Celebrity Endorsements

            Ellen DeGeneres is one of the most well known, loved celebrities making her popular for different endorsements. Her funny, caring, and kind disposition are attributes that are often associated with her. This wide spread popularity has led to companies utilizing her for endorsement such as American Express, JC Penny, Vitamin Water, and CoverGirl. Ellen has been with CoverGirl since 2008 and has come to be closely known with the brand. 

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According to McCracken's meaning transfer model, the celebrities attractiveness does not properly define how well they work as an endorser, but rather the effectiveness lies within their acquired meanings (Belch, pg 190). These celebrities draw their meanings from the roles that they posses in the public eye. Through The Ellen Show, Ellen has developed a meaning of compassion, confidence and humor. Therefore according to the meaning transfer model, Ellen brings these attributes to her CoverGirl advertisements. The final stage of the transfer model is taking the meanings the celebrity brought to the product and brand, to the consumer. Utilizing Ellen in the ads displays a message of women who use the CoverGirl products are confident and successful. 

Ellen brings another level to the CoverGirl endorsement through her generosity and compassion. She has displayed this multiple times through her show, most prominently with Talia, a young girl who was aspiring makeup artist who had cancer. Ellen used her CoverGirl connection to enable Talia to become an honorary CoverGirl. These kind of actions displayed not only the compassion of Ellen, but also pushed that meaning onto CoverGirl as well. 

Why Advertising Agencies Lose Clients

When it comes to selecting an advertising agency, a company must select one that they believe will best exemplify their company and products or services. The job of the advertising agency is to assist in the development, preparation, and execution of the company's promotions (Belch, Belch, 2001, pg. 79). The agency needs to fit in well with the beliefs and needs of the company and display that through advertising. As a result it can be a difficult process to find a fitting advertising agency, with some companies going through many different advertising agencies over time.

There are many different reasons why a company would leave their current ad agency. One of these that is centralized around the agency is poor performance (Belch, 2001, pg. 95). A client will likely leave if they feel that the agency is not performing up to the company's standards and the client is unsatisfied with the level of quality that is being provided for them.
Additionally, a client will leave the agency if they experience a decline in sales. Advertising is often seen to be a contributing factor to this decline and companies believe that a different agency can bring new ideas and refresh the brand to bring sales back up.
The reason for a company is not always solely the advertising agencies fault. Many times the company and the agency simply outgrow each other and do not seem to fit together well any more. This can be based on changes in personnel, conflicting personalities and interests, changing marketing strategies and policies. Also as a company grows, they can outgrow their advertising agency and require a larger one to handle their advertising.

Heineken is a well-known lager brand that has switched advertising agencies many times in recent history. From 2006 to 20111, Heineken has switched advertising agencies five times (Schultz, 2011). For being such a large company, Heineken has really not clearly established themselves with a strong positioning. The company is trying to create a global brand image and felt that their current advertising agency did not accomplish that. In attempt to choose the right U.S. advertising agency that would integrate well with their global advertising, Heineken challenged two agencies to put forth advertising efforts. This initiative will hopefully increase their sales and allow for a united advertising campaign.





Belch, G. E., & Belch, M. A. (2001). Advertising and promotion: an integrated marketing        communications perspective (5th ed.). Boston, Mass.: Irwin/McGraw-Hill.
Schultz, E.J. (2011). Heineken Switching U.S. Agencies as It Pursues Global Effort. Ad Age. Retrieved 21 January, 2011 fromhttp://adage.com/article/agency-news/heineken-switching-u-s-agencies-pursues-global-effort/226834/

IMC vs. Traditional Advertising

Traditionally advertising and promotion has been conducted mainly through mass media outlets, allowing for companies and organizations to gain access to large audiences at once. As time goes on and society and technology change, this form of advertising and promotion is not nearly as effective. Audiences tend to watch more specialized television channels instead of the older standards such as NBC and ABC. Additionally these audiences spend more time with other technology such as the internet, accessing social medias, and mobile phones. Sites such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Tumblr are much more popular and can be used as a great marketing tool for companies.
This shift has led to the increased usage and importance of integrated marketing communications (IMC). IMC is different from traditional methods because it allows for companies to more directly access their target audience. Companies can look into where to advertise their product/service and how to advertise it in a way that is more efficient toward their target.
Additionally utilizing IMC helps the company to further develop brand image and awareness. It integrates a single brand image and concept throughout all the different kinds of advertising, whether it be social media, television, point-of-purchase, or other aspects of the product and advertising. Everything associated with the brand becomes unified and much more recognizable to audiences.

About this blog!

The purpose of this blog is to fulfill requirements for an advertising and promotion course. The posts will be in response to different discussion questions  about advertising and promotion practices based on what was discussed in class and from a marketing student's perspective.