ABSTRAK
Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk melakukan investigasi terhadap pengaruh pemilihan selebriti mancanegara sebagai brand ambassador terhadap brand image di market lokal. Demi keamanan dalam persaingan sengit industri, pemasaran suatu brand harus memberikan dampak yang signifikan dan cukup menarik agar konsumen dapat membangun persepsi positif terhadap brand tersebut; salah satu caranya adalah dengan memilih brand ambassador yang mempunyai image yang selaras dengan brand tersebut. Untuk mengevaluasi keefektifan penggunaan selebriti mancanegara dibandingkan selebriti lokal dalam membangun persepsi positif konsumen terhadap brand di market lokal, penulis menggunakan studi kasus perbandingan antara Shopee yang memilih BLACKPINK sebagai regional brand ambassador dan Tokopedia yang memilih selebriti atau influencer lokal sebagai brand ambassador. Studi kualitatif inimenggunakan metode wawancara individual dengan responden yang terbagi berdasarkan pengetahuan mengenai Tokopedia dan Shopee dan masa penggunaan kedua servis tersebut. Penelitian ini membuktikan bahwa efek selebriti mancanegara sebagai brand ambassador kurang signifikan dalam mengubah brand image dibandingkan brand ambassador lokal. Khususnya di Indonesia, brand ambassador lokal lebih diminati karena konsumen terasa lebihterhubung dengan figur yang berlatar belakang sama.ABSTRACT
This study aims to investigate the effect of selecting foreign celebrities as brand ambassadors towards the brand image in a local market. Indonesia is currently becoming saturated with a plethora of businesses, offering similar goods and services. Brands grow reliant on customers for their survival. Maintaining a positive brand image becomes a differentiating factor to establish presence in the minds of customers. Brands should aim to be consumer-centric whichessentially involves portraying a brand image through hiring suitable brand ambassadors whose image is in line with that of the brand. A unique case presents itself when brands start to hire foreign celebrities as brand ambassadors for a local market as shown by Shopee who hires BLACKPINK as their regional brand ambassador. This research will carry out a comparativestudy between two study cases: Shopee with BLACKPINK, and Tokopedia with local celebrities or influencers as their brand ambassadors. The method for this qualitative study is a comparative study using individual interviews to gather insights from respondents which are categorized based on their prior knowledge of both Shopee and Tokopedia and the usage frequency of both services. Results revealed that foreign celebrity ambassadors are less effective in changing brand image in a local market compared to local brand ambassadors. In Indonesia, local brand ambassadors are preferred because customers can relate more to someone of the similar background.