Celebrity clutter
Who-or, rather what-is the Big B really? Is it the legendary Amitabh Bachchan? Or is it Binani Cement, the latest brand to be endorsed by the evergreen star? On another level, is the real Big B the one expounding the virtues of Parker Pens, or the agile Matrix-extra wannabe dressed in Reid & Taylor? Hang on, the Big B may actually be the playful grandfather in the Dabur commercials, or the avuncular propagator of Cadbury chocolate.
To be sure, celebrity endorsements are nothing new and can be traced back to the 1920s. Indian marketers, however, it would seem have discovered the power-or should we say, the convenience-of endorsements more recently. A decade ago, nearly 20 per cent of prime-time television commercials in India featured celebrities in them, and 15 per cent of advertising bucks were spent on celebrity-endorsed advertisements (Ad Age, 1997). Today, nearly 35 per cent of prime-time television commercials in the country feature celebrities in them; these ads account for 20 per cent of the advertising spend in the country.
Do Indian advertisers really know what their brands stand for? Or is paying anything from Rs 1-5 crore to plaster a celebrity's face all over brand communication just a short-cut? Says Mahesh Chauhan, President, Rediffusion DY&R: "Celebrities need to be used discretely so they don't become bigger than the brand, but in most of the cases, the celebrity seems to benefit more from the endorsement, rather than the brand. It's only in a very few cases that the personality of the celebrity fits the personality of the brand. In most cases, it is definitely a short-cut to creativity, and in lieu of a good idea."
Chauhan, for his part, can't figure why Bachchan has been roped in to endorse Binani Cement. "Is it just because they both begin with 'B'?" A few months ago, Tata Consultancy Servcies CEO S. Ramadorai made a similar point when BT asked him if TCS would ever plump for a brand ambassador, a la Tiger Woods for Accenture. "I don't think we need a Tiger Woods to promote TCS. I think Tiger Woods is promoted there and not the company. People recall Tiger Woods playing golf (and not the company)."
Also, the most popular of the celebrities-like Amitabh Bachchan, Shahrukh Khan and Sachin Tendulkar-endorse so many different brands that it's near impossible to keep track of who's advocating what. In cases such as these, more often than not, the brand becomes a blind spot for audiences. Sure, a lot of people remember Shahrukh Khan trying to pick up an Eastern European woman (with a very bad accent) in a computer store, but how many people really remember it's for z brand? Some more questions: Which of the many jewellery brands is Aishwarya Rai hawking? And for which one is Sushmita Sen the face?
Tarun Rai, Managing Partner, JWT, explains it's not about using a celebrity brand endorser; it's about how the celebrity is going to be used. You can't use a celebrity only for the fact he or she is a celebrity. "I think it's their greed and their hunger to rake in as much as they can, as quickly as they can." Rai surmises that celebrities are here to stay as brand endorsers, and that is due partly to the advent of luxury brands into the country. "To me, that makes sense, because there's a perfect fit between luxury and some of our celebrities. But then the Shah Rukh Khans and Amitabh Bachchans of the world better be careful, because you can't be endorsing cooking oil and the Rolexes and Omegas at the same time. Right now all these luxury brands are a bit desperate, because there aren't too many 'celebrity superstars', in that sense of the word, in India." Adds Harish Bijoor, CEO, Harish Bijoor Consults Inc.: "Brand ambassadors must not moonlight. Brand ambassadors who focus on one brand can achieve great results." The best example: the combo of Zakir Hussain and Taj Mahal tea.
