beyondbrics

Apparently China’s celebrities are overworked.

According to a new report from Ogilvy & Mather China and Millward Brown, Middle Kingdom’s Celebrities-to-be: Faceless People and Unsung Heroes – Imperatives for Celebrity Advertising in China, famous global brands are confusing the poor Chinese consumer by using the same celebrities for a bewildering range of different products.

Actress/singer Jolin Cai, for example, endorses 14 products from McDonald’s to Levi’s – despite the fact that her ability to fit into the latter might be impaired by too much consumption of the former. The end result: consumers cannot remember which celebrity is endorsing which product – a world of diminishing returns for celebrity advertising in China.

Celebrities are big business in Chinese advertising: according to the report, China is one of the top three global markets for celebrity branding, after Korea and Japan. And this practice is growing much faster in China than elsewhere (see chart below).

Growth in Use of Celebrity in Advertising – China, Asia & Global

But all this celebrity overexposure is no longer paying off, the report says. The impact of celebrity advertising in China has fallen sharply compared for example with India, when it comes to the crucial test of whether the use of a celebrity improves awareness of the brand, as the chart below shows.

Celebrities Helping in Creating Awareness – China & India

The report’s authors say the key is to use the celebrities to do more than just stand up on camera, hold up the product, and say: “I like this brand” (which is all they do in Chinese adverts, the vast majority of the time).

Now, after all these years cheerleading for capitalism, China’s celebrities should become “value based role models in a society that is searching for meaning beyond materialism”, the authors argue – or their adverts will no longer work.  Watch out for a new wave of Chinese movie stars chanting “omm” on air – that should help with the consumer confusion.

Related reading:
Advertising in China: land of golden opportunity, beyondbrics
Hollywood: more is less for Chinese consumers, beyondbrics
China set for marketing boom, FT
How smart are foreign brands in China, Little Red Book blog on advertising in China