David Beckham as One of the Most Successful Endorsers

David Beckham was one of the most successful endorsers in the late 1990s and the early twenty-first century. What were the reasons for the success as an endorser? What values did he signify as a brand and what were the advantages that the companies who used him obtained? (Answer with special reference to Beckham’s popularity in the Far East) David Beckham was one of the most successful endorsers in the late 1990s and the early twenty-first century for the following reasons:

David Beckham’s image: David Beckham portrayed a very confident and attractive image that appealed to a wide range of people, both football fans and people who had no idea on the concept of football. He was the well sort out star. He also had a charismatic character and very attractive image that appealed to both women and men alike. In the late 1990’s, he brought a new concept of promoting the well image of men. For instance, in 1997, Beckham endorsed Brylcreem’s hairstyling gel, traditionally used by older men.

However, Brylcreem’s thought its best business strategy to remove the perception of the product being used by older men to the perception of it being used by young attractive people; the Company thought that its best strategy was to use the image of Beckham to portray its image as appealing to the young market. Also, another reason why David Beckham is a successful brand is due to his appeals a wide range of audiences be, it perfume or underwear that he endorses, men want to look like him and women what their husband’s to look like him as well.

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David Beckham’s character: Beckham had a special ability to be able to reach out to all kinds of people- high, middle or low class people, he possesses universal appeal and his popularity exceeds all barriers of nationality, gender or age. He is perceived as a very charitable person. Consumers generally love to be associated with well-mannered super stars and David Beckham embodied that with his personality. Also Beckham never forgot his humble beginning, growing up in an underprivileged family in London. On his rise to fame, he has continuously been conscious of where he came from and made giving back a huge part of the Beckham brand.

David is also a well-known philanthropist. This cements his brand as a kind-hearted and relatable individual. He recently “made history” by revealing that he will be donating his entire earnings from his new contract with Paris St German to children’s charity in Paris. This is one of many philanthropic acts he has been in involved in. In addition, he is founding member of malaria no more and has been appointed as one of the ambassadors of UNICEF. Beckham operates two footballs schools. The first one was founded in London and the second in Los Angeles.

Although the London location closed in the early 2010, the facilities are still been used for football coaching. This is one of many of his many generous acts. David Beckham’s marital status and family man: Beckham’s marriage to Spice Girls super star, Victoria also made him a natural choice for marketers to use in promoting their products. Primarily famous as a football player, his marriage to “Posh Spice” provided him with the necessary connection and a platform for a successful crossover to the celebrity world of entertainment and fashion. The couples are both seen to be fashion icons.

Therefore whatever they do seem to capture the imagination of the public, who want to emulate them at all cost. Victoria plays a vital role in the design of Beckham’s brand. The couples were also the favorites on the media because of the iconic fashion style. They were also project the image of a family man who loves his wife and this appeals to main sections of the public. This also helped increase his popularity in Asian countries, which gives a lot of significance to family. This set a good image for a lot of brand to want to use David Beckham as an endorser for their products.

David Beckham signified many values. Some of the values and the benefits derived by the companies who used him are highlighted below: Beckham had an endorsement deal with German manufacturer, Adidas. He was selected to endorse this deal mainly for his charismatic character and the manufacturers had a strong believe that using Beckham for this endorsement will develop positive brand awareness among consumers. As a result, Adidas product became popular known among a lot of consumer. Brand awareness and purchase increased once Beckham endorsed Adidas. Beckham ad an endorsement deal with Brylcreem’s hairstyling gel, traditionally used by older men. The Company decided to use Beckham to change the stereotype of its image. The Company wanted its product to appeal to young people as well. The Company’s strategy worked, as it was able to reposition the image of its brand from older people to younger people.

