Endorsing a pricey deal

Lada Guruden Singh

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During the commercial break of a prime-time television show Irrfan Khan appears with a bevy of beauties. He is selling Vanesa Envy 1000 deodorant. In his signature style, he takes a dig at other deodorant brands and their advertisments that depict men being chased by girls after they give themselves a generous helping of the spray. Irrfan, on the other hand, terms the tactic, “Bakwaas”! The advertisement complements the actor’s image of being serious about what he does. He has capitalised on his image of being the unconventional Bollywood hero and thus is the brand ambassador of products that claim to be different.

Brands boost the career

Bollywood celebrities dominating the ad space is not a new phenomenon. But in the last few years, brands have become a great tool for celebrities to create a certain image. An interesting case in point being Ranbir Kapoor's Renault campaign, where he is shown mingling with people from different strata of society. 

His another campaign of song-downloading app Saavn only targets youth. The actor is aware that he has to appeal to a wider gamut of consumers in order to reclaim his popularity that has suffered due to recent flops.

Traditionally though, it has been the other way round. Brand managers and marketing experts follow stars and their graph of hits and misses at the boxoffice before signing them as brand ambassadors. Also taken into consideration are their image and the ability to convince the target audience. For example, Amitabh Bachchan can convince parents to buy kids’ stuff from firstcry.com, an online store, because his image is also that of a doting grandfather among other things. India's leading brand queen, Deepika Padukone (16 brands when last counted) is a brand ambassador for Axis Bank, a very male dominated space hitherto, because the public opinion about her is that of an independent woman, who has worked her way to the top through sheer hardwork and intelligence. Similarly, Alia Bhatt and Siddharth Malhotra work well for Coca Cola as they are rising stars, who are followed by teenagers, a prime target for impulse buying.

Power of superstars 

The number of brands a male or a female actor gets to endorse in his or her career is directly proportional to stardom. Stars like Aamir Khan (he charges Rs 5 cr-6 cr per day), Shah Rukh Khan (Rs 4 cr-6 cr per day), Salman Khan (Rs 4 cr-5 cr per day) or Amitabh Bachchan (Rs 3.5 cr-4 cr per day) and Akshay Kumar (Rs  3.5 cr-4 cr per day) are 

brands in themselves and are far bigger than anything they endorse. 

For new brands with big moneybags, A-list actors are the go-to names. They create immediate awareness and market for such brands. Factors like class, durability and innovation are considered before signing a deal. But then there are undergarments’ brands like Dixy Scott, Rupa, Dollar Club, which have all the big names as their brand ambassadors. The brands are very popular in smaller towns where social and digital media is still a far cry. While these ensure stars a big buck — reportedly anywhere between Rs 8 cr and 10 cr per deal — these also help actors enjoy  mass appeal. The same goes for  endorsing major liquor or pan masala brands!

While doing multiple brand endorsements works well for a star, some brands risk losing the novelty value, because the same star is selling cement one day and a body-grooming product the next day. In such cases, brands emphasise on creating path-breaking campaigns and stories that can gel with the image of the star. Take for example, Aamir Khan and his Atithi Devo Bhava ads for the Government of India. These go well with his image of being a responsible citizen. Similarly, his Tata Sky campaign in various avatars is an ode to his versatility.

Young and popular

Interestingly, as stars age, the brands replace them with new faces or add to the list. Ranbir Kapoor replacing Shah Rukh Khan for Pepsi made big news. Pepsi or Coke are impulse brands and thus, these like capitalising on the current sensations. Shraddha Kapoor is the new brand ambassador of Lakme, even as Kareena Kapoor too represents it. Similarly Sonam Kapoor was brought on the L'Oreal’s bandwagon, while Aishwarya Rai Bachchan continues to be their regular face at Cannes. To be associated with a powerful brand is more of a success statement for young stars. 

A star earlier had to prove his mettle at the boxoffice over a period of time to be signed by a coveted brand. These days, with just a couple of years in the industry, stars get lucrative deals. A reason for this is also that bigger brands get the younger crop at an affordable price, which a superstar may not want to negotiate on. Three films old Alia Bhatt (now a rising brand star) made headlines last year after she became the brand ambassador of Garnier Fructis, which had Priyanka Chopra as the face of the brand.

For young actors, who deliver back-to-back hits, sky is the limit. Varun Dhawan, who has five hits to his credit, is said to be one of the most sought-after names in the brand world. He has been recently roped in by Philips and is reportedly now charging Rs 3cr to 4cr per day for an endorsement deal. He is endorsing everything from a hair gel to eye wear to mobile phones. Ranveer Singh’s name falls in the same price bracket. The actor who created waves with his condom endorsements followed by a noodle-brand advertisment is regarded as one of the most bankable faces across a spectrum of brands, from cars to e-commerce.

Together they do

Brands also explore the power of two — a celebrity couple — Saif Ali Khan and Kareena Kapoor, Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai, Anushka Sharma and Virat Kohli draw a lot of attention. Brands have also started roping in the parents of star ambassadors — Deepika Padukone and her parents Prakash Padukone and Ujjala Padukone have featured in Axis Bank and Tanishq’s ads. Alia Bhatt and her mother, Soni Razdan have just been featured in Garnier ads. If both mother and daughter are talking about the benefits of a certain brand, chances are the consumers will repose faith in the product.  

Playing safe

At times, not everything goes according to the script in the brand world. Post the Maggi controversy, talent management agencies are exploring tighter legal options to ensure that their star clients remain insulated from any misgivings of selling a particular brand. On their part, celebrities are far more involved in deciding which brand to pick and which to drop. Contracts are thus today more complicated. Also, celebrity tweets are the latest brand promotion medium! And they come with a price tag running into multiple lakhs for just 140 characters.