ambassador.' The case study of the famous watch brand Omega, illustrates that the brand faced a severe crash in sales in the 1970s due to the Japanese Quartz phenomenon. Michael believes that, "by the time Omega had seen the error of its ways, the damage to its reputation was done. From the 1970s to the end of the 1990s, it was no longer seen as a luxury watch company." It was then for the first time in 1995, that Cindy Crawford became the new face of Omega, introducing the age of the celebrity brand ambassador. The man behind this marketing ploy was believed to be Jean-Claude Biver, whose strategy changed the entire landscape for branding. During this time, many companies expanded their annual budgets to meet the financial liabilities that came with celebrity endorsements. Celebrities are popular and followed by many people so it makes sense that marketers benefit from using them in order to get their message across. A celebrity can capture consumers' attention, link the brand with their own personal image, and associate their positive attributes with those of the product concerned. However, in some cases celebrity branding could go wrong and affect product revenue. For example, recent doping charges against Lance Armstrong cost him $30 million in endorsements and he stepped down as the chairman of Livestrong. On the other hand, Nike - who sponsors the Armstrong and U.S cycling team - stated in a press release," due to the seemingly insurmountable evidence that Lance Armstrong participated in doping and misled Nike for more than a decade, it is with great sadness that we have terminated our contract with him." Self-branding According to Giriharidas,"the personal-branding field or self-brand traces its origins to the 1997 essay "The Brand Called You," by the management expert Tom Peters." Contemporary theories of branding suggest that brand ambassadors do not need to have a formal relationship with a company in order to promote its products/services. In particular the Web 2.0 allows all individuals to choose a brand and come up with their own strategies to represent it. Biro believes that "everyone owns their own personal brand. Companies and leadership must see the value of this concept for a successful social workplace recipe. If a brand ambassador chooses to represent the company and/or its brands, the individual should do so in a transparent way." Self-branding is an effective way to help new businesses