Analyzing the Effects of Celebrity Branding: The Tom Cruise Phenomenon

This report provides an in-depth analysis of celebrity branding, using Tom Cruise as a prominent case study. It explores how celebrity endorsements impact marketing strategies, brand awareness, and customer loyalty within the film industry. The report discusses the advantages of celebrity branding, such as creating higher prices, increasing brand awareness, building customer loyalty, and generating referrals. It examines how Tom Cruise's image and brand have been strategically used by directors and marketers to enhance film success and product sales. The report highlights the controversies and challenges associated with celebrity branding while emphasizing the actor's enduring influence and ability to maintain his brand value. It also discusses the strategies used by companies to leverage Tom Cruise's popularity for product promotions and brand identity, ultimately concluding that his presence serves as a powerful marketing tool.

Film and Television

Table of Contents
TASK...............................................................................................................................................1
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................5
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................6

TASK
21st century has saw various developments in the communication as the introduction of
newer technologies around the world has made it easier for people to communicate with various
individuals across the globe. Today media is in its full advanced form and almost everyone has
reach to various platform. Through the mass media lots of people can be reached in less period of
time because the connectivity has made it possible to reach a wider platform. In this era where
competition has been increased so corporates and for any other business they use branding
(Braun, Kavaratzis and Zenker, 2013). In which they create creative campaigns to influence and
convince people for any particular things. They are using celebrities to market their products and
services and in common term it can be called as the celebrity branding. The celebrities can be
people who has a influence people or acts as an ideal. Whatever they will be saying to the fans
people will follow it and will try to adopt the thing which he has asked them to do. They hold a
key position in the motion picture industry. There are various actors who has doing well in their
profession and charges a big fees for doing any movie or any promotional campaigns. Corporates
are ready to pay them as much amount as they want as they know that this will give them long
term profit. They are the only way through which they can easily disseminate their message or
concept ion the market (Turner, 2013). Tom Cruise, who is one of the most popular star in the
world has been sensation for the people. He is one of the highest paid actor in the world. For his
most popu8lar movie Mission Impossible he has earned more than $70 million as it was the total
22% share of the total amount the movie earned in the cinemas. For success of a movie these
stars has big role to play so they have to provide commitments from investors, producers,
distributors and exhibitors. Stars are the locomotives behind some of the Hollywood's biggest
blockbusters.
The academic literatures questions that does the star celebrity impacts the financial
performance of the movies and movies where star like Tom Crusie has made it possible to
generate more revenues for the films. He is still leading Hollywood's biggest movies for years
whether compared in award wining or in terms of budget. It was the year 1980 when his career
saw hike and after that he became a actor which was tough to beat. After doing lots of films he
can be called as the last remaining A-listers who has kept and maintained a sense of intrigue and
excitements about the movies (Gray, 2010). He has the image that whatever role is given to him
he is only actor who will do full justification to it. Tom always prefer doing his stunts own his
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own as he has electrifying charisma. His efforts makes things looks real and people has always
admired his acting skills. But in the market when someone is facing such big stardom he has to
also face many blames and rumours about him. There are lots of controversies attached to Tom
Cruise and these things definitely has influenced him but not for a longer period. He knows how
to survive and handle things things.
It can be said that every movie in which Tom Cruise is featured is an advertisement for
Tom Cruise. He has become a product as much as a actor and a brand as much a person.
Directors have used his image to get top position and make their movie a hit. From the beginning
of his career he has worked with directors who has big name in this industry. Although it is said
that directors are the story tellers of their films but in Tom Cruise films even the biggest names
who are behind the camera tend to come across like ad agency creatives. They work on the idea
that how the brand Tom Cruise is to be highlighted in the movie to the audiences (Ilicic and
Webster, 2013). Directors are also his personal image caretaker as whatever they show him in
the movie impacts millions of minds all around the world. “Mission Impossible” series films are
the longest running franchise and this series has been responsible for his continued stardom. In
these films he has played the role of a secret agent Ethan Hunt and in this they have never
showed much about him but all the series was on missions. It was totally about Tom and star and
the brand. He has perfectly played the role of the character and showed a man who plans and
execute various tasks which are almost impossible to do. He was a dashing agent and was a
product demos. After this series his image of an action hero has been created. In the movie
Magnolia, he has played a popular proto men's rights guru who has invented a fictional past for
himself. He had been shown as man who is physically tough as most of the stunts he does
himself. Although he might has become an older model but this brand has potential to rule the
markets.
