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ABSTRACT
As a result of Korean government's efforts to sell its cultural assets overseas, a phenomenon of Korean culture acquiring global popularity and consumption called the Korean Wave was created. Since the success of the Korean Wave, it has generated a number of Korean celebrity endorsed brands/products in global regions including Thailand. This research seeks to examine the impact of Korean (K-pop) celebrity endorsement on Thai brand image through achieving two of the research objectives.
The research objectives were 1)to identify the perceived qualities (likeability, credibility, similarity and congruence with the brand) of K-Pop celebrities in the eyes of Thai consumers to determine their influence on consumer attitudes and behaviors and 2) to gather the insights of marketers from Thai brands that have employed K-pop endorsers for a comparative analysis with the consumer perceptions.
In order to achieve the objectives, both qualitative and quantitative approaches were used. Data collection consisted of a questionnaire survey which was administered to 200 participants aged from 13 to 15 in Bangkok metropolitan area and an in-depth interview with brand executives of brand B-ing and Masita.
The findings from the survey revealed that the 4 attributes of the endorsers had a significant influence on the endorsed brand image. Also, the comparative analysis between the respondent perceptions and marketer insight indicated a few flaws in the endorsement strategy.
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INTRODUCTION
Using people that are well-known and loved by many to promote products or brands is a widespread phenomenon in marketing communication history. Companies spend vast amounts of money in order to match their brands with endorsers. Such endorsers are believed to embody both attractive and likeable qualities (Atkin and Block, 1983) and companies build strategies to translate these qualities into products through marketing communication activities (McCracken, 1989). Although celebrity endorsement strategy in marketing communication context is not verified to bring only positive effects, it is known to create effects such as increased attention, image polishing, brand introduction, brand awareness, brand repositioning and underpinning global campaigns (Erdogan, 1999).
Ever since the early days of celebrity endorser utilization in the late nineteenth century, field of celebrity endorsement studies has been gathering a wide range of relevant intellectual sources from various approaches. Such knowledge vary from historical...