Promoting sport and physical activity participation: the impact of endorser expertise and recognisability

ABSTRACT

The match-up hypothesis suggests that a fit between endorser and a brand/product can lead to more favourable campaign results. This study explores the effect of endorser expertise and recognition on young adults’ attitudes, and intentions and perceived endorser-campaign fit related to social marketing campaign. A mixed methods sequential explanatory design was applied. The quantitative phase revealed that celebrity athlete endorsers had a more positive effect on participants’ attitudes in comparison with the celebrity non-athlete, unknown expert and unknown non-expert. The intention to participate was also highest for the celebrity athlete group. The perceived fit between the campaign and the celebrity athlete endorser was significantly higher than that for the other endorser types. Participation intention and attitude were not significantly different between sport versus physical activity campaign contexts. Thematic analysis of the qualitative data supported the quantitative findings that sport-based social marketing campaign can benefit from endorsement by a celebrity athlete.

KEYWORDS:

• Social marketing
• athlete endorsement
• expertise
• recognition
• attitude
• participation intention
• perceived fit

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.