| CELEB ADVANTAGE |
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| The rising demand for celebrity endorsements pushes up the fee of seniors and market for newcomers |
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| Posted online: Sunday, April 09, 2006 at 0000 hours IST |
New celebrities, old rules
As the demand for hiring celebrities shoots up, companies sign on upcoming actors and players
As the demand for hiring celebrities shoots up, companies sign on upcoming actors and players
Soft drinks, computers, soaps, chocolates, biscuits,
paints, cars, suitings, footwear, watches, pens, hair oil, diamonds, pizzas - corporate India sells all these to the discerning consumer using the brand value of sport stars and movie actors. So you have celebrities who are willing to endorse anything for big bucks and are laughing all the way to the bank. With the government waiving off service tax on celebrity brand ambassadors in the recent Budget, celebrity endorsement deals are once again in the spotlight. While tax consultants believe the celebrity fee should be taxed, several corporates have welcomed the move and signed up a bunch of new faces. So you have M S Dhoni endorsing the Anil Ambani-controlled Reliance ADA Group, Sania Mirza espousing the cause of Sprite and Hyundai, Shah Rukh Khan selling Himani talcum powder and Hewlett Packard’s Compaq Presario notebooks and desktops, Saif and Soha Ali Khan waxing eloquent about Lenovo, Fardeen Khan selling paan masala, John Abraham riding Yamaha or sipping a diet cola,
Abhishek Bachchan going fida over Ford Fiesta, Rani Mukerji and Saif Ali Khan test riding Chevrolet Aveo to Hema Malini’s daughter Ahana endorsing Kent water purifier, Udita Goswami selling plywood and Katrina Kaif selling diamonds. The list goes on.
For Dhoni, who’s also endorsing Pepsi, Reebok, TVS Motors, Orient Fans, Mysore Soaps, British Petroleum and Videocon, Reliance-ADAG will be one of his “biggest endorsement deals”. Tennis sensation Sania Mirza has three brand new endorsement deals, after the Australian Open in 2005. Her new endorsements (GVK Industries, Sahara , Atlas Cycles, Tata Tea and Sports Authority of Andhra Pradesh) have made her valuation next only to Tendulkar,
Ganguly and Dravid.
GM India has signed Saif Ali Khan and Rani Mukherji to endorse its mid-sized sedan, Chevrolet Aveo. “The Chevrolet Aveo is a new generation car with class, looks, style and great mileage. Saif and Rani represent style and are well-entrenched icons for the people the campaign is addressing,” says Rajeev Chaba, president and MD, GM India.
Abhishek Bachchan, another new convert to the endorsing game, managed to grab eyeballs with his new Ford campaign. A dipstick study showed the ad had 70% recall within three weeks of it being aired on TV. And it seems to have translated into sales. Ford had rustled up bookings for 10,000 cars till the second half of February. Bachchan says that he is “careful about
the brand profile before signing up”.
John Abraham, who is also getting popular in the endorsement market, says, “Brands should have a clear connection with my personality. I like to be known by the brands I endorse as much as the other way around.” The actor is making money by endorsing Samsung Mobiles, Fast Track Titan Eyegear and Yamaha Bikes. The latest addition to the list is his teaming up with Bipasha Basu to sell anti-dandruff shampoo.
Banks have also turned to brand ambassadors. Though all of them maintain that they have done well by getting brand ambassadors, they are unanimous that this is backed with the banks’ product portfolio and customer care.
ICICI, which had Amitabh Bachchan earlier, has now SRK for NRI banking. Bank of Rajasthan has Hema Malini endorsing it. Says Pravin Tayal, CMD, “Since she became our brand ambassador, our visibility among the public has increased.” Dena Bank has Juhi Chawla endorsing it. Says chief manager Sanjiv Nigam, “Chawla’s youthful, positive image has added to our visibility.” Rahul Dravid is the brand ambassador for Bank of Baroda. Explains Anil K Khandelwal, CMD, “BoB wanted to change its logo and roped in a brand ambassador for the first time to give it a modern touch.”
SRK, one of the most sought-after celeb endorsers, can’t have enough. So in the past few months he’s also joined the Emami brand club and is the face for Compaq
Presario. He says, “Being a techno-enthusiast, I was happy to promote Presario desktops and notebooks. I have been using a Compaq Presario for a decade.”
K K Swamy, deputy managing director, Toyota India
Max New York Life has just signed up Rahul Dravid as its brand ambassador.
Says Dravid, “I am pleased to be associated with a life insurance company that you can trust for financial planning.”
Pepsi has just signed up Priyanka Chopra as its new brand ambassador this summer. Reclusive musician A R Rahman, who endorsed Airtel earlier, has just lent his name to Worldspace because “I was among the first to get one for myself two years back.”
Second rung celebrities, who would earlier have not been considered, are also being employed. Rajpal Yadav endorses Araldite Carpenter, a synthetic resin adhesive. Says Asit Adhikari, regional director, India and Middle East, Huntsman Advanced Materials (India India
Santosh Desai, president, McCann Erickson India
As long as corporates continue to foot fancy bills of celeb endorsers and consumers are in awe of celebs, the party will go on.
| Who Costs How Much? | |
| • Chiranjeevi 4.5-5.0 • Aamir Khan 3.5-4.5 • Amitabh Bachchan 2.5-4.5* • Shah Rukh Khan 2.5-3.5 • Abhishek Bachchan 2.0 | • Hrithik Roshan 1.75-2.0 • Saif Ali Khan 1.75 • Rahul Dravid 1.50 • Sania Mirza 1.50 • Sehwag 0.70 |
| (Figures in Rs crore based on industry sources) *Depending on the number of days he is needed for the ad | |
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