IT companies looks to stars to boost brands
The use of celebrity endorsements to sell corporate IT services has industry experts divided on how this type of marketing campaign benefits customers.
Those in favour see a significant payback to both the service provider and its target audience, while those against this approach say brand recognition must be based on a company's track record.
Amid a sluggish global economy, the success or failure of celebrity endorsements in a segment of the IT sector previously known for its conservative marketing stance could affect sales in key markets such as Greater China.
Research firm Gartner said niche IT consultancies need to bolster their brand because large technology firms, including IBM, Hewlett-Packard and Microsoft, had successfully extended their reach into professional services.
A Gartner survey conducted in April and May this year found that IBM led all technology services brands in awareness on most IT professional services categories, such as business and IT consulting.
'Failure to invest in a service brand does more than limit awareness,' said Gartner analyst Christine Adams.
'It robs a provider of a critical vehicle through which service expectations might be conveyed, purchase risk minimised, and confidence in service quality and satisfaction reinforced.'
That is why IT services and consulting firm Accenture has signed world No 1 golfer Tiger Woods as pitchman for its 'High Performance Business' campaign. It hopes that investing in this strategy will give it some advantage against larger rivals IBM Global Services and HP Services.
'The choice of Tiger Woods resonated well in our advertising testing among senior-level executives internationally,' said James Murphy, Accenture's New York-based global managing director for marketing and communications. 'We expect top executives in the mainland and Hong Kong to also react favourably to the Tiger Woods and Accenture relationship.'
He said Accenture sought an attention-grabbing campaign that also articulated how different the company was from the competition.
The three-year deal with Mr Woods is Accenture's first celebrity endorsement programme. Mr Murphy said: 'We see our choice of Tiger Woods as smart, powerful and breakthrough marketing in the business-to-business area.'
While studies show that using celebrities can increase customers' awareness of certain adverts, IBM Global Services and HP Services are keeping their marketing and advertising campaigns celebrity free.
David Shaw, HP Services Asia-Pacific brand and communications director, said the company's approach had been to play up the customer experience in its existing campaign.
'Rather than focus on what we make, the campaign focuses on what we make possible working with our customers,' he said.
'There are no plans at this point to change this creative approach and get celebrities to be part of our campaign.'
Similarly, Steven Davidson, head of IBM's business consulting services unit in Hong Kong, said: 'Customers are looking for a business partner who can bring real value to them; one who understands their business and can develop the best solution to help them achieve their business objectives.'