Beckham also signed a contract with Castrol Power 1 in order to market auto lubricants in the Asian market. Beckham is known to be a winner and to be a highly successful person. Using Beckham as an endorser ensured that the brand increased in brand equity in the Asian region. Beckham endorsed Vodafone as well. The company thought that using a successful celebrity will definitely promote their brand and appeal to a wide range of consumers. They were right! Beckham became Vodafone’s international face in 2002 and since then Vodafone’s global sales increased by one- third. From 2003, David Beckham’s football career experienced a number of turbulences. First was him resigning as the English Captain and then by the end of 2006 he was unable to hold on to his first team place. Then in is period we saw David rebrand himself as several things.

These are as follows Loving Father, Caring husband; self-expressed idol and fashionable metro sexual man. And as he fell from his footballing grace, David’s commercial celebrity appeal wore off as he lost numerous lucrative endorsement contracts. But just as everyone was writing him off, he signed a deal with the Los Angeles in the United States worth an estimates $350 million over five years. Companies such as Adidas want to be endorsed by sports stars such as David Beckham because the source of the message has a huge impact on the likelihood that such a message will be accepted.

Prospective customers are more attracted to advert messages portrayed by celebrity stars; generally when a celebrity such as David Beckham advertises a product, the consumers are more likely to purchase the product, just to be associated with such celebrities. People who are sensitive about acceptance and opinions are more persuaded by an attractive source while those who are internally oriented are swayed by a credible, expected source for companies like Adidas. Beckham provides both credibility and attractiveness. Adidas sports products acknowledged using Beckham could help create a positive attitude towards the product.

As for the source attractiveness, which refers to the source’s perceived social value; the value of Adidas automatically increases as a top celebrity, David Beckham, endorses it. This thereby, increases the purchase of Adidas in the market place. David Beckham is considered as a physically attractive man with high regards to his nature, people are drawn to him. A physically attractive celebrity affects the consumers purchase, intentions and product evaluation. Using Beckham in their advertisement campaigns, Adidas captures more attention of the public.

Furthermore, Beckham attractiveness can be a source of information and proof for the consumers as the effectiveness of the product. Consumers might relate the comfort and success during Beckham’s play to Adidas and success during Beckham’s play to Adidas and his looks and grooming to Gillette. When a customer or consumer is looking at an endorsement of a product or service there are only three main reasons why it would like to buy the product or service. The first reason is the quality, secondly, it is due to the price and quantity is the third reason.

A brand endorser needs to exhibit specific values concerning the product or service the endorser is supporting as well as to the potential customers. According to the news on BBC Television, David Beckham was referred to as the hottest marketing machine in the late 1990s and in the early twenty-first century after the great basket baller Michael Jordan. There were many reasons why David Beckham was one of the most successful endorser. He was a very skilled and talented football player, was good looking, had a good image, attractive style and was married to a pop star.

David Beckham was seen as a life style icon being that he did not appear in the advertisements dressed as a football player but he dressed in casual clothes. Companies that hired David Beckham as their brand endorser always experienced success as the employers had all their products sold out as he also changed the trends of the market. For instance, mostly older men used Brylcreem hair styling gel before David Beckham became the endorser, but Beckham endorsement saw potential younger men embrace the product.

For example, Brylcreem hair styling gel was used only by older men before David Beckham became the endorser and as a result even the potential young buyers started using them. A brand endorser needs to portray certain values relating to the product service; the endorser is endorsing as well as the potential buyers. For example, to market boxing gloves, the endorser needs to show respect as well as importance towards the sport of boxing. In the same way, David Beckham had a clean cut image of a family man he did not smoke and was not a frequent alcohol drinker which is the way of life of the Far East people. This is why his endorsement was much appreciated by the Far East culture and people leading to a massive hit and success there. Advantages companies achieved from David Beckham. It saw sales Increase in companies like Meiji used his face in the advertisement leading to doubled sales.

It opened new markets the endorsements were to be seen by people watching football, following fashion and pop music as he was married to a pop star. Real Madrid paid a huge price to acquire Beckham. however, the club was confident of recovering the amount it paid within a short period by cashing in on his appeal. ow did real Madrid stand to benefit through the acquisition of Beckham? was the price it paid for him justified? According to an article on New York Times, Real Madrid paid $41. 31 million to David Beckham. The price was justified. As David Beckham was an amazing player as well as the best endorser. so Real Madrid has not only the advantage of his amazing football skills but also the advantages of his able to sell products for Real Madrid for example, T-shirts, Pens, Football kits etc. The price was also justified as most of the Asian football fans watched football only because of their favorites players.

