The increasing involvement of individuals in social media over the past decade has enabled firms to pursue new avenues in communication and sponsoring activities. Besides general research on either social media or sponsoring, questions regarding the consequences of a joint activity (sponsoring activities in social media) remain unexplored. Hence, the present study analyses whether the perceived image of the brand and the celebrity endorser credibility of a top sports team influence the perceived brand value of the sponsoring firm in a social media setting. Moreover, these effects are compared between existing customers and non-customers of the sponsoring firm. Interestingly, perceived celebrity endorser credibility plays no role in forming brand value perceptions in the case of the existing customers. Implications for marketing theory and practice are derived. (authors' abstract)

Titel: Celebrity endorsement är väl ingen sport – En studie om hur sportmodevarumärken använder celebriteter i varumärkesbyggande syfte Författare: Erik Hagberg & Niklas Radhammar Handledare: Thomas Helgesson Nivå: Kandidatuppsats, Marknadsföring 15 hp, VT 2012 Nyckelord: Varumärke, varumärkeskapital, celebrity endorsement, celebrity endorser, sportmodevarumärke, varumärkesbyggande Problemformulering: Hur arbetar sportmodevarumärken på den svenska marknaden med celebriteter i sina varumärkesbyggande processer? Syfte: Syftet med denna uppsats är att med utgångspunkt i den teoretiska referensramen och en abduktiv fallstudie av fem varumärken, kartlägga hur sportmodevarumärken arbetar med celebriteter i varumärkesbyggande ändamål på den svenska marknaden. Vi vill även analysera positiva effekter och risker vid användning av celebriteter i varumärkesstrategier. Metod: En kvalitativ ansats med ett abduktivt angreppssätt har använts, där beslutsfattare från fem varumärken har intervjuats inom uppsatsens ämne. De fem företagen är adidas, Craft, Tenson, Peak Performance samt Unihoc. Alla dessa arbetar aktivt med celebrity endorsement som strategi i varumärkesbyggande och marknadskommunikation. Teoretiskt perspektiv: Avsnittet inleds med en grundläggande beskrivning av varumärkeskapital samt hur celebriteter kan addera ytterligare värde till kapitalet. Därefter behandlas fenomenet celebrity endorsement samt processen vid urval av celebritet inom samma ämne. Teoriavsnittet berör även de positiva effekter samt risker som kan uppstå vid användningen av celebrity endorsement. Avslutningsvis behandlas även return on investment gällande celebrity endorsement. Empiriskt perspektiv: I det empiriska kapitlet presenteras de intervjuer vi utfört med ansvarig för respektive varumärke. Empirin speglar deras användning av celebrity endorsement. Slutsats: Studien visar att celebrity endorsement kan användas på olika sätt för att bygga varumärkeskapital, men även för att stärka varumärket i sin helhet. Vi anser att celebrity endorsement är en långsiktig strategi och inte som många teorier hävdar, en kortsiktig. Vi kan även dra slutsatsen att den risk som tas upp i samband med de teorier som präglar uppsatsen inte överensstämmer med våra fallföretags upplevda risk. De anser att risken är liten vid användning av celebrity endorsers.

Background – Celebrity endorsement has been researched to a great extent, however the main focus of the previous research has been about the effectiveness and the neg-ative/positive information about the celebrity and the brand. Additionally, previous studies on gender differences have been conducted; however it has not been done in consideration with celebrity endorsement in the fashion industry. Purpose – This study aims to examine if there is a difference between how men and women perceive celebrity endorsement in the fashion industry. The purpose is to gain a deeper understanding of factors that affects how genders perceive celebrity endorsement, and lastly to research if the celebrity endorsement has a positive or negative effect on the brand endorsed. Method – The theoretical framework was tested through focus groups conducted with students from Jönköping University. It was also researched through an online questionnaire that was spread to the author’s personal networks via social media. The questions have been designed according to the AIDA-framework to help address im-portant steps that the consumer goes through. Conclusion – The findings suggests that there is a difference between how men and women perceive celebrity endorsement. The women analyze different cues to a greater extent and tend to be more skeptical, while the men focus mostly on the prominent cues. Moreover, the findings show that both men and women are more at-tentive to a male celebrity endorser than a female celebrity endorser.

Endorser is common in advertising for marketing strategies. The firms spend hundreds of million dollars to hire celebrities to endorse their products and brands. Appropriate endorsers are beneficial in brand differentiation and help competitive advantage building. Previous researches in match-up between endorser and product image have two diverse points of view (congruity vs. incongruity). The latest research reveals that in moderate incongruity would accommodate the two different views. Based on the three inconsistent findings, this study explores the effects of gender-based trait through different match-up levels of endorser and service type. The present study uses experimental design to investigate the advertising effects of endorser¡¦s gender (male vs. female), endorser¡¦s gendered traits (male vs. female), and service type (masculine vs. neutral vs. feminine). Thus, a 2x2x3 factorial design is conducted. The ad effects are measured by perceived quality, attitudes toward the brand, and purchase intention to observe the responses under twelve different and fictitious scenarios. The results indicate that a male endorser with female traits is more effective than a male endorser with male traits, especially promoting feminine-based service marketing. Besides, consumers¡¦ perceived quality is different when evaluating match-up combinations based on endorser¡¦s gender. Moreover, when promoting a masculine-based service, a female endorser with female trait is more effective than a male endorser with male traits in perceived quality and purchase intentions. According to these findings, the research provides implications for researchers and marketers on match-up between endorser and service type.

Social media offers a myriad of opportunities for entrepreneurial marketing strategies that leverage the power of communities, especially when they are combined with traditional approaches such as celebrity endorsement. The reach, frequency, and speed of communication on social media offer the ideal leverage for the drivers of entrepreneurial marketing. However, the rapid rate of change may threaten the effects of investments in entrepreneurial marketing on social media and they might become only short-lived. Employing structural equation modeling, we test the long-term effect of Facebook-based celebrity endorsement on purchase intention among 234 members of a Facebook fan community in a two-wave longitudinal design. We argue that this relationship is mediated by a sponsor's brand image and moderated by brand differentiation. This study is the first to investigate the long-term effects of entrepreneurial marketing on social media. We present the contributions and implications of our findings as they affect research and practice.