How the Influencer/Celebrity Brand Endorsement and the Identity of the Endorser Influence the Customer Engagement

The aim of the present study is to investigate the influence of both the advertising medium and the identity of the endorser on the customer engagement of the female Millennials in the Czech market. In order to serve this purpose, the cosmetics industry was selected. Besides, the research, consisting of a four-scenario experimental design, puts in contrast the influence of traditional and digital channels on a one hand, and the effect of influencer and celebrity endorsements on a second hand. The customer engagement was addressed using the four indicators: brand involvement, self-brand connection, brand purchase intention, and brand loyalty. Furthermore, the mediating effect of the endorser congruence with the brand was also examined in order to assess the potential impact of this factor on the studied variables. The experiment was conducted in the Czech Republic with a main focus on the city of Prague, and the questionnaires were administered in an online format among the female millennial group. Prior to the data collection phase, a pre-test was directed on a smaller sample (n=15). A total of 198 valid responses (out of 205) were collected and analyzed using a statistical model for the aim of confirming or refuting the hypotheses of the study. In addition to that, the present research comes as an extension of the findings from the literature review. In that respect, some of the generated results are aligned with the outcomes of prior experiments, while other outputs were revealed to be divergent. The study concluded that the advertising channel had a significant influence on all the engagement dimensions, while the endorser identity was proven to influence the brand involvement in particular. The findings of the experiment also revealed that there is a manifested synergy between the two variable dimensions, since celebrities were more influential on traditional media while influencers were more persuasive and better drivers of engagement on new digital media. Alongside, the endorser-product congruence portrayed itself as a less moderating factor and did not have a direct influence on the engagement of the studied sample. On a second hand, further insights and managerial recommendations were drawn from the study which intends to help local practitioners get a better grasp of the studied market.