurgaon.