As someone famously quipped long time back, India is a land of 30 crore odd Gods. I guess today the count will be much more. For we have added another pantheon of Gods who are either Film stars or Cricket stars. I am also told that there are temples built deitifying these Gods.
And what do these new contemporary Gods do? They appear on our idiot box almost daily endorsing or glorifying almost everything from a cola to a TV to a fairness cream to a luxury car to a condom to a.....you get the drift. And in return they get good money. Sometimes they make more money from these endorsements than even their career. As I am sure is the case of this yesterday's legend's son who has been consistently endorsing a telecom service provider.
Yet one of the most important factors in celebrity advertising is credibility. Credibility has various facets to it. Credibility that the celebrity is a good fit for the brand. Credibility that the celebrity actually uses the product. Credibility that the celebrity is serious about the message he conveys.
Credibility becomes a factor when a celebrity is used as a celebrity. He is used for what he stands for and his achievements. Point in case was the Sachin ad for eating eggs. It fit in nice with a sports celebrity. It had credibility and amplified the importance of eating eggs. Amir in the Coke ads was used as an actor and that's why we appreciated those ads.
Or when the ads show the celebrity in consistence with his or her personality. Akshay Kumar as a daring action man in Thums up, Madhuri Dixit as a dancer in Maggi, Virat Kohli as a young brash rebel in Fast trac.....
Nike internationally has mastered the art of celebrity advertising to perfection. They are a good example of celebrity advertising which has not only been credible but also exploited the persona and ability of each celebrity beautifully. Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods, Andre Aggasi, the list is endless.
But then there are the innumerable ads where the celebrity is not just a misfit but is only a pretty face. I need not give examples of the same.
And all the credibility factors evolve with time. So in the days of yore when for a common person the only beauty regimen would be a soap, Lux stars would matter a lot. That's the reason why Lux star has moved, not away from celebrity but using celebrity in a more evolved and intelligent way. For example, using male stars, or using situations where the star is doing what a star is supposed to do.
This is because the consumer has evolved. Not only in his needs and wants but also in his knowledge and wisdom. Credibilty in using a celebrity today has also to be judged from that viewpoint. I think a good case for the same is Huyndai. When the brand launched in India in the mid nineties they used Shahrukh Khan as the brand model. (The use of the word ambassador is also an evolution). He was the face of the brand. That was the time when India had moved away from Fiat and Ambassador and Maruti Suzuki had become the car of the nation. But with the country rapidly opening Korean brands like Huyndai and Daewoo tried to take the first mover advantage. Totally unkown in India Hyundai used a celebrity to get itself known. It was not celebrity in a role but celebrity as in a celebrity. I will touch on that a bit later. And of course they had a good product. But without Shahrukh I doubt if Huyndai would have been accepted so well.
Huyndai used Shahrukh for a considerable period of time. From a spokesperson or a celebrity trying to pitch Huyndai, they tried to make Shahrukh a model family person. The problem was two folds. One Shahrukh's family life is an open book. Information age has made the masses knowledgeable about Shahrukh and his family. Yet in the Huyndai commercials they used models who were supposed to be his wife, children.... And that had a credibility issue with the evolved consumer. Secondly with more high end brands of cars coming in and more imported brands on Indian roads, for the consumer to imagine that Shahrukh used the small Huyndai for himself, was a stretch. In fact I am sure many of the same consumers would have an exact idea on which vehicle Shahrukh drives. Or does he drive at all and use a driver? So the brand dropped him. Not because Shahrukh's popularity had dropped or he had become a failure. On the contrary his celebrity status kept on zooming. My reasoning is that there was a credibility issue with Shahrukh.
There could be lots more such cases. Amitabh Bachchan has developed an ageing persona for himself. His partly white hair and French cut beard gives him a more mature and old look. So even though he is 70 plus he can get away with a hair oil ad. Of course it is a well kept secret of Amitabh that he uses wigs! Otherwise bye bye to hair oil ads for him! Oops did I let the cat out of the bag!?
And what about celebrities who have switched brands in the same category? What happens to credibility there? Sachin is remembered for his many Pepsi ads. Yet after Pepsi dropped him, Coke accepted Sachin. I think it was sheer fate that Sachin took a year longer than anticipated to get his hundredth hundred and then retired soon after otherwise it would have been fun to see how Coke would have used him. And how would the consumer have accepted that communication? Maybe for his fans it didn't matter as Sachin was too big for any brand. And Kareena plugging Sony Vaio (Confession: I was handling the brand for some of that time). Today she is the spokesperson for iball tablets. And she was the glamorous spokesperson for Vaio and is the same today for iball. Any credibility issue here? Shouldn't the celebrities themselves not stay away from such things. Or is the love for money more important. And what about the second brand? Do they think enough time has passed and people will forget or they just don't care. We remember Amir Khan for his Coke ads. But do we remember his Pepsi ad with Mahima and Aishwarya. Maybe much time had passed. Or maybe that was just one ad and for a short time. (www.youtube.com/watch?v=aptaw0QgcsA)
The fact remains that Celebrity usage will not only remain but also prosper. Today's evolved consumer is also going to be very cynical about it. Credibilty has to be given a proper thought. If there is a credibility issue it would be better not to do celebrity advertising.
