Adidas "all in"

As every year, Adidas releases a new set of commercials featured by some of the most famous celebrities at the moment, from athletes to artists. The war between the two biggest sport apparel manufacturers has been well known for years, and Adidas does not doubt in giving “all in” against its North American rival Nike.

The use of famous people in advertising is one of the most used techniques in commercials (television, magazines, billboards, internet…) and companies invest large amounts of money in contracts with celebrity endorsers each year, in believe that celebrities affect the process of selling of their brands or products. Actually, many studies have analyzed the effectiveness of this practice to increase a company’s income and results suggest that celebrities who are known, liked, and/or similar to consumers, are attractive and to an extent persuasive (McGuire, 1985). Therefore, using a celebrity in advertising causes to influence brand attitude and purchase intentions of consumers in a positive way. Celebrity endorsement has a strong effect on consumers' memory and learning approach too. Marketers use celebrity endorsement in order to help better storage of information in consumers' minds which they can easily remember in purchasing situations (Schultz and Brens, 1995).

    Researchers have identified three components as making up the credibility construct: knowledge or expertise, trustworthiness, and appearance or attractiveness (McGuire, 1985). In this Adidas commercial we can see several known athletes, as well as attractive people, such as David Beckham, Lionel Messi, and Derrick Rose, and even the singer Katy Perry makes appearance. Since higher levels of source credibility tend to be associated with more positive attitudes toward the message and lead to behavioral changes, advertisers opt to use celebrities to increase the level of credibility.

Moreover, the "match-up hypothesis” suggests that endorsers are more effective when there is a "fit" between the endorser and the endorsed product. The reason is that attractive celebrities are more effective endorsers for products which are used to enhance one's attractiveness (lead to higher brand attitude and purchase intentions). The role of expertise also enhaces the perceived fit between the product and the endorser as Till & Busler (2000) revealed after a series of experiments concerning the attractiveness and expertise variables when deciding to purchase or being attracted to certain commercials.

Finally, the background music is also an important issue in advertising. There is a relationship between music and consumers' moods, attitudes, and behaviors. As evidence demonstrates, audience moods and purchase intentions are affected by background music, without necessarily affecting intervening cognitions (Alpert & Alpert, 1989).

[1] Alpert, J., & Alpert, M. (1989). Background Music As an Influence in Consumer Mood and Advertising Responses. Advances in Consumer Research Vol. 1, 485-491.

[2] Park, C. W. & Young, S.M. (1986). Consumer Response to Television Commercials: The Impact of Involvement and Background Music on Brand Attitude Formation. Journal of Marketing Research, Vol. 23 (February), 11-24.

[3] McGuire, W. J. (1985). Attitudes and attitude change. Handbook of social psychology. 3rd Ed., Vol. 2,  233-346.

[4] Till, Brian D. & Michael Busler (2000). The Match-Up Hypothesis:  Physical Attraction, Expertise, and the Role of Fit on Brand Attitude, Purchase Intent, and Brand Beliefs. Journal of Advertising, Vol. 29 (3), 1-13.

[5] Van der Waldt, de Beer & du Plessis (2007). Attitudes towards attractive and credible celebrities in advertisements: a survey amongst students. Comunicare. Vol. 26 (July), 44-58.