Celebrity Advertising in Indian Culture: Emerging Trends & Challenges under Globalization

Abstract

In the beginning of the 21st century boundaries across nations have been broken and Globalization has made the world almost a single homogenous market place, but one cannot ignore the economic, technological and cultural differences that still exist among nations. From the snow covered Himalayas in the north to the backwaters of Kerala in the south and from the Bay of Bengal in the east to Mumbai in the west, talk’s immensely one can expect in India not only in terms of landscape but culture also. The opening up of the Indian economy in the early 90’s paved the way for multi national companies to tap the vast Indian market with their product and service offerings. India offers a unique cultural package in terms of religion, languages, life style and value system etc. and developing advertising strategy to connect with such diverse target audience is really a challenging proposition. With this backdrop in mind, the objectives of this research paper is to first highlight the emerging trends noticed in marketing communication and celebrity advertising in India. Secondly identifying the challenges encountered by advertisers in regard to celebrity advertising. Finally providing strategic input to advertisers in selecting the right celebrity to connect their brand with their target audience of diverse cultural background under present global scenario. The findings that emerged from the empirical study conducted in Kolkata will be highly beneficial to advertisers and advertising agencies to successfully communicate their message to the target audience by using celebrities in their advertising campaign.

Keywords : Globalization, Celebrity Advertising, Culture, Media & Target Audience.

View PDF