Marketing Communications

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brand recall is concerned, for example, one could expect that jingles may have a positive

infl uence because by singing the jingle yourself aft erwards, you actually rehearse the brand

name and brand message over and over again. However, empirical studies show mixed results:

sometimes music seems to have a positive eff ect, sometimes a negative eff ect and sometimes

no eff ect at all on ad recall.^106 Regarding behavioural consequences, Gorn^107 demonstrated

experimentally that consumers were more likely to choose a specifi c colour of pen if they had

been exposed to an ad in which that pen had been paired with pleasant rather than unpleasant

music. Other researchers were not able to replicate his fi ndings, however.^108

Two moderating variables may partly account for these contradictory results.^109 Th e

eff ectiveness of music may depend on the attention-gaining value referring to the arousal or

activation potential of the musical sound. Fast, loud music, for example, can be expected to

have a higher attention-gaining value. However, although this type of music might initially

attract attention to the ad, it also distracts the listener, which leads to an impairment of

cognitive processing and brand information recall.^110 A second factor is music/message con-

gruence, referring to the extent that the music and the ad copy convey the same message.

Incongruence may lead to distraction from, instead of attention to, the brand message.

Endorsers

Experts can be used to demonstrate the quality or high technology of a product. For example,

toothpaste brands are oft en promoted by means of someone in a white lab coat to imply a

dentist’s opinion. Th e eff ectiveness of this type of ad is assumed to be based on the perceived

credibility of the experts’ judgement.^111 In contrast with testimonials, expert endorsements do

not seem to be perceived as irritating. On the contrary, one study even suggests experts evoke

more positive aff ective responses.^112

Celebrities can also be used to endorse a product. Th eir eff ectiveness is based on the

‘aspiration group’ eff ect. Examples of celebrity endorsement are George Clooney for Nescafé

and Martini, Tiger Woods for Nike and Accenture, David Beckham for Vodafone, etc.

Emerging markets such as India are important drivers of future sales growth. One important question is to what

degree branding and marketing communications in these markets should be standardised (globalisation), locally

adapted (localisation) or glocalised (‘globally localised’),^113 a global brand identity strategy that allows for country-

specific flexibility in communications mix decisions. Brand globalness is often associated with prestige and quality.^114

The use of celebrity endorsement is considered a powerful tool in creating or managing brand equity. At the same

time, the effectiveness of celebrity endorsement may differ across cultures.^115

In two experiments with representative samples of the Indian urban population, it was examined how these two

factors, brand globalness (global or local) and type of endorser (international celebrity, local celebrity and local non-

celebrity), interact to influence consumer responses to brand communications.^116 In the first study, an experiment

was conducted on the basis of a 3 (local non-celebrity, local celebrity, global celebrity) × 2 (local brand, global brand)

full factorial, between-subjects design. Firstly, a pre-test was conducted to select one local and one global celebrity

who were equally familiar and one non-celebrity endorser who was not familiar. To avoid confounds, the potential

RESEARCH INSIGHT

Endorser type and brand globalness effects in India: think global or act local?

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