Thomas Gottschalk, George Clooney und Meister Propper. With no doubt everybody is able to connect those names with a brand. Testimonials can be experts, unknown performer, prominent people, or artificially generated figures. They share personal and positive experiences about a brand or a product and by that they convince the consumers of the benefits of the product.
It is important that the testimonial is authentic and matches the brand. If a brand uses the same testimonial for a long time, the reputation and the character traits of the testimonial will be transcribed towards the brand. A long-lasting connection between the testimonial and the brand is important.
You can use prominent people, self-created or unknown people as a testimonial. If famous people from the media, sport idols or influencer are used as testimonials, they increase the attention and have a higher memorability. Additionally, the image of a prominent person will be transcribed to the brand. But there has to be emphasized, that it is not controllable, which traits a prominent person has in the society. Due to that it is possible that negative characteristics will be transcribed to the brand. If you use artificial testimonials, you are able to control the characteristics that are connected to the brand.
A crucial goal in marketing is to connect a brand with an emotional response in the consumer. Testimonials are a good possibility for that purpose. According to a study of the Siegfried Vögele Institut conducted in 2003, the presentation of famous or unknown faces arouses a stronger activation in the areas in the brain that are responsible for processing of emotions, than the presentation of logos does.
Testimonials on trucks
A well-made example for marketing communication with testimonials is provided by Freenet Energy. Freenet Energy takes Dieter Bohlen on his biggest road trip. The design of the truck is very salient. It will drive between Berlin and Hamburg and millions of car drivers and commuters will be addressed face to face by Freenet Energy.
If the testimonials are supposed to be remembered, truck advertisement is a good idea. The truck tarpaulins provide about 80 qm to depict the testimonial. Truck advertisement is attracting attention and reaches out to a broad variety of consumers in their daily lives.