Problem Formulation: Is the consumers perceived brand personality of a celebrity endorser affected by a marketing activity and its transferred personality? Purpose: The purpose of this study is to explain the correlation and relation between the perceived brand personality of a celebrity endorser and a marketing activity he or she partakes in. Theoretical Framework: The frame of reference consists of existing theories regarding brand personality, celebrity endorsement, the Meaning of Transfer Model and Marketing Activities. Method: This study has chosen a deductive quantitative experimental research design. The collected primary data is consisting of 159 respondents divided into three groups who answered an group specific online survey which was distributed through private social media channels. Empirical Findings: The results in this study comprehends of 159 respondents attitude of a celebrity endorser, which has been analysed through statistical methods. Conclusion: The study’s results point out that there is no significant change on a celebrity endorsers perceived brand personality affected by the effect of a marketing activity, which can be statistically proven. The results showed a slight variance, however these are most likely a result of random.

xvi, 152 p. : col. ill. / Millions of dollars are spent on celebrity contracts each year by assuming that the benefits of using celebrities will exceed the costs. Accordingly, many researchers have studied the impact of celebrity endorsements on advertising effectiveness. One of the theories used frequently by these researchers is the match-up hypothesis. This theory suggests that there should be a good fit between the celebrity and the product; however, it is not clear what constitutes a good fit. Some researchers suggested that attractive celebrities will be more effective if they are used to promote attractiveness-related products. Other researchers claimed that when there is congruence between the product type and the celebrity profession, advertising effectiveness will be enhanced; however, these existing dimensions of the match-up hypothesis fall short of explaining some popular celebrity endorsement campaigns (e.g., Sharpie Pens and David Beckham). The current research contributes to the study of celebrity endorsements by adding another dimension, values, to the match-up hypothesis. Specifically, the congruence between celebrity values (as perceived by consumers) and values represented by products was considered as an alternative to the attractiveness and expertise dimensions. In a series of six experiments, support for the positive impact of celebrity-product value congruence on advertising effectiveness was found. College students exposed to the high value congruence ad spent less time in examining the ad, suggesting that participants were easily and quickly able to match up the celebrities and products. Moreover, participants who were exposed to the high value congruence ad had significantly more favorable attitudes toward ad and brand, had higher intentions to buy the product, and were more likely to recommend the product to other people than were participants who were exposed to the low value congruence ad. The results also suggested that value congruence with unfamiliar celebrities was more effective than value congruence with familiar celebrities for generating more favorable attitudes toward ad and brand and higher behavioral intentions, due probably to the minimized effect of pre-established thoughts or feelings about unfamiliar celebrities. Together these results suggest that the congruence between celebrity and product values plays an important role in advertising effectiveness. / Committee in charge: Lynn R. Kahle, Chairperson; Joan Giese, Member; David Boush, Member; Deborah Morrison, Outside Member

Social media has become an attractive platform for companies to advertise their brands on and a common method is to pay internet celebrities to use their fame to promote the companies’ brands. One of these social media platforms is Youtube where “YouTubers” using their fame to promote brands on a daily basis in form of video logs (vlogs). Studies has indicated that the more credibility an endorser has, the more likely the purchase intention is, but also higher retention for the advertised brand. Therefor the purpose of this study is to describe the factors of endorser credibility, benefiting endorsers in how they can increase their credibility. The study also looked at the relation between endorsers’ credibility and attitude towards the advertisement, benefiting companies in choosing the most profitable endorser. A quantitative study was conducted to answer the research purpose, where a questionnaire was sent out to students on LUT (Luleå University of Technology). The results of this study suggested that endorsers credibility consists of all the five factors that was looked at in this study which was trustworthiness, attractiveness, expertise, homogeneous and tie strength. Findings of this study also suggested a direct and positive relation between some factors of endorser credibility with attitude towards advertisement

Background - Celebrity endorsement is not a new phenomenon and it can be seen in advertisements around the world. Since the content of an advertisement easily can be screened out, it is important to target the right consumer. There has to be a fit between the consumer, the endorser and the product. Since gender plays a crucial part when understanding consumer behavior, knowledge about gender differences needs to be taken into account when creating a marketing strategy.      Purpose - Consumers in today’s society are being exposed to an extreme amount of advertisements and other marketing tools. Advertisements in connection to gender are an uncertain and complex issue since the consumer is largely affected by gender differences. Today, the concept of using a celebrity in advertisements is a common tool for marketers in order to efficiently reach out to the right target customer. Therefore, the purpose of this thesis is to study the relationship between consumer behavior and the use of gender differences as a marketing strategy. Significantly, how celebrity endorsers influence female and male consumers differently in the Swedish sport industry.   Method - This thesis was conducted using an abductive approach together with a mixed methods approach. The data was collected with the use of focus groups and a questionnaire, resulting in a qualitative as well as quantitative approach. The data from the questionnaire complemented the data from the focus groups, which lead to a deeper understanding of the topic.   Findings - The findings of this thesis show that both the gender of the consumer and the gender of the celebrity need to be taken into account when creating a marketing strategy. Further, the authors argue that consumers are filtering information in promotions differently depending on gender, and therefore knowledge of gender differences will influence the effectiveness of a celebrity endorsed promotion. The findings of this thesis strengthen previous literature to some extent, but do also enhance the readers to new insights.

