Endorsement mechanisms and their implications to celebrity CEOs
| Mechanism | Key content | Sources | Implications |
|---|---|---|---|
| Source credibility model | The celebrity being the source of a communication and the consumer being the receiver; three dimensions of source credibility (trustworthiness, expertise, attractiveness) | Arai et al. (2014), Ohanian (1990), Silvera and Austad (2004) | Celebrity CEOs credibility as an endorser is based on that he/she is trustworthy, attractive and provides expertise in his field which refers to be professional |
| Congruence theory | Congruence of the product with the celebrity creates a more favorable impact on consumer attitudes than that of an incongruent celebrity-product combination | Bergkvist et al. (2016), Lafferty (2009), Simonin and Ruth (1998), Amos et al. (2008), Choi and Rifon (2007) | Congruence and fit respectively, in the combination of celebrity CEO and corporate leads to a more positive perception of this combination by consumers compared to incongruence |
| Meaning transfer model | The celebrity personifies a set of meanings to the consumer; these meanings get transferred to the brand from the celebrity through an endorsement | McCracken (1989), Bergkvist and Zhou (2016) | Celebrity CEOs transfer evaluative and non-evaluative associations to a brand (e.g., a corporate brand); customers then consume this set of meanings |
| Co-branding | Two or more individual brands, products, or other distinct proprietary assets are in combination; a co-brand may positively influence quality perceptions of unobservable product attributes of a partner brand | Close et al. (2011), Fillis (2015), Fournier (2010), Parmentier and Fischer (2012), Preece and Kerrigan, (2015), Speed et al. (2015), Swaminathan et al. (2012) | The partnering between a celebrity CEO and a corporate brand implies that specific attributes spill over from each brand to the other and thus have an impact on perception of the celebrity CEO and the corporate brand, respectively |
| Brand alliance | A brand is presented in the context of another brand and vice versa to form a synergistic alliance | Erevelles et al. (2008), Gammoh and Voss (2011), Park et al. (1996), Rao and Ruekert (1994), Rodrigue and Biswas (2004), Simonin and Ruth (1998) | A celebrity CEO-corporate brand combination will create an impact on each party’s brand and will shape attitudes towards the alliance |
| Brand personality | The set of human characteristics associated with a brand used through anthropomorphism | Aaker (1997), Aggarwal and McGill (2012), Eisend and Stokburger-Sauer (2013), Lee (2014) | Celebrity CEOs as natural human beings and other brands (e.g. corporate brands) are ascribed to be associated with human-like characteristics (e.g. age, skills, attitudes, traits/attributes), which facilitates the consumer-brand-relationship building |
| Mechanism | Key content | Sources | Implications |
|---|---|---|---|
| The celebrity being the source of a communication and the consumer being the receiver; three dimensions of source credibility (trustworthiness, expertise, attractiveness) | Celebrity CEOs credibility as an endorser is based on that he/she is trustworthy, attractive and provides expertise in his field which refers to be professional | ||
| Congruence of the product with the celebrity creates a more favorable impact on consumer attitudes than that of an incongruent celebrity-product combination | Congruence and fit respectively, in the combination of celebrity CEO and corporate leads to a more positive perception of this combination by consumers compared to incongruence | ||
| The celebrity personifies a set of meanings to the consumer; these meanings get transferred to the brand from the celebrity through an endorsement | Celebrity CEOs transfer evaluative and non-evaluative associations to a brand (e.g., a corporate brand); customers then consume this set of meanings | ||
| Two or more individual brands, products, or other distinct proprietary assets are in combination; | The partnering between a celebrity CEO and a corporate brand implies that specific attributes spill over from each brand to the other and thus have an impact on perception of the celebrity CEO and the corporate brand, respectively | ||
| A brand is presented in the context of another brand and vice versa to form a synergistic alliance | A celebrity CEO-corporate brand combination will create an impact on each party’s brand and will shape attitudes towards the alliance | ||
| The set of human characteristics associated with a brand used through anthropomorphism | Celebrity CEOs as natural human beings and other brands (e.g. corporate brands) are ascribed to be associated with human-like characteristics (e.g. age, skills, attitudes, traits/attributes), which facilitates the consumer-brand-relationship building |
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