(Co-)Branding Multidimensionality:
Questioning celebrity endorsment models
through Uniqlo’s myriad of relationships
McCRACKEN’S UNIQLO’S
MODEL
CHALLENGE
Uniqlo has had endorsements — collaborations
and/or sponsorships — with more than
70 athletes, designers and celebrities since 2007.
McCracken’s model of image transferance cannot
account for 70+ seperate meanings. Meanings
would contradict and/or get lost in the shuffle.
Works Cited
1 Segrave, K. Endorsements in Advetising: A Social History, McFarland & Co., 2005.
2 McCracken, G. Culture & Consumption II, Indiana University Press, 2005.
3 Luck, E., Muratovski, G. & Hedley, L. “Co-branding strategies for luxury fashion brands:
Missoni for Target,” in Global Fashion Brands, Intellect, 2014.
4 Boje, D. “Stories of the Storytelling Organization: A Postmodern Analysis of Disney as
‘Tamara-Land,’” The Academy of Management Journal 38.4, 1995.
Companies have been using spokespeople for centuries, even
though the contemporary usage began about a century ago.1
Academic interest in the use of celebrities has been slow to
interrogate celebrity use with studies and publications sparse
and narrow in their scope. Grant McCracken offers perhaps the
most extensive discussion of celebrity endorsements where he
argues that celebrity qualities must align with the product in order
for it to be successful. While several other researchers have
examined the use of celebrity endorsements, the research
frequently looks at direct associations or sponsorship outcomes,
not the role of endorsements in brand building.
MULTIDIMENSIONAL
SUBJECTIVE BRAND
If endorsements are seen as a co-branding exercise — rather than a
meaning transference — it is possible to see a dialogue between the
endorser and the brand.
3
Consumers might not know, or be aware of all the endorsers, but they will
4
develop a subjective brand understanding based on their positioning.
Contact:
Myles Ethan Lascity
Doctoral Candidate
Communication, Culture & Media
mel94@drexel.edu