Brand Endorsement, The Age Of Entrepreneurs

At the bottom of the office floor waiting for elevators, office workers may often see Shao Yibo, the Chinese partner of Jingwei, and Focus Media CEO Jiangnan Chun's endorsement hunt hunting network advertisement "hunting headhunting, hunting and hiring" repeatedly appeared on the elevator advertising screen.

Nowadays, brand names

If the entertainment and sports stars go for the gold rush, why do business leaders not hesitate to speak for money?

Why do not bad money speak for others?

Make an image spokesperson for SOHO and print it on outdoor billboards to familiarise everyone with Pan Shiyi's signature smile. In order to deal with marketing competition, Bill Gate also appeared in Microsoft's advertisement with American comedy star Jerry Seinfeld.

Even without direct advertising, entrepreneurs, especially founders, often become the spokesmen of their own businesses on many occasions, such as Ren Zhengfei in HUAWEI, Liu Chuanzhi in Lenovo and Zhang Ruimin in Haier.

Wu Qingsheng, an associate professor at the Antai Institute of economics and management, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, has a natural connection with the growth and brand of an entrepreneur. His image is a symbol or epitome of an enterprise brand, and endorsing his product is the most natural and persuasive one.

But this is a little bit more "Wang Po selling melon, self praise," meaning, Wu Qing Sheng to the first financial daily, said, as a marketing tool may be useful, but if the brand as a brand, ask others to speak for the business more convincing.

This may be one of the reasons why some brands are starting to look for celebrities or other entrepreneurs.

But why do entrepreneurs have to speak for other companies? Is this not a way to make clothes for others?

Wu Qingsheng said that it is not only endorsement for endorsement, but also can enhance the influence of its individual and its brand through commercial reciprocal cooperation. It can be said that fame and gain are three.

When Wang Shi openly made the spokesman for Motorola, he said that in addition to his image of "sports and business" and his own life, he believed that such cooperation would enhance Vanke's social image and the brand of the real estate market.

Chen Yuxin, chairman and chief executive of Huaxi hope group, once endorsed Kingdee group. He once said he did not receive a penny, but the background of endorsement was its strategic alliance with Kingdee software.

Stars or entrepreneurs?

Compared to the recent love affair, the entertainment stars who wear the red carpet and what clothes they wear are even more familiar with the public's minds than even the top entrepreneurs.

For example, Sina micro-blog, SOHO Chinese Governor Pan Shiyi micro-blog fans 8 million 970 thousand, and the star Chen Yao micro-blog fan 17 million 740 thousand, almost 2 times the former.

Why do brands start to favor entrepreneurs?

"Star entrepreneurs" aura is the foundation for them to become spokesmen.

Yu Dandan, a researcher at Ren Da Fang management consulting company, thinks that entrepreneurs can be seen in the industry summit forum, charity evening party, TV evening party, award presentation ceremony and other media and public media. The development of social media such as micro-blog also brings these business elites from behind the scenes to the stage. "Setting up the image of public business leaders in the development of enterprises and economic construction, advocating positive social values and dealing with all kinds of interests in a more comprehensive and balanced manner will make them play a certain role in certain groups of people."

In terms of brand positioning, it is usually popular brands to find entertainment stars or sports stars. If the brand target consumers are mature and steady people, they hope to create a more high-end public image and convey a brand connotation of business to consumers. Successful entrepreneurs are usually better choices.

Wu Qingsheng finds that entrepreneurs can often see advertisements in cars, telecommunications, finance, tourism and other industries.

Audi A8W12, a high-end car, asks Liu Yonghao, Feng Lun and others to speak for it. For all customers, white collar business clothes, please speak for Lei Jun.

In addition, another advantage of brand endorsement is that they usually have better stability and higher image reliability than entertainment and sports stars.

Of course, Wu Qing Sheng believes that the strategy of endorsement is the same as choosing entertainment and sports stars. Choosing entrepreneurs for their endorsements must first look at their image, manners, speech, charm, popularity, affinity, trustworthiness and so on, and whether they match the brand image and the consumer audience.

There is no zero risk in endorsement.

"Everything is associated with risks and benefits. High returns must be faced with high risks."

Li Zhiqi, chairman of Beijing's future marketing consultancy group, believes that just like entertainment stars endorsement may enable consumers to love the house and the stars, they may also have the same risk because of celebrity scandals, scandals, hate houses and Ukraine.

From time to time, the public figures and the media often publish some witty phrases, displaying their personal charisma and entrepreneurs' image can promote the image of enterprises and build the soft competitiveness of enterprises. But once the image of entrepreneurs is damaged, they will also bite the image of their own enterprises and the image of their endorsement companies, resulting in the double pressure of corporate reputation and business.

"When an enterprise is small, there may not be so many resources to carry out product publicity. It is advisable for entrepreneurs to guide their corporate image with their own positive area. If the enterprise grows to a certain extent, the risk of entrepreneurs' endorsement of corporate image will increase."

Yu Dandan said.

In her view, once entrepreneurs fall down, people who are motivated by impure motives, or temporarily aphasia, will jeopardize their own businesses or even endorsement companies.

Takei Yasuo, the chairman of Japan's largest consumer credit group, Wu Teng company, was arrested by a police reporter after a phone call was stolen. The confidence of the market dropped rapidly. The company's share price fell by 23%. Niu Gensheng's involvement in the "three cyanide" incident was also questioned by entrepreneurs and enterprises.

However, there is no absolute zero risk in the choice of brand spokesperson. In contrast, it is precisely because the public is concerned about the details of entertainment stars that entrepreneurs tend to be more mature.