Research Report: Celebrity Endorsements and Brand Loyalty at Hilton

This report examines the impact of celebrity endorsements on consumer brand loyalty, using Hilton Hotels as a case study. The research includes an introduction outlining the aim to identify the impact of celebrity endorsements on Hilton's brand loyalty, along with specific objectives to examine the influence of endorsements, determine their importance for brand awareness, assess consumer perceptions, and recommend strategies. The report details research methodologies, including research philosophy (Positivism and Interpretivism), research approach (Explanatory and Exploratory), research design (Quantitative and Qualitative), data collection methods (primary and secondary), and sampling techniques. The report further includes data analysis, and ethical considerations. The literature review provides an overview of celebrity endorsements, their impact on brand loyalty, and strategies related to celebrity branding, and the importance of celebrity endorsement towards brand awareness. The report concludes with a comprehensive literature review, references, and methodologies used to gather data, analyze it, and draw conclusions about the effectiveness of celebrity endorsements for the Hilton brand.

Research Methodologies

Table of Contents
Title : “Impact of celebrity endorsements on Consumer brand loyalty - A case study on Hilton”. 4
CHAPTER 1 : INTRODUCTION...................................................................................................4
CHAPTER 2: RESEARCH METHODOLOGIES..........................................................................5
CHAPTER 3 : DATA ANALYSIS ................................................................................................8
CHAPTER 4 : ETHICS ..................................................................................................................8
SUBMISSION 2: LITERATURE REVIEW...................................................................................9
CHAPTER 1 : INTRODUCTION TO LITERATURE REVIEW...............................................10
CHAPTER 2 : MAIN BODY........................................................................................................10
The influence of celebrity endorsement on hospitality business..............................................10
Strategies related to celebrity branding or endorsement...........................................................11
Importance of celebrity endorsement towards brand awareness...............................................13
CHAPTER 3 : LITERATURE CONCLUSION ...........................................................................14
REFERENCES .............................................................................................................................15
Books and Journals .......................................................................................................................15

Submission 1: Research Design
Proposal

Title : “Impact of celebrity endorsements on Consumer brand loyalty - A case
study on Hilton”
CHAPTER 1 : INTRODUCTION
Advertisement or promotion is an effective method of attracting customers used by each
and every organisation to increase their sales and profitability. It is also responsible for brand
awareness, loyalty and image in the market-place. Celebrity endorsement is also a popular tool
used by many companies nowadays to promote their goods and services. It can be defined as a
person who enjoys public recognition and utilises this recognition on behalf of a consumer
product by appearing with it in an advertisement. This process is also known as publicizing or
celebrity branding in which a celebrity becomes a brand ambassador to promote a product,
service or organisation by using his or her status for example – Cristiano Ronaldo for Tag Heuer,
Selena Gomez for Puma etc. The present research is in context to a leading Hotel chain – Hilton
Group of hotels operating its business all over the world. This report will examine influence of
celebrity endorsements on brand loyalty of the cited firm. In order to identify the impact of this
branding technique researcher will use various research methodologies such as research design,
technique, sampling, data collection and literature review. The report will also include effective
recommendations for using celebrity endorsements in Hotel Hilton to sustain its brand position
and loyalty among its customers.
Aim of the study – “To identify the impact of celebrity endorsements on brand loyalty in Hilton
Hotel”
Objectives:
 To examine the influence of celebrity endorsement on Hilton Hotel.
 To determine importance of celebrity endorsement towards brand awareness
 To examine consumer's perception towards effectiveness of celebrity endorsements. To recommend strategies related to celebrity branding or endorsement.
Propose of the study
The propose of this study is to identify = impact of celebrity endorsement on businesses
or organisations such as Hilton hotel. Significance of celebrity endorsement will be analysed in
this research with respect to the cited firm in Malta. It will also identify perceptions of customers
towards use and effectiveness of celebrity endorsement in an organisation. In addition to this
study will also identify the impact of using celebrities for promotion on business performance

