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IMC Celebrity Endorsement Assignment

The document discusses a celebrity endorsement advertisement for Balenciaga's new fragrance Florabotanica, featuring actress Kristen Stewart. The ad aims to launch the fragrance to a younger consumer base. Kristen Stewart's persona from the Twilight franchise and recent cheating scandal make her a controversial but attention-grabbing choice for the campaign. Her description of the scent as "dangerous" and "fresh" helps transfer meaning from her reputation to the product according to McCracken's model of celebrity endorsement effects. Fan reaction to Stewart's promotion of the fragrance suggests the endorsement will likely be a success.

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444 views5 pages

IMC Celebrity Endorsement Assignment

The document discusses a celebrity endorsement advertisement for Balenciaga's new fragrance Florabotanica, featuring actress Kristen Stewart. The ad aims to launch the fragrance to a younger consumer base. Kristen Stewart's persona from the Twilight franchise and recent cheating scandal make her a controversial but attention-grabbing choice for the campaign. Her description of the scent as "dangerous" and "fresh" helps transfer meaning from her reputation to the product according to McCracken's model of celebrity endorsement effects. Fan reaction to Stewart's promotion of the fragrance suggests the endorsement will likely be a success.

Uploaded by

Rena Chiu
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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IMC Celebrity Endorsement Assignment

Date Published: September 21, 2012 Publisher: Spanish Elle Magazine Brand: Balenciaga Celebrity: Kristen Stewart

2 Balenciaga is a French fashion house founded in 1914 with a reputation of producing odd, feminine, yet ultra-modern clothing pieces. The brand has just released their latest fragrance called Florabotanica this September with five to six ads featuring Kristen at the end of October. The objective of this fragrance advertisement is to launch a new fragrance targeted towards a younger consumer base. Photographed by the famous Steven Meisel, the ad is visually beautiful with graffiti artwork in the background and a rebelliously dressed Kristen Stewart standing tall in the front. The scent has garnered international attention with its modern, attractive design and usual ingredients.

I have chosen this particular ad because both the subject and the recent events surrounding this endorsement intrigued me. To provide some background information, Kristen Stewart is the female lead actress in the immensely popular movie franchise Twilight. This is Kristens first official endorsement as a rising star. The 22 year-old former tomboy with a rebellious streak has grown into a sultry fashion icon after years of gracing magazine covers and the red carpet.

To attempt to measure the effectiveness of this advertisement, it seems prudent to cite McCrackens paper on the meaning transfer process. In his Stage 1, the celebrity attaches him/herself to a certain set of recognized characteristics (McCracken, 1989). Kristen has developed a vivid and very public persona as Bella Swan with the Twilight franchise. For Twilight fans around the world, she was the embodiment of a vulnerable but rebellious heroine who is one-half of one of the most celebrated vampire-human romantic relationship in the twenty-first century. In Stage 1 of the meanings transfer

3 process, Kristens typecasted persona has been solidified over her short career as an actress. Her likely target market are young girls (14-28 year-olds) who enjoy a scent that is unique, beautiful, who aspire to have a lifestyle that is fun, rebellious and dangerous at the same time.

Stage 2 Celebrity transfers meaning to the product During Kristens much hyped live chat with her fans about the fragrance ad, (inquisitor. Super fast and super French), she was asked to describe the Florabotanica in three words. She says, Dangerous! Definitely danger.its super French and I think maybe its fresh as well. One thing about fragrances is that you can start to smell like an old ladyI dont know, like a chemical, I dont get that from this. Other words she used to describe the scent was fearless present, not to be denied, and individual. In her live chat interview to promote the ad, Kristen recounted her first encounters with high fashion and how it has evoked feelings within her while trying to tell a story. This was an effective way to relate to the young fans who aspire to have Kristens glamorous but down-to-earth lifestyle (McCracken, 1989).

The choice of Kristen not only fulfills the source attractiveness and source credibility theories; but it also brings familiarity to her fans because she is a pop culture icon. On the red carpets, Kristen is seen as the latest fashion icon. On the big screen, she is the natural beauty, the romantic heroine that girls look up too. One can argue that her recent cheating scandal with her married film director should have cost her endorsement.

4 However, because of the fearless, rebellious nature of the fragrance brand, her indiscretions may have actually enhanced her celebrity value, and perhaps even brought more publicity to the product launch instead. At the wake of her scandal, Balenciaga was considering dropping her endorsement, but they finally resumed the contract two months later. Even the head designer for the brand Nicolas Ghesquire said, Kristen Stewart embodies the modernity of the new Balenciaga fragrance with her unique sensibility and intelligence she shares the radical spirit of Balenciaga. 1

Stage 3 Consumers find meaning in the products In her live chat interview, Kristen recounted her first encounters with high fashion and how it has evoked feelings within her while trying to tell a story. Her lifes story of going from a tomboy to a globe-trotting movie star indicates that she is at a place where the consumers aspire to be. Her fans look to her as a role model and builds Her testimonial seemed more like genuine advice for a good friend and it fits with both her and the brands objective to differentiate the endorsement product from the other run-of-the-mill perfumes. Overall, the projection of self onto the product has been effective which means that this celebrity endorsement is poised for success (McCracken, 1989).

Bibliography

Cubria, K (August 24, 2012). Kristen Stewarts New Ad and Little White lies Magazine Interivew. Retrieved November 13, 2012, from http://www.teen.com/2012/08/24/celebrities/kristen-stewart-balenciaga-ad-little-whitelies-magazine-interview/#ixzz2CeWzYlcm

Hasaka, A. (October 18, 2012). Kristen Stewart Floratantica live chat. Retrieved November 6th, 2012, from http://www.teen.com/videos/celebrity-interviews/kristenstewart-florabotanica/

McCracken, Grant (1989). Who is the Celebrity Endorser? Cultural Foundations of the Endorsement Process. from Journal of Consumer Research: The University of Chicago Press. Retrieved November 18, 2012, from httyp://www.jstor.org/stable/2489512

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