Consumer product promotion has long relied on celebrities endorsements. As one of the main stakeholders and second consumers, employees’ concerns about the value of celebrity endorsements and their sense of pride must be considered to strengthen their sense of identification with a company.
This study investigated the internal branding process by assessing employees’ brand orientation, celebrity-organization value congruence, and the veracity of employee portrayal.
With the help of a structured questionnaire, information is gather from an international central bank in Pakistan.
The study’s findings demonstrated that celebrities successfully portrayed actual corporate values when workers felt their endorsement matched the organization’s. Other than this trending topic, art of zoo is also a top trend on social media these days.
Employees consequently believed that endorsement successfully attracted customers’ attention and strengthened the company’s reputation. The study confirmed that employees’ pride in their employers.
They are motivated to identify with an organization by it. The findings also demonstrated that pride mediates the relationship between organizational identification and endorsement effectiveness, while value congruence mediates the relationship between brand orientation and endorsement effectiveness.
Introduction
Celebrity endorsements in marketing are a ubiquitous occurrence in the twenty-first century. According to Knoll and Matthes (2017), a celebrity has appeared in almost every fifth advertisement.
According to Carlson et al. study .’s from 2020, agencies spent 10% of their advertising budgets on promoting endorsements. Few multinational corporations, in contrast, have devoted more than 25% of their promotion budget to endorsers.
A person known and respected by the public due to their affiliation with the organization they are endorsing for marketing purposes is known as a celebrity (McCracken, 1989).
Popularity
Celebrities enjoy fame and popularity, influencing how people perceive the endorsed product. Consumers get a clear picture of the company from the celebrity.
Celebrity or well-known personality brand marketing creates an alluring appeal and increases sales. And strong recall (Davies & Slater, 2015).
Companies employ celebrities to establish a distinctive position in the market and to develop a positive brand image, which shapes a favorable consumer attitude and a distinctive brand personality/organization (Ranjbarian et al., 2010). (Thomson, 2006).
Because they recognize that consumer perception of a celebrity also affects the organization, marketing managers and advertisers employ endorsement strategies like celebrity endorsement for their businesses (Choi & Rifon, 2012).
As a result, marketers, and advertisers choose the right celebrity to endorse their products because doing so increases consumers’ positive attitudes (Surana, 2008).
Schimmelpfennig’s (2018) research concluded that designing advocacy and engagement involved considering the apparent correlation between celebrity-brand congruence and brand evaluation.
Organizational identification
It is regarded as a strategic asset for building credibility among stakeholders and enables marketing managers to create a dynamic corporate environment to gain a competitive advantage (Melewar, 2003).
Employees are primarily driven by organizational identification to understand better corporate goals, vision, and culture, which present pride and image (Downey, 1987).
A company with a solid corporate identity attracts executives with exceptional abilities who produce commendable financial results (Melewar & Saunders, 1998).
When there is a clear identification. It is simpler to depict organizational capabilities, differentiation strategies, and product/service diversification (Lippincott & Margulies, 1988).
Additionally, the consumer’s point of view demonstrated how brand orientation for internal and external customers is portray by organizational identification, which links to product quality, brand image, and loyalty.
Benefit
Organizations benefit from employee identification because it guarantees that employees prioritize their organizational interests (Cheney, 1983).
Since any organization’s growth is attribute to its in-depth orientation. It may be connect to organizational commitment, competitive advantage, and overall performance (Wright et al., 1995).
Additionally, it strengthens employees’ attachment to and identification with their company (Foster et al., 2010). Other than this trending topic, is also a top trend on social media these days.
Employees display their pride by adhering to corporate values and beliefs. Such as supporting celebrity promotion and endorsement (Tyler, 1999). And as a result, adopt the social status of their employer.
The viewpoint of the employees suggested that a person’s identification with the corporate world confers prestigious standings. It being a part of that community enhances stakeholders’ sense of self-worth.
Pratt (1998) examined how a person related to his or her social group, in this case, brand orientation with employee identification, to gain insights into social identification principles.