Engagement of Tom Cruise in any ads shows that he is is the spokesperson from any
brand in which he is doing the endorsement. In movie the film-makers may ask him to wear
clothes of any brand or to consume any soft drink of any international brand. So when the
audience who are watching the films sees that their favourite actor is wearing a brand A and is
consuming softdrink of brand B (Keel and Nataraajan, 2012). This will created a desire for that
product in the minds of individuals and they also will also try to buy them thus increasing their
sales. This way the marketing strategy of the company has been successful as world's most
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popular actor is endorsing them. The marketers are using the image of Tom Cruise and asking
people that their favourite star is using that particular product so they should also give it a try.
Organisation or producers use Tom Cruise as part of the celebrity branding as they know that
there are lots of benefits attached to it. Below mentioned points are some of the advantages:-
Creating Higher Prices: There are customers who generally don't look for the prices
when they go for shopping but with the other side customers those who look for the price or give
more prefer to the price. For that celebrity branding plays a crucial role so the corporates use
celebrities like Tom Cruise for advertisement of their product. The fans of stars start noting
things that there favourite film star wears, uses and demand of such products increases in market.
This is an good rewards for the companies who are using such marketing tools and techniques
The companies do not have to compete with prices while making use of celebrity marketing with
their products (Luo and et. al., 2010). Like for instance in Fast and Furious film Tom cruise used
Nokia phone which uplifted the brand image of stated company in many folds. This marketing
tool is an reward for the corporate products as this helps in commanding over the prime prices by
companies. The business firm does not have to lower their prices as-this will negatively perfect
the brand image. Companies do not afford the products available at cheaper process as this
negatively influence the perception of customer (Spry, Pappu and Bettina Cornwell, 2011). Like
for instance the Chanel does not go for suit as this is represented in market as an class and good
brand value. So, these companies make use of celebrity branding in their promotional schemes to
command over more and more process.
Creates Awareness: Celebrity branding is an approach to spread awareness about the
company to more appropriately and effectively among mass public. It does not matter your brand
is big or small is an pronounced celebrity uses your products in their advertisements or in any of
their film than many of the followers of film stars start knowing about the company products and
services. The produces wore by Tom cruise will have an different demand in market pace as
compared to other clothings or accessories (MacInnis, Park and Priester, 2014). The film stars
helps in spreading the company message to large number of population at once. The people are
more attracted towards the celebrity clothing, things they use and the value they gives to brand.
This celerity branding is highly beneficial in enhancing the brand value through delivering the
message of brand effectively to large numbers of their followers.
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Builds loyalty: The celebrity brings behaviour of developing brand loyalty among
customers. The followers and fans of Tom cruise using the products which the film star more
prefer or advertise. The products and clothing, accessories like shirt, sweat shirts, sunglasses etc.
all are been followed by his fans. The people do not bother about the products prices when the
question arises about their love with favourite celebrities. The people make expensive purchases
which products are marketed through celebrity marketing by companies. Like for instance the
cigarette smokers are brand loyal. Likewise the people loving Tom cruise are also loyal with the
brand he use, clothes he wears or advertise. Companies are taking benefits of this needs and
wants of customer to be like their favourite film star (Marwick, 2010). Companies make use of
celebrity branding in their advertisement to convert the potential customer of business into loyal
customers towards their brand. Building loyalty is an tough task for the corporate business as
they have to fulfil all the needs of the customers appropriately and efficiently. But this celebrity
branding approach of promoting products reduce this respective difficulty of developing an large
loyal customer base for company products and services and the followers of film star easily
convert into loyal consumer of the respective brands who the TV stars advertise or uses in their
daily life.
