Brand ambassadors and opinion leaders are important influencers in consumer behavior. They increase awareness of brands, help create positive feelings towards brands, and provide word-of-mouth recommendations that reinforce consumer confidence. Effective brand ambassadors are those that have credibility with consumers and match well with the brand, such as using sports celebrities to endorse sporting goods. Opinion leaders act as trendsetters and brand referrals in categories like fashion and help spread information to other consumers.

1. Importance of Opinion Leaders and Brand Ambassadors in Consumer Behavior

2. BY: Ameya Karhadkar - 11 Anup Pillai - 23 Dhruv Shah - 29 Sambahv Daffu - 5 Shruti Nair - 17 Subha Ramachandran - 35

3. Brands and the Celebrities Indians like to associate themselves with their icons. Brand Ambassadors bring their endorsements into limelight. The trick of the company. Eg: Dharmendra for Rajdoot, Sunil Gavaskar for Dinesh suitings, Kapil Dev for Palmolive.

4. Brand Ambassadors became attention grabber. (Eg: Tendulkar’s contract with Worldtel) Coke and Nokia started using brand ambassadors in India. (Eg: Regional stars for Coke and Shah Rukh Khan for Nokia)

5. Indian Consumer Mentality They look up to certain public faces and aspire to be one among them. Brand Ambassadors connect with a sense of attachment. Brands have temptation to use celebrity ambassadors.

6. Brand Ambassadors A brand ambassador is a celebrity used to help advertise a product or service. They motivate consumers. They increase awareness. They create positive feelings towards brands, connect user to brand. They are used as fire fighters.

7. Opinion Leaders An active media user who interprets the meaning of media messages or content for lower-end media users. They share their experiences. They provide credibility that reinforces consumer confidence in brands. They give Word of Mouth opinions to the consumers.

8. They also act as trendsetters in categories such as fashion, music, entertainment and symbolic categories such as watches and mobiles. (Eg: Swatch watch and Dev Anand’s hat.) They act as brand referrals. (Eg: Red Bull)

9. Six uses of celebrity endorsement Establishes Credibility Attracts Attention Associative Benefit Psychographic Connect Demographic Connect Mass Appeal

10. Source Credibility Credibility of an endorser Credible image of the product in terms of expertise, persuasiveness, trustworthiness, and objectiveness. Strategists look for likeability and similarity between the endorser and the product for eg: Fardeen Khan for Provogue, Aamir for Titan

11. Establishing a Perfect Match Effectiveness depends on the existence of a 'fit' Knowledgeable, experienced, mature, Communicate the value of the product and transform an ordinary service into a miracle solution for all problems of an ordinary customer.

12. Effective match: Reid & Taylor and Amitabh Bachhan, Accenture and Tiger Woods Non Effective match: Reliance and Virendra Sehwag

13. Impact of a Brand on consumer purchase decision: Research studies have proven that known products and names are sold more than unknown ones

14. Factors influencing consumer buying behavior Consumer's psyche and their ability to take decisions Traditional Factors affecting consumer decision making External influences on consumer behavior

15. Different stages of consumer purchase decision making Problem Recognition Information Search Generation of Alternatives Evaluation of Alternatives Purchase Decision Post Purchase Decision Brand Preference

16. Endorser Attributes Attributes of endorser's effectiveness: Attractiveness and Credibility. General concept of attractiveness consists of three related ideas: similarity familiarity and liking Properties of endorser credibility are expertise and trustworthiness FRED: Familiarity, Relevance, Esteem and Differentiation

17. Influence of celebrity endorsee on purchase decision 42% 26 % 6% 15% 11%

18. Conclusion