Well, it’s that time again finish the week with a closing comment of my cluttered and crazy approach to make sense of a cluttered and crazy marketing and the world in general. First let’s discuss about why Honda still insists using female model to promote Vario whereas Suzuki and Yamaha promote their competing product with both female and male (you’ll be surprised). On part two we will discuss about the silly termed comeback marketing and (if anybody cares) about my insomnia attack.

If I may talk seriously for a while… Why Suzuki and Yamaha uses two person that represent all group of users is that… Dum dum dum dum… They are just an average joe and jane, they are not celebrity, heck! They are not even famous… But Honda? Whew, Honda uses Agnes Monica, the current Indonesia’s hottest sexiest actress/singer/public figure/what not (I didn’t find her hot or sexy though). In advertising term, Honda is using Celebrity endorsement campaign, where in one; a celebrity becomes the representation of that product image and positioning. But is it effective?

Celebrity endorsed advertisement is like the debate of the century in the marketing world. Who actually benefited from the relationship between the celebrity and the product/brand? From one perspective, the advertiser expect that the celebrity star status will stick to their product, giving it a faster recall on the target market and audience minds. However, there is the catch that the advertiser actually promotes the celebrity and actually making the celebs more famous because of the extra “air time” and the product… Meh, what product? I just saw the celebrity on that ad.

On 2003, Madhukar Sabnavis, country manager for Discovery, Ogilvy and Mather India even wrote on rediff.com that celebrity endorsement is a diseases, stating that it (celebrity endorsement) sprout from advertising agency/marketer inability to promote the product using its own strength. Ouch… Madhukar even goes to state that celebrity endorsement is just an easy way out… More ouch.

I couldn’t agree more with Madhukar… (if you guys noticed, I used the name quite often, because I don’t know if Madhukar is a female or male). Sometimes the use of a celebrity will bring about the cult following effect, where fans of the celebrity will expectedly uses the product she/he is selling. However, this became a trap also for the hiring party… Why? Because that celebrity person needs to be used again and again and again and again… Buuuuuuuuuut, today people are getting smarter you know. If you read at my post entitled “Hypocrisy Marketing, the worst kind…” people nowadays are able to discern paid individuals to endorse product. So does that means something? YES! It means that people know that celebrity is just another paid individuals and their credibility is going down. So instead of using high paid celebrity, why not just use average joe/jane to promote the product?

With agreement on Madhukar excerpt , I see that Honda is just wanting to take the easy route, using celebrity to promote their product, whereas Suzuki and Yamaha believed wholeheartedly on their products they don’t need to pay much for an endorsement. Am I dissing Honda? The same Honda I have a motto over it? (my motto: I may change for the better or for worse, but Honda will always be there) Um, yes. The lack of marketing effort of Honda Indonesia both motorcycle and automobile really worries me. I may uses harsher words, but suffice to say, I have this urge to know how the marketing mind behind Honda Indonesia works.