Multiple Endorsements and ConsumerHuman Brand Attachment Jasmina Ilicic

Multiple Endorsements and Consumer-Human Brand Attachment Jasmina Ilicic and Cynthia M. Webster Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia

Celebrity Endorsement Traditional Research Celebrity Characteristics ▪ ▪ Credibility (Hovland & Weiss 1951) Attractiveness (Mc. Guire 1985) Match-up (Kamins & Gupta 1994; Till & Busler 1998) Attractiveness Match-up ▪ Attractive celebrity-attractiveness enhancing product (Kamins 1990) Recent Research Consumer-Celebrity connections ▪ Self-concept (Escalas & Bettman 2009) ▪ Attachment (Thomson, 2006)

Consumer-Human Brand Attachment Relationships with celebrities (Thomson 2006) Self-Determination Theory (Ryan & Deci 2000) Extent to which the object meets three fundamental human needs: ▪ Autonomy ▪ Relatedness ▪ Competence Attachment Theory (Bowlby 1980) Separation Distress ▪ indicator of the strength of attachment bonds (Berman & Sperling 1994) Strong Relationship Outcomes Satisfaction, Trust and Commitment (Fletcher, Simpson & Thomas 2000)

Multiple Product/Brand Endorsements Overexposure potentially detrimental (Till 1998) Negative perceptions (Mowen & Brown 1981) Perceived as less credible (Tripp, Jensen & Carlson 1994)

Hypotheses H 1: Positive evaluations, in terms of a) attitude towards the advertisement b) attitude towards the brand c) purchase intention are greater when celebrities endorse a single branded product as opposed to endorsing multiple brands. H 2: Positive evaluations, in terms of a) attitude towards the advertisement b) attitude towards the brand c) purchase intention are greater when strong human brand attachment is present compared to weak attachment.

Control: Celebrity Characteristics Highly familiar Equal on attractiveness Product categories perceived as attractiveness-unrelated Human Brand product category perceived as being neither congruent nor incongruent Human brand not have previously endorsed any products

Method Pretesting Pretest 1: Celebrity selection Rove ▪ 25 Students ▪ Rove Mc. Manus and Eddie Mc. Guire ▪ Highly familiar and equal attractiveness ▪ Differing levels of attachment Eddie- Weak attachment Rove- Strong attachment ▪ Both had not endorsed brands previously Pretest 2: Product and brand name selection ▪ ▪ ▪ 19 students Product categories - attractiveness-unrelated Products neither congruent nor incongruent Photographica camera, Marc pen, Gafae coffee Translation in non-English languages Eddie

Experiment 2 x 2 Factorial Design Strong Attachment Weak Attachment Single Endorsement Multiple Endorsements Celebrity 1 Hypothetical brand: 1 Hypothetical brands: 1, 2, 3 Celebrity 2 Hypothetical brand: 1 Hypothetical brands: 1, 2, 3

Single Endorsement Ad Booklet Test Brand

Multiple Endorsement Ad Booklet Test Brand

Results: Aad Ab PI Significant, moderate positive relationships between: Aad and Ab ▪ Pearson’s r =. 404, p<. 01 Aad and PI ▪ Pearson’s r =. 485, p<. 01 Ab and PI ▪ Pearson’s r =. 421, p<. 01 Series of regression analyses- Baron and Kenny (1986) used for Sobel Test (Sobel 1982; Preacher and Leonardelli 2005). purchase intention is directly mediated via attitude towards the ad and attitude towards the brand ▪ test statistic of 3. 78 and significance at the 0. 001 level.

Results Strong Attachment More positive Aad and Ab Greater PI Variable Mean Weak Mean Strong Attachment 2. 1502 3. 0022 Ad Attitude 2. 4948 2. 9867 Brand Attitude 2. 9651 3. 1413 Purchase Intention 3. 0067 3. 4082

Results Aad, Ab and PI affected by Attachment not Endorsement Situation Dependent Variable Source Attitude towards the Attachment Ad Photographica Endorsement Attach * Endorse Attitude towards the Attachment Brand Endorsement Photographica Attach * Endorse Attachment Purchase Intention Endorsement for Photographica Attach * Endorse Sum of Squares 11. 413. 898. 299 1. 418. 177. 000 7. 865. 019 7. 789 Df 1 1 1 1 1 Mean Square F Sig. 11. 413 23. 401. 000. 898 1. 841. 177. 299. 614. 434 1. 418 6. 269. 013. 177. 783. 377. 000. 001. 977 7. 865 4. 309. 039. 010. 919 7. 789 4. 267. 040

Results Strong Attachment greater Aad and Ab in both single and multiple ES High 3. 1 High 3. 2 3. 0 2. 9 3. 1 Ab Aad 2. 8 2. 7 Single Endorsement 2. 6 2. 5 2. 3 Low Multiple Endorsements 2. 4 Strong Weak Attachment Single Endorsement 3. 0 Low 2. 9 Weak Attachment Strong

Results Strong Attachment High PI greater in single ES 3. 8 3. 6 3. 4 Weak Attachment PI greater in multiple ES PI 3. 2 3. 0 Single Endorsement 2. 8 Multiple Endorsements Low 2. 6 Weak Strong Attachment

Implications and Future Research Practitioners Identifying appropriate and effective endorsers for their brands ▪ Based on consumer-human brand attachment Future Research Purchase Intention requires further investigation Investigate genuine endorsement situations, using real ads with real brands.

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