As a result there was an enormous transfer of fans from Manchester united to Real Madrid. This not only increases the viewers of their matches but also increased their sales of products. Analysts believed that out of 17 million fans, 5 million fans would shift. Another reason that justified the price of the transfer was that David Beckham’s sponsors and endorsers at individual level matched exactly to the Real Madrid’s sponsors. This did not happen when he was playing for Manchester united. QUESTION 3 Celebrity endorsements were the biggest marketing trend in the early twenty-first century. Discuss the phenomenon of celebrity endorsement.

What are the implications of using people as brands? what are the advantages and disadvantages experienced by the company as well as the celebrity? * Appeal of the celebrity: An endorsement can be affected by the attractiveness of the celebrity or endorser. The endorser should possess certain characteristics at make it appealing to the target audience. These can be their lifestyle, ethics, physical attraction, marital status or physical capability. It has been established that there is a greater probability that the audience would remember the brand on the condition that the endorser is attractive and appeals to them. Credibility of the celebrity: A critical part of celebrity endorsement is credibility of the endorser. This has to be exhibited by the celebrity through their lifestyle. This means that the endorser has to be perceived as an expert amongst his/her peers and also reliable and trustworthy.

The integrity of the endorser has a great impact on customer acceptance. * Attention Grabbing: A celebrity endorser can act as a signboard in the manner that it attracts the attention in the midst of cluttered market. Consumers become more aware of celebrity related good in comparison to goods without. In that sense it could be the justification for choosing the good with the endorsement and not the competitors. Examples of good celebrity endorsement, Roger Federer- Rolex, Madonna-Versace Disadvantages of celebrity endorsement Consistency in the long run: one potential problem of endorsing a product with a celebrity is the long-term relationship between the celebrity and the brand this in turn could effect the audience perception and could have an adverse effect on the consumer.

Consequently, if the image if the celebrity’s positive image changes, problems would occur in the consumer’s perception of the brand. An example is Chris brown who has been losing his go milk endorsement after brutally beating up his girlfriend. Over endorsing: This could occur as a result of the celebrity attracting a lot of customers but the customers focus on the celebrity and fails to realize the brand. Companies have to ensure that this doesn’t transpire by conveying advertising securities and other communications.

Overexposure: This issue occurs when a celebrity has endorsed too many companies and products. A good example is David Beckham. He has endorsed for countless companies namely Adidas, Pepsi, Gillette, Japanese TV, EA Sports and so on. As an individual with a net worth of ? 150 million as of April 2012, there is little to do to promote or improve his image nevertheless there are several things that the Beckham’s can do in order to increase their net worth and create a greater international presence. One of which is a possible attempt at acting.

There has been recent news stating that the football star would star in a new TV series across the Atlantic. This could possible be a yet another way to broaden the Beckham brand. Beckham also has great plans for his fashion future he is currently endorsing his own branded underwear with the giant clothing retail store H&M and aims to achieve the success of Calvin Klein. Another option would be to involve the children so as to expand the brand. This has already been done as their second oldest son Romeo has recently made his modeling debut in a high profile Burberry campaign for the spring/summer 2013.

In conclusion In the case study, it is seen that David Beckham was being transferred for his endorsement skills and not all to do with his football skills as Real Madrid has bought three world-class players just before getting David Beckham. Real Madrid needed him to increase its commercial presence in the world. Hence the price was justified as David Beckham got Real Madrid back its investment as well as profits. When a customer or consumer is looking at an endorsement of a product or service, there are three major reasons why it would like to buy the product or service. A brand endorser needs to exhibit specific values concerning the product or service the endorser is supporting as well as to the potential customers. David Beckham was a very successful endorser and all his employers benefited from him as well.

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