and brand loyalty. Researcher will examine various areas of brand endorsements and its
importance for a business.
Rational for the study
Organisations and business needs to perform an effective as well as important function to
promote their products, services or brands which is known as Advertisement or Promotion. This
function is an essential part of every business that helps in increasing sales, building brand
loyalty and awareness among customers in the market. Most of the organisations nowadays uses
the market value or status of celebrities for promoting their products and services in the market.
Therefore, it has developed interest to examine and research on the topic “celebrity endorsement
and its impact on an organisation” to understand this specific concept of advertisement.
CHAPTER 2: RESEARCH METHODOLOGIES
There are various tools and techniques of research which are essential to collect and
analyze appropriate data or information related to the research subject. There are different types
of research methods which are utilized for obtaining the objectives or aims of examination
(Ledford and Gast,2018). The research issues or problems can be identified using these research
methodologies which is essential for achieving outcomes of the study. In the present examination
researcher has used the following research methods for collecting relevant data and information
related to celebrity endorsement and its impact on brand loyalty in Hilton Hotel, Malta (Research
methodologies. 2016). Research philosophy – The theory or philosophy helps in developing most suitable and
effective plan that can be used and executed by researcher for achieving the objectiveness
and aims of the examination. It is very important to utilize proper tools to attain best
results or outcomes form the study. There are mainly two research approaches that is
useful in any research or examination such as Positivism and Interpretivisim research
philosophies. Positivism philosophy is a concept or approach that helps to provide logical
thinking with respect to the reliability of investigation or research. This philosophy or
approach of investigation states that methodology of investigation should consist
repeatable perceptions which must be isolated. Furthermore, this philosophy includes
realities and differences among different components in order to determine regularities
along with interfacing every segment within the society. The Interpretivisim philosophy
defines that in order to collect and decide most genuine and applicable information or

data with respect to the subject abstract investigation can be the most effective method. In
this research it is import to understand the gathered data due to which Positivism
philosophy will be used by the investigator to successfully achieve = aims and objectives
of the study (Humphries, 2017). Research approach – In order to perform any examination or research it is essential to
select a specific approach or concept which can assist and support entire examination
process. There are different types of research approaches which can be useful for
planning, collecting and analyzing data or information in an investigation. These
approaches are Predictive, Explanatory, Descriptive and Explorative. Predictive research
approach refers to an analysis that consist extraction of data from pre-existing sources or
information created for identifying current trends and patterns. It is further used for
making predictions related to future outcomes or trends. Explanatory approach is another
effective method which is significant to make people understand some situation, things or
information through explanation or illustrations. Descriptive research is utilized to
describe attributes of a population or concept which is being studied or examined, it can
be implemented in questions such as why, how and when the attributed occurred. It is
rather useful in addressing questions such as “what are the characteristics of populations
or situations examined?”. Exploratory research approach is a tool or concept which is
used for a problem or issue that has not been studied properly, with the aim to create
priorities, develop definitions of operations and improve final design of the examination.
This research approach helps in determining the best design for research, selection of
methods and subjects of gathering information or data. In this examination the researcher
will use a both Explanatory and Exploratory to achieve best results or outcomes
(Alvesson and Sköldberg, 2017). Research design – The research design includes two main methods Quantitative and
Qualitative research designs. A scientific method of observation to gather numerical
information or data is known as Qualitative research. This type of method refers to the
concept of meaning, metaphors, symbols, definitions, description and characteristics of
things or situation but does not utilize counts or measures (Research design,
2017)Quantitative research on the other hand refers to a much easy method of identifying
and defining data collected in examination. This design of research expresses