The concept of vampire effect in advertising appears to be underresearched by marketing specialists. In the race for getting attention of target audience advertisers often use special attention-getting devices. This in turn exposes them to a higher risk of creating a vampire effect when the core message about the brand or a product is eaten up by such devices. Therefore this study provides deepeer insights into the vampire effect occurences. A deductive approach is used. First secondary literature review on preconditions of vampire effect occurrences and various types of vampire effect is covered. Primary data collection and analysis is performed next. This part is narrowed down to researching vampire effect risks when using celebrities as attention-getting device in printed advertisement. Research tools of this study include an eye-tracking device and a survey of 72 students from the University of Economics in Prague. The research concludes that a significantly higher risk of creating a vampire effect exists when using an unrelated attention-getting device. Marketers are advised to use related celebrities if choosing to stick to the attention-getting device approach. However, the concept of "relatedness" should be effectively pre-tested prior to advertising campaign start.

Vilken roll spelar offentliga personer i Cancerfondens externa kommunikation på Instagram, och vilka tänkbara identiteter kan detta generera i? Vi har gjort en kvalitativ retorisk undersökning med material insamlat från Cancerfondens Instagram, där specifikt inlägg med offentliga personers medverkan studerats. I analysen diskuteras materialet utifrån tre identitetskategorier som var särskilt utmärkande bland inläggen: Familj, Det vardagliga livet och Det hälsosamma livet. Vi presenterar ett resultat som tyder på att offentliga personer har en central roll i skapandet av relationer till en tänkt publik, vilket i sin tur kan genereras i olika identiteter. Cancerfondens kommunikativa arbete tolkas ha ett genomgående fokus med syfte att skapa en gemenskapskänsla i deras relationer med hjälp av de offentliga personerna. Denna relation tycks styras mer eller mindre av en medieframställd bild av den offentliga personen, som dessutom ska gestalta en “vanlig” människa. Det gör att vi kritiserar hur trovärdig och äkta denna relation faktiskt är.

Celebrity endorsements have become an increasingly common phenomenon in marketing. Simultaneously the world has been digitalized and social media is now a matter of course rather than an exception. The most active people on digital platforms have been shown to be young people. The aim of this study was to investigate how young consumers' attitudes and trust are affected by celebrity endorsement as a result of the increased use of social media. The study was performed with a qualitative method based on a focus group interview and several individual semi-structured interviews. The results showed critical attitudes towards the strategy where celebrities through social media are seen as ordinary people. The interest in celebrities turned out to be saturated. At the same time, some form of connection was shown to celebrities in order to create trust. The analysis showed an ambiguity in some aspects, however, celebrity endorsers were found to have a major impact on brand recognition which benefit companies marketing and simplify consumers' purchase decisions.

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Nowadays, about one fourth of all prime time commercials in the United States feature celebrity endorsers. Previous research has identified numerous benefits of this powerful marketing strategy. Unfortunately, celebrities have been increasingly involved in negative publicity in the recent past. Using event study methodology, I examine the influence of negative celebrity endorser publicity on immediate and subsequent stock returns, covering 59 events during a 25 year period from 1988 to 2012. My research shows that firms do not have to take losses for granted. By choosing proactive versus reactive/passive strategies, firms can successfully counteract the subsequent negative stock returns. Thus, it is not the negative event itself that drives the subsequent financial performance, but rather the immediate response of firms. Although immediate firm reactions increase the salience of the event and cause stock prices to drop initially, they also build up investors' trust and confidence again, ultimately leading to increased stock returns in the subsequent weeks. On the flipside, a reactive/passive strategy shows a lack of control and leadership, which can lead to substantial financial losses in the subsequent weeks. I show that this main effect is attenuated for subsidiary (vs. corporate) brands. Further, the appropriateness of the reaction (match between expected and actual firm reaction) is also crucial. Overall, this dissertation helps to advance the knowledge regarding the financial risk of negative celebrity endorser publicity and provides firms with advice to best manage the situation. / Ph. D.