Allu Arjun to Samantha Prabhu: Why brands are making a beeline for South film stars

It’s raining brand endorsements for film stars from the South. And for good reason. After the “pan-India” — a term that is ubiquitous now — successes of their films and OTT shows, actors from Allu Arjun (of Pushpa fame) to Samantha Ruth Prabhu (of The Family Man and Oo Antava fame) are being courted aggressively by advertisers. 

Traditional FMCG brands like Frooti, Coca-Cola, and Kurkure to new-age internet firms such as Myntra, Mamaearth, and Zomato are making a beeline for South Indian film actors amidst the dwindling box office appeal of their Bollywood counterparts. 

Industry estimates suggest that Allu Arjun, the highest-paid actor in Telugu cinema, charges anywhere between Rs 2 crore to Rs 7.5 crore per endorsement deal — the upper limit is comparable or what top Bollywood actors, such as Ranveer Singh, earn per campaign.

“There’s no one definite figure. These actors are humans, they don’t have a rate card,” Manish Porwal, MD, Alchemist Marketing & Talent Solutions, tells Business Today. “What they charge depends on the category the endorsement falls under, how many days they are giving, and other factors like territory, category blocks etc,” he explains. 

Porwal goes on to share that Allu Arjun always fetched a “huge premium” over his Bollywood peers. And that is because “South stars usually don’t sell themselves cheap” since they know they can influence their audience in other ways (like politics, etc.) “Kamal Haasan and Rajinikanth would rarely or never do ads,” he says.

Allu Arjun’s yield per thousand audience would be far higher than that of Ranveer Singh, says Porwal. “Bollywood stars influence audiences in the north, west and east, but South actors earn a premium of 30-40 per cent per square kilometer of influence vs other stars,” he reveals.

A lot of companies are now tapping into a variety of brand ambassadors to influence multiple territories and audience sets. Take Beardo, for instance. The Marico-owned men’s grooming brand roped in Kannada actor Yash (of KGF fame) along with Bollywood actor Hrithik Roshan and cricketer KL Rahul as brand ambassadors. And Beardo is not alone. 

“Rising D2C brands are looking to associate with the right celebrity brand for targeted outreach of their products… Their strategy is to associate with the endorser who can ensure better and higher engagement with the product’s potential consumers. Therefore, we can expect to witness greater diversity in celebrity brand endorsers,” Arun Pandey, CMD, Rhiti Sports Management, was quoted as saying in an industry report. 

A celebrity brand valuation report by Kroll shows that well-funded startups, especially in the consumer tech space, have led to significant growth in the number of endorsements for India’s top 20 celebrities. “These have increased by more than 50 per cent from 2020, and constitute about 12 per cent in the overall brand portfolio of the celeb,” states the report. 

From PhonePe to Rapido and redBus to Dream11 — each has a south star endorsing the brand today. Take Mamaearth, for instance. The D2C beauty brand roped in Samantha as its brand ambassador earlier this year to not only tap into her rising pan-India popularity, but also make itself more seen and heard in the Southern markets.

Ghazal Alagh, Co-founder of Mamaearth, said in a statement, “Samantha represents the ideal youth, driven by ideals and purpose, and we strongly feel she will be able to support our purpose across India, especially the south Indian markets.”

But how do South actresses generally fare vis-a-vis their male counterparts? “Samantha seems to be doing very well,” says Porwal. “Especially with event appearances… the pay gap between male and female actors may be more in films, but when it comes to appearances, female stars fare better,” he shares.

Samantha, besides giving the biggest viral song of the year, also made news for her separation from actor Naga Chaitanya and her appearance on Season 7 of Koffee With Karan, which is as “pan-India” as it can get. As a result, her social media mentions and newsworthiness remain high.

Hansa Research’s Brand Endorser report states that Samanth and Allu Arjun are, in fact, the highest-ranked South Indian celebs when it comes to social media influence, marketing value, and reach. Both these stars have expanded their fan base up north to become household names now. 

But, is this a passing fad or will it last?

It is no secret that the box office success of south Indian films and the disappearance of language barriers in the OTT era have led to the soaring popularity of Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, and Malayalam actors. 

An exchange4media report indicates that South Indian films grossed Rs 2,400 crore at the domestic box office in 2021, 3x that of Bollywood, which earned about Rs 800 crore. Even in 2022, big-budget failures continue to haunt the Hindi film industry, while South movies like KGF and RRR have basked in pan-India and even international glory.

Porwal sums up by saying, “Baahubali aggravated the stance of the South. Pushpa's consumption for north Indians happened parallelly on OTT and in theatres. This is not a flash in the pan. It’s here to stay.”

And as long as content from the South clicks, so will its stars! 

Also Read: Southern Invasion: How South Indian Cinema Took Over Bollywood

Also Read: The ‘Baahubalisation’ of Bollywood