Increase in the Referrals: Whenever the brand take Tom Cruise as their presenter for
the new ads or for the films the chances of referrals increase. For example; a newly launched
mobile manufacturer as made Tom Cruise their brand ambassador as they are using him to
advertise their specific mobile phone which is going to be launched or has been launched. So
when people will be talking about mobiles they will definitely refer the mobile in which Tom
Cruise has made appearance and they will give them more publicity thus increasing the sale of
the mobiles (Page, 2012). The small business or the companies which has just expanded their
market in a foreign country have to rely on the referrals to grow their market or business. This is
to ensure that that they can build a strong brand in less time.
Increase in the Identity:- In this world where visual society has been created and almost
90 percent of the communication is visual. So it is necessary for the firms to show their visual
identity and this is way someone can recognise their products through different platform of the
media (Peberdy, 2010). A new brand has already marketed themselves through introducing their
identity through advertising their image with Tom Cruise. This way they will not able to feel
difficulty in the new market where they want to expand themselves.
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Increase in Credibility: Through building a strong personal brand allows them to bring
credibility. With the use of star they creates a positive image of the firm thus also increase their
awareness in public. People get to know the brand so it gives them to control the minds of people
so they can shape their opinion in whatever they want. People while buying anything will
definitely look for the product of the company as they know that this is the brand which deliver
best service as certain celebrity is attached to it. Although the brand is invisible built people have
heard about them and believes that whatever product they will be coming with is of better quality
than competitors.
Signing Tom Cruise in any movie is the sign that the movie will definitely go hit because
they know he is the star who is appreciated by million of people and have a large fan following.
Although they know that they have to pay a large amount to make contract with Tom Cruise but
they know this is the contract of profit. If any film is featuring Tom Cruise then it means various
various other sponsor will the money because they also know that with this they can reach a
large audiences and make their brand popular (Parmentier and Fischer, 2012). Tom Cruise also
need to take care of his image because if he is involved in any promotional activity where bas
values is attached to it then there are chances that his image can hamper in negative way. At this
stage he should be choosy and should sign those movies and advertising campaigns which has
proper message and should give better image. This way he can increase his brand vale or
popularity among his fans.
CONCLUSION
From the above essay it can be concluded today if any firm or any movies wants to beat
their competitors they have to take support of the celebrities and should use their image to reach
their target customers. This is the easiest way to expand their business in newer market and make
them success. On the other hand films heavily rely on the actors for their commercial success.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journal
Braun, E., Kavaratzis, M and Zenker, S., 2013. My city–my brand: the different roles of
residents in place branding. Journal of Place Management and Development. 6(1).
pp.18-28.
Gray, J., 2010. The branding of English and the culture of the new capitalism: Representations of
the world of work in English language textbooks. Applied Linguistics. 31(5). pp.714-
733.
Ilicic, J and Webster, C. M., 2013. Celebrity co-branding partners as irrelevant brand information
in advertisements. Journal of Business Research. 66(7). pp.941-947.
Keel, A and Nataraajan, R., 2012. Celebrity endorsements and beyond: New avenues for
celebrity branding. Psychology & Marketing. 29(9). pp.690-703.
Luo, L and et. al., 2010. Dilution and enhancement of celebrity brands through sequential movie
releases. Journal of Marketing Research. 47(6). pp.1114-1128.
MacInnis, D. J., Park, C. W and Priester, J. W., 2014. Handbook of brand relationships.
Routledge.
Marwick, A. E., 2010. Status update: Celebrity, publicity and self-branding in Web 2.0 (Doctoral
dissertation, New York University).
Page, R., 2012. The linguistics of self-branding and micro-celebrity in Twitter: The role of
hashtags. Discourse & communication. 6(2). pp.181-201.
Parmentier, M. A and Fischer, E., 2012. How athletes build their brands. International Journal of
Sport Management and Marketing. 11(1-2). pp.106-124.
Peberdy, D., 2010. From wimps to wild men: Bipolar masculinity and the paradoxical
performances of Tom Cruise. Men and masculinities. 13(2). pp.231-254.
Spry, A., Pappu, R and Bettina Cornwell, T., 2011. Celebrity endorsement, brand credibility and
brand equity. European Journal of Marketing. 45(6). pp.882-909.
Turner, G., 2013. Understanding celebrity. Sage.
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