measurement of objectives along with the statistical, mathematical and numerical
analysis of information collected via survey, polls or questionnaire. It may also consist
manipulation of information already existing by using computational techniques.
Researcher will use both quantitative and qualitative research method for collecting and
analyzing information related to celebrity endorsement to identify its impact on
businesses. Data collection, types and sources – Data collection in an examination or research is an
essential fucntion that decides the reality and validity of the research. There are two
important sources for collecting data- Primary and secondary method. Primary data
collection refers to the accumulation of information from first hand sources, this type of
data is more real and effective as it is collected in a direct form. On the other hand,
secondary source of data refers to previous studies such as books, articles and journals
related to the subject chosen for research. This kind of data can be manipulated as it is
not collected directly and is based on used information. In the present research examiner
will collected data through both primary and secondary sources. For collecting primary
data questionnaire will be created for managers to conduct a survey in Hilton hotel
whereas, secondary data will be collected through different literature, books and articles. Sampling - This tools of method of research refers to the selection of a sample through
which data will be gathered via questionnaire, poll, interview or survey. Sample in
research can be a group of manager’s customers, employees etc which can help in
collecting suitable information related to the subject or topic of a research. It is essential
for researcher to choose a particular audience, people or group of individuals that may
take part in the interview or survey conducted for assembling data. In the present research
questionnaire will be formed for 20 managers working in Hilton Hotel, Malta. To
determine the impact of celebrity endorsement on brand loyalty or the organization
(Bilau, Witt and Lill, 2018).
 Sources of error – There is a high probability of issues or errors that can occur while
collecting or analyzing data in a research or examination. The identification of errors or
mistakes at the right time can assist in avoiding them or minimizing its impact on study.
There are different parts or stages when errors or issues can occur such as collection of
data, analysis or interpretation. The data when gathered through interviews and survey

there are high chances of issues. In a research errors can be avoided by reviewing the
methods of collecting data, choosing most appropriate techniques and interpreting the
results of data collected . Researcher has ensure that the examination method has been
selected by comparing various methodologies and predicting the outcomes. Detailed
examination of the topic has been performed which is simple and effective process of a
research that helps in finding results which are authentic and real (Boyd, Adams and
Gove, 2017).
CHAPTER 3 : DATA ANALYSIS
It is an important function or process of planning, collecting, analyzing and interpreting
data collected in a research study. It also includes transforming, modeling and breaking of
information collected into most appropriate data which is easy to understand and conclude on.
Data analysis helps researcher to separate gathered information or content related tot he research
topic into useful statistics and meaning. There are various stages of this process such as -
Requirement of data, Data collection, Data processing.
CHAPTER 4 : ETHICS
The ethics refers to moral consideration which is important to be observed while
conducting any research. Researcher needs to take care of different values, codes or morals such
as social-obligation, genuineness of data, privacy and theft of information belonging to some
person or investigator. In the present research, examiner has considered each and every code of
ethics such as managers of Hilton hotel were informed about the survey conducted, data has been
collected form appropriate sources without any copy pasting. This helped in collecting
information ethically without any harm to society, culture of individual.

SUBMISSION 2:
LITERATURE REVIEW

CHAPTER 1 : INTRODUCTION TO LITERATURE REVIEW
The concept of literature generally raise up the images of various books that are needed
to read for English, American, or world literature classes. This chapter will include a brief
description of celebrity endorsement and its impact on brand loyalty with a logical or analytical
method or progression so that it becomes to understand and obtain helpful results from this
research. The information or data collected within a literature review refers to all the previous
scholarship and research on a specific topic or subject. A literature review is the reasoning of the
literature available literature with regards to the research topic. This logical approach combines
the outcomes of various sources or studies in order to explain overall understanding of a selected
topic. The main purpose of this literature review was to analyze previous books, articles and
literature on celebrity endorsement. Researcher has used various sources of secondary data for
collecting information included in this literature review. The secondary sources of data helps in
gathering information from a wide range of options available online and books.. Researcher has
utilized various methodologies to gather and examine data from most appropriate sources to
conduct review of this literature.
CHAPTER 2 : MAIN BODY
The influence of celebrity endorsement on hospitality business
According to Albert, Ambroise and Valette-Florence, (2017) celebrity endorsement is
considered as one of the most effective and known marketing tool for businesses such as
cosmetic and hospitality. The strength of business is increased and most likely to be strong to
some degree by celebrity endorsement effectively. A proper utilised celebrity can easily turn out
to be a great influential tool that has an impact on campaign. Customers understand that
celebrities are paid for endorsing a brand intensely that decreases the credibility. In addition to
this, celebrity endorsement is generally used as a viable option for brand in order to increase
their awareness in the market, to promote their services and products, building credibility etc
(Dissanayake and Gunawardane, 2018). Market watch reports that a simple announcement from
a brand signing a celebrity or athlete can cause stock prices to rise slightly and increase sales by
4% on average. In simple words, celebrity endorsement can be described as an advertisement
tool in which as famous person with fan following uses their popularity and notoriety to help sell
a service or product effectively. There are various benefits of using a celebrity for brand
advertising such as they have ability to build brand equity, increasing power of brand through

