Marketing to the Max is not for free

USING a celebrity in advertising, product merchandising and other commercial contexts is likely to have a positive effect on consumers’ brand perceptions and purchasing decisions; this is commonly referred to as the “positive halo effect” within branding and marketing research. In buying a product associated with a celebrity, the consumer can buy into some of the glamour of the charmed life of a movie star or into the athleticism and success of a sporting icon.

This is evident in the multimillion-dollar endorsement contracts that globally recognised actors and athletes sign each year with brands as diverse as American Express, Louis Vuitton, Nike, Rolex and Gillette. For instance, Rihanna appears in the ad campaign of Louis Vuitton, and Rolex has Roger Federer and Tiger Woods in its corner. However, not all ads crudely portray the celebrity next to the company’s products or its logo; some more subtly take the form of congratulatory ads.

On Aug 18, Leung Kai Fook Medical Company (LKF) published an ad in The Straits Times (page A9) congratulating Maximilian Maeder for winning the bronze medal at the Paris Olympics. Interestingly, unlike DBS and Yeo’s which placed similar congratulatory ads, LKF appears to have no prior sponsorship arrangement in place with Maeder. When Carlos Alcaraz won Wimbledon, his sponsor Rolex took out a full-page ad in The Straits Times to congratulate him. Other brands such as Pizza Hut took to social media to offer their congratulations to Maeder using the well-known phrase “To The Max”.