Celebrity endorsement effectiveness for print destination advertising

Abstract

Goal and objectives of the dissertationGoalIn modern marketing campaigns, celebrity endorsers are employed to differentiate and position products, services or even political candidates from competitors. In a similar vein, a destination marketing organization (DMO) could appoint a celebrity endorser to differentiate the destination from the competitors and direct awareness towards their own unique selling propositions. This assumption is explored in this study and it examines if a celebrity endorser is able to generate a positive impact on tourist attitude and whether this would lead to positive visitation intentions. As such a conceptual framework to explain and predict celebrity endorsement effectiveness on tourists' attitude and their visitation intentions is proposed.Objectives* Investigate how and if the celebrity endorsement factors influence tourists' attitudes towards the advertisement and destination and whether this leads to visitation intentions.* Examine whether tourists' attitude towards both the advertisement and destination mediates the impact of celebrity endorsement factors on visitation intentions.* Assess if the Matchup construct moderates the impact of celebrity endorsement credibility factors on tourists' attitude towards the advertisement and destination.* Compare the influence of native versus non-native celebrity endorsers on tourists' attitude and visitation intentions.* Provide selection criteria for the most appropriate celebrity endorser for a destination print advertisement.MethodologyThis study adopts a quantitative approach using a questionnaire to address the objectives. An experimental research design using a print destination advertisement was selected to determine the effects that four celebrity endorsers (native/male, non-native/male, native/female, nonnative/ female), have on tourists' attitude and visitation intentions compared to a control group showing no endorsement claim. Nearly all major constructs and their indicators are based on previous studies. This study employs a modified model to examine the nexus between celebrity endorsement factors and tourist's attitude towards the destination and advertisement. Structural equation modelling was the main statistical analysis to assess the relationships between celebrity endorsement factors and tourists' attitude, and to show how these being combined influence visitation intentions.ResultsThe revised measurement model and structural model were found to fit the data satisfactorily. The path coefficients and their statistical significance in the revised structural model indicated that all hypotheses were supported, apart from one. Although the path from Attractiveness to Attitude towards the Advertisement is in the specified positive direction, it is not statistically significant. This study found that tourist's attitude towards the advertisement and the destination were predictors of visitation intentions, and at the same time played a mediating role between the celebrity endorsement dimensions and visitation intentions. 'Matchup' reported significant moderation effects on the relationship between perceived expertise and attitude towards a destination. Squared multiple correlations indicate that the revised structural model has a strong statistical ability to predict Mainland Chinese respondents' Attitude towards the Advertisement (47%) and Attitude towards Hong Kong (26%) and to a lesser extent their Visitation Intentions (9%).The experimental research design was able to determine the effects of the four treatment groups versus the control group. By comparing the latent mean differences, it was found that the experimental groups significantly score better on both attitude dimensions. However, no significant differences were detected for visitation intentions. The study also compared the celebrity endorser groups on all the criterion dimensions for selecting the most appropriate spokesperson. …