Non-sports related product endorsement by Cristiano Ronaldo: celebrity marketing through the eyes of young Greek Instagram users

Social media influencers are great tools in the hands of marketers and a powerful weapon in the competitive sectors of branding and advertising through new media channels. Instagram is one of the most rapidly evolving social media platforms where brands rely more and more on their marketing strategies and in order to create effective endorsements they choose the best possible celebrity influencers to reach their target audience. One of the most favorite categories of celebrity influencers is the celebrity athletes who have a great impact on several Instagram users with many different interests. The most famous athlete and the individual with the most followers on Instagram is Cristiano Ronaldo, who is the main case study in this research. The purpose of this research is to investigate how Greek young Instagram users perceive non-sports related endorsements by celebrity athletes, like Cristiano Ronaldo. Moreover, the research aims to explore the impact of the use of Cristiano Ronaldo on users’ purchasing intentions and the influence of electronic word-of-mouth on users’ perceptions on Instagram endorsed posts. To collect the appropriate data was used the method of qualitative in-depth interviews with 8 young Greek Instagram users between 18 and 29 years old. For the analysis of the collected data was used the method of thematic analysis from which emerged the patterns to answer the research questions. The findings bring out that Cristiano Ronaldo is able as a celebrity influencer to have a positive influence on endorsements where he promotes content out of his expertise. Moreover, he seems to have a positive impact on users’ perceptions when it comes to purchasing decisions. Furthermore, in celebrity influencers’ endorsed posts the influence of electronic word-of-mouth is crucial on young Greek Instagram users’ evaluations. At the end of the paper are presented the theoretical and social implications, along with the limitations and future research suggestions.