name recognition that helps to allow the firm in accomplishing better targets, sales and profits.
Celebrity endorsement or branding is a form of advertising campaign which is used as a
marketing strategy used by companies, brands and non-profit businesses which includes a well-
known person and celebrities using their social status or popularity as a element to attract people
towards a product or brand.
Bagozzi, Batra and Ahuvia, (2017) stated that many endorsement contracts require them
to use the service or product that they are essentially paid by brands to use the services or
products they endorse. It is opposite to other celebrities that there will be no way of knowing if
they are using the services really they endorse or not. Marketing is crucial for every business in
order to provide information regarding their products and services to customers in the market.
This will help to create awareness regarding services so that consumers can easily purchase them
over another. The overall marketing includes, public relations, advertising, sales and promotions.
It is an effective way from which the organisation is able to introduce and promote its products
and services to potential consumers effectively. In addition to this, endorsement is defined as the
act of giving approval or recommendations to something, usually in public manner (Dissanayake
and Gunawardane, 2018). When a famous athlete announces that he wears a certain brand of
sneakers, this is a great example of an endorsement for the sneaker brand. Celebrities creates
public relations base for brands in order to enhance their sales and profitability. The main reason
behind using celebrities as endorsers is that they have a potential impact on customers in terms of
their mind and thinking. It is usually seen that customers are attracted from services that are
offered by brand along with celebrities for promotional activities. There is an effective
relationship between consumers and celebrity endorsement. This will help businesses to establish
an effective customer base for the firm to enhance their operations and further activities.
Hospitality business is depended on promotions that there are a lot of services and products are
offered by them to their customers which needs promotion to become effective. Celebrity
endorsement helps to gather public at one place which increases brand reach and awareness in
the market effectively.
Strategies related to celebrity branding or endorsement
Endorsement is a channel of brand communication in which a celebrity acts as the
spokesperson of brand and certify claim and position of brand by extending popularity,

personality, status and expertise in the field effectively. According to Boerman, Willemsen and
Van Der Aa, (2017) an attractive endorser have a great positive and potential impact on
endorsement that it helps to attract target audience in a certain aspect such as physical
appearance, intellectual capabilities, lifestyle and athletic competence. It is proved that a
celebrity is able to enhance the chances of having a memorable brand that helps to maintain its
attractiveness for a long time period. In addition to this, endorsement works as a power booster
for brand or any product and service. Words from mouth is one of the easier and effective
promotional technique in order to spread communication from consumers. It can be described as
a type of communication in which the person speaks in favour of product or brand. There is a
category for advertisement such as sports brands usually wants to promote their products and
services with a famous athlete for the endorsement. For an example, Q mobile has selected
Kareena kapoor for endorsement in Pakistan and now approaching to a Hollywood film star
Angelina Jolie.
Dissanayake and Gunawardane, (2018) stated that celebrity endorsement is the oldest
strategy used by brands in order to promote their services. Brands always seeks validation in one
from another. Strategies includes various factors that are associated with celebrities in terms of
their attractiveness, credibility, popularity, image and meaning. An attractive endorser has a
positive impact on endorsement that it will help to attract target audience in certain aspects such
as intellectual capabilities, athlete competence and physical appearance. In addition to this,
credibility of the person is also important that here they perceives trustworthiness and expertise.
The promotions are also depended on the compatibility of endorser with product or services
which he or she is endorsing in terms of personality, position, identity and behaviour. In order to
maximise the collaboration, brand requires considering some above compatibility factors with
celebrity.
Kim, Choe and Petrick, (2018) said that people are aspire to the lifestyle and values of
celebrities. Celebrity is a person who enjoys high prestige and reputation and known to most of
the people. Celebrity endorsement is an effective strategy for brands for the product categories in
order to improve fashion, cosmetics and perfumes. It is a marketing strategy in a form of
advertising campaign used by many brands to improve their status and promote their services
and products effectively.