Celebrity Endorsement & Consumer Behavior : Gender Differences as a Marketing Strategy

Sammanfattning: Background - Celebrity endorsement is not a new phenomenon and it can be seen in advertisements around the world. Since the content of an advertisement easily can be screened out, it is important to target the right consumer. There has to be a fit between the consumer, the endorser and the product. Since gender plays a crucial part when understanding consumer behavior, knowledge about gender differences needs to be taken into account when creating a marketing strategy.      Purpose - Consumers in today’s society are being exposed to an extreme amount of advertisements and other marketing tools. Advertisements in connection to gender are an uncertain and complex issue since the consumer is largely affected by gender differences. Today, the concept of using a celebrity in advertisements is a common tool for marketers in order to efficiently reach out to the right target customer. Therefore, the purpose of this thesis is to study the relationship between consumer behavior and the use of gender differences as a marketing strategy. Significantly, how celebrity endorsers influence female and male consumers differently in the Swedish sport industry.   Method - This thesis was conducted using an abductive approach together with a mixed methods approach. The data was collected with the use of focus groups and a questionnaire, resulting in a qualitative as well as quantitative approach. The data from the questionnaire complemented the data from the focus groups, which lead to a deeper understanding of the topic.   Findings - The findings of this thesis show that both the gender of the consumer and the gender of the celebrity need to be taken into account when creating a marketing strategy. Further, the authors argue that consumers are filtering information in promotions differently depending on gender, and therefore knowledge of gender differences will influence the effectiveness of a celebrity endorsed promotion. The findings of this thesis strengthen previous literature to some extent, but do also enhance the readers to new insights.