Bollywood in trouble? After string of flops, celebs' ad deals likely to suffer

After a string of Bollywood flops like Ranbir Kapoor-starrer Shamshera and other recently released high-profile films like Aamir Khan’s Laal Singh Chaddha and Akshay Kumar-starrer Raksha Bandhan -- with both off to a slow start -- celebrity endorsements by top Bollywood actors could take a hit. While Bollywood’s performance has been dismal, four successive super-hits from the South—Pushpa: The Rise Part-1, RRR, KGF: Chapter 2 and Vikram (to a much smaller extent in Hindi as Vikram: Hitlist)—have grossed more than Rs 3,000 crore worldwide, including nearly Rs 800 crore in Hindi net collections.

The trend of South Indian celebrities signing pan-Indian ad campaigns is crystal clear. Bengaluru-based redBus recently announced Pushpa-starrer Allu Arjun as its brand ambassador. Telugu actor Ram Charan—most recently known for his global hit RRR—recently signed a deal with Frooti to be its brand ambassador along with Alia Bhatt. Rashmika Mandanna, who was the female lead in Pushpa: The Rise, recently endorsed Kingfisher, along with Bollywood actor Varun Dhawan and worked with brands like Dabur Honey, boat, Cashify, McDonald’s, etc. 

Experts say that it might have some short-term impact on the fee charged by Bollywood actors like Ranveer Singh who recently won International Advertising Association (IAA) Brand Endorser of the year after and is known to charge between Rs 3.5-4 crores per ad, making him one of the most expensive actors for endorsements.

“Whether they’re in the field of sports or movies, celebrities always have their brand tagged with their performance. What happens is that the affect is not for the immediate term unless it’s negative publicity or because of a controversy because brand ambassadors are signed for a longer period of time,” Madan Mohapatra, an independent marketing and media consultant, said.

He adds that since celebrities already have a certain established brand equity in the market, it may not matter to a brand custodian in the long term. “However, as a brand custodian, if I’m going to sigh someone today, it might have an impact because it always works on recency,” he added.

Plus, social media plays a huge role in making sure that celebrities stay in the minds of people. Experts say that if the films are underperforming for more than 6 months to a year, then it could have a graver impact. Similarly, South Indian stars like Vijay Devarakonda, Allu Arjun, Ram Charan, etc. need to perform consistently in north Indian markets for it to become a trend. 

“Southern stars will get more pan-India contracts but for how much and how long depends on their consistency of pan-India hits. Otherwise, I’ll take it as a phase. This spurt of South Indian stars endorsing pan India brands and short term will have good traction,” he said.

Prateek Srivastava, co-founder, Chapter Five Brand Solutions, a brand consulting and communications company, says that Bollywood’s underwhelming performance at the Box Office is not the only reason why their brand deals are suffering. “Their brand value and endorsement fee would come down and not only because of their underperformance at the Box Office. It’s also because the consumer is moving a lot towards digital content and there are so many digital stars and influencers that have become popular. If you have a big influencer as your brand ambassador, then you automatically get that kind of reach. That’s a big reason why dependence on Bollywood stars has come down,” he said.

He adds that the industry will see a lot more stars from the South become well known in north Indian markets. “It also helps the brand differentiate themselves from other brands that are taking the same faces from Bollywood,” he said.

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