Testimonial
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- For the use of the term testimonial in sport (especially football (soccer)) see testimonial match.
In promotion and advertising, a testimonial or endorsement consists of a written or spoken statement, sometimes from a public figure, sometimes from a private citizen, extolling the virtue of some product. The term "testimonial" most commonly applies to the sales-pitches attributed to ordinary citizens, whereas "endorsement" usually applies to pitches by celebrities. See also Testify, Testimony, for historical context and etymology.
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[edit] Written testimonials in the history of advertising
Testimonials in the form of letters and ad copy featured very commonly in the advertising of patent medicines in the 19th and 20th centuries. The pages of almanacs and other promotional literature filled up with multiple testimonials,some with accompanying photographs, that tell of the healing powers of the products in question. Dr. R. V. Pierce, marketer of Pierce's Golden Medical Discovery, published The People's Common Sense Medical Adviser in 1875; its publication continued for forty years. In addition to a fair explanation of medical knowledge at the time it appeared, this book contained literally hundreds of testimonials extolling Pierce's nostrums, or talking up the virtues of Pierce's Buffalo, New York clinic. Stern photographs of women who owe the cure of their "female weakness" to Pierce's medicines accompany many of the letters. A Denver, Colorado man's testimonial affirms that they put an end to his self-abuse:
- Case 461,306. Onanism. Melancholia; contemplated suicide.
- Gentlemen — Having waited several weeks after finishing the last medicine, to see if there would be any relapse, I now send you a report of treatment. I believe I am thoroughly cured, not only of poor health, but of all desire to abuse myself. I have regained health, spirits, and confidence. Am married, something I have long desired, but never before dared to attempt. Please accept my sincere thanks, gentlemen. Your medicine has saved me from a suicide's grave.
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- --- H., Denver, Col.
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Not only anonymous persons, but occasionally politicians, entertainers, and other celebrities offered their endorsements to the vendors of patent medicine. The makers of Vin Mariani, a cocaine-laced patent medicine, secured one of the most valuable testimonials ever by receiving the recommendation of Pope Leo XIII. Queen Victoria also endorsed a number of patent medicines and other products, and the frequently-seen notices touting a manufacturer or a product "by appointment to" a monarch or his family continue the practice of royal endorsement in a somewhat more low-key manner.
Such coups came towards the end of the era of written testimonials. Later advertisers found that no one bothered to read the testimonials anymore; the sheer bulk of their numbers made them no more convincing or appealing. A warier public wondered whether these anecdotes really proved anything, and often doubted their genuineness.
Celebrity endorsements remain with us. Occasionally the makers of a consumer product do in fact use a consumer's letter in its praise in an advertising campaign. But for the most part, the bulk presentation of written testimonials as an advertising technique has fallen by the wayside.
[edit] Modern testimonials and endorsements
Today testimonials and endorsements appear most commonly in television advertising, particularly in infomercials. For example, a smiling upper-middle class mother may demonstrate her excitement about a laundry soap and describe the benefits that she receives from using it. Marketers feel that the use of testimonials adds a personal touch to their appeal and also portrays a populist image.
For maximum effectiveness, the non-celebrity testimony should come from a person with a similar demographic profile to the people in the target market. In the case of celebrity endorsements advertisers aim to use the recognition-factor to draw on the halo effect. In theory, this source credibility transfers from the celebrity to the advertised product, brand, and manufacturer. A problem with using celebrity endorsements involves any negative publicity that the celebrity might get: it will also transfer back to the product, thereby reducing brand equity.
An established cartoon character utilised to endorse a product can become a spokestoon.
[edit] The value of testimonials
Testimonials appeal via the emotions rather than directly to logic. Testimonials provide in general very weak justifications for purchasing or for taking some action. Even if the writers of testimonials genuinely and spontaneously advocate a product or a service, their statements may mislead. An American study found:
- [E]valuations [...] based on testimony [...] are easier to manipulate for self-interested ends [...] While testimony can be regarded as a form of confirmatory evidence, it does not provide any of the disconfirming evidence needed to reduce uncertainty. [...] People are typically weak at identifying the range of [...] alternatives [...] and at distinguishing the different ways in which the causal forces might operate. How can people know how they would have matured over time in the absence of an intervention (technique) that is being assessed? How can people disentangle effects due to a pleasant experience, a dynamic leader, or a sense of doing something important from effects due to the critical components of the treatment per se? Much research has shown that individuals are poor intuitive scientists and that they recreate a set of known cognitive biases (Nisbett and Ross, 1980, Griffin). These include belief perseverance, selective memory, errors of attribution, and over-confidence. These biases influence experts and non-experts alike, usually without one's awareness of them. - Daniel Druckman and John Swets (editors): Enhancing Human Performance: Issues, Theories, and Techniques . Washington, DC: National Academy Press, 1988, pages 33 - 35. Online version.
The specific case of using celebrity endorsement can raise questions of appropriateness: the image of the endorser may have no evident connection with the image of the endorsed product or service. An actress may act superbly, but know little or nothing of the power-tools she endorses. A Nobel-prize winner may have a reputation for intellect and insight without having much of a background in gadgets outside his/her field. Queen Victoria allegedly endorsed a product that claimed to cure mental illness — presumably without any specific implication that Her Late Majesty ever suffered from mental afflictions.
[edit] Preferred fields for marketing via testimonials
Health products remain one of the more prominent marketing segments in which testimonials retain some effectiveness. Due to the placebo effect and to people's reluctance to expose their frailties to apparently remote and opaque medical doctors, cures for frailties both physical and mental, both real and imagined, continue to sell. A popular generic name for such quack nostrums has come about: "snake oil".
sexual nature also attract sexy people to have sex with. testimonial-marketing. Personal shyness continues to provide a factor here, and word-of-mouth advertising may utilize brief written or verbal testimonials to spread the memes of personal growth and release from inhibitions.
[edit] Measuring the use of celebrities in marketing programs
Over the last several years, advertisers have attempted to quantify and qualify the use of celebrities in their marketing campaigns by evaluating their awareness, appeal, and relevance to a brand's image and the celebrity's influence on consumer buying behavior.
For example, Omnicom agency Davie Brown Entertainment has created an independent index for brand marketers and advertising agencies that determines a celebrity’s ability to influence brand affinity and consumer purchase intent. According to the Wall Street Journal, the so-called "Davie-Brown Index" will "enable advertisers and ad-agency personnel to determine if a particular public figure will motivate consumers who see them in an ad to purchase the product advertised."