Oh! one more thing. In this genre two negatives do not make a positive. So using two celebrities without any justification or without tackling the credibility issue will just increase the celebrity bottom line, not the brand bottomline.
And what do these new contemporary Gods do? They appear on our idiot box almost daily endorsing or glorifying almost everything from a cola to a TV to a fairness cream to a luxury car to a condom to a.....you get the drift. And in return they get good money. Sometimes they make more money from these endorsements than even their career. As I am sure is the case of this yesterday's legend's son who has been consistently endorsing a telecom service provider.
Yet one of the most important factors in celebrity advertising is credibility. Credibility has various facets to it. Credibility that the celebrity is a good fit for the brand. Credibility that the celebrity actually uses the product. Credibility that the celebrity is serious about the message he conveys.
Credibility becomes a factor when a celebrity is used as a celebrity. He is used for what he stands for and his achievements. Point in case was the Sachin ad for eating eggs. It fit in nice with a sports celebrity. It had credibility and amplified the importance of eating eggs. Amir in the Coke ads was used as an actor and that's why we appreciated those ads.
Or when the ads show the celebrity in consistence with his or her personality. Akshay Kumar as a daring action man in Thums up, Madhuri Dixit as a dancer in Maggi, Virat Kohli as a young brash rebel in Fast trac.....
Nike internationally has mastered the art of celebrity advertising to perfection. They are a good example of celebrity advertising which has not only been credible but also exploited the persona and ability of each celebrity beautifully. Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods, Andre Aggasi, the list is endless.
But then there are the innumerable ads where the celebrity is not just a misfit but is only a pretty face. I need not give examples of the same.
And all the credibility factors evolve with time. So in the days of yore when for a common person the only beauty regimen would be a soap, Lux stars would matter a lot. That's the reason why Lux star has moved, not away from celebrity but using celebrity in a more evolved and intelligent way. For example, using male stars, or using situations where the star is doing what a star is supposed to do.
This is because the consumer has evolved. Not only in his needs and wants but also in his knowledge and wisdom. Credibilty in using a celebrity today has also to be judged from that viewpoint. I think a good case for the same is Huyndai. When the brand launched in India in the mid nineties they used Shahrukh Khan as the brand model. (The use of the word ambassador is also an evolution). He was the face of the brand. That was the time when India had moved away from Fiat and Ambassador and Maruti Suzuki had become the car of the nation. But with the country rapidly opening Korean brands like Huyndai and Daewoo tried to take the first mover advantage. Totally unkown in India Hyundai used a celebrity to get itself known. It was not celebrity in a role but celebrity as in a celebrity. I will touch on that a bit later. And of course they had a good product. But without Shahrukh I doubt if Huyndai would have been accepted so well.
Huyndai used Shahrukh for a considerable period of time. From a spokesperson or a celebrity trying to pitch Huyndai, they tried to make Shahrukh a model family person. The problem was two folds. One Shahrukh's family life is an open book. Information age has made the masses knowledgeable about Shahrukh and his family. Yet in the Huyndai commercials they used models who were supposed to be his wife, children.... And that had a credibility issue with the evolved consumer. Secondly with more high end brands of cars coming in and more imported brands on Indian roads, for the consumer to imagine that Shahrukh used the small Huyndai for himself, was a stretch. In fact I am sure many of the same consumers would have an exact idea on which vehicle Shahrukh drives. Or does he drive at all and use a driver? So the brand dropped him. Not because Shahrukh's popularity had dropped or he had become a failure. On the contrary his celebrity status kept on zooming. My reasoning is that there was a credibility issue with Shahrukh.
There could be lots more such cases. Amitabh Bachchan has developed an ageing persona for himself. His partly white hair and French cut beard gives him a more mature and old look. So even though he is 70 plus he can get away with a hair oil ad. Of course it is a well kept secret of Amitabh that he uses wigs! Otherwise bye bye to hair oil ads for him! Oops did I let the cat out of the bag!?
And what about celebrities who have switched brands in the same category? What happens to credibility there? Sachin is remembered for his many Pepsi ads. Yet after Pepsi dropped him, Coke accepted Sachin. I think it was sheer fate that Sachin took a year longer than anticipated to get his hundredth hundred and then retired soon after otherwise it would have been fun to see how Coke would have used him. And how would the consumer have accepted that communication? Maybe for his fans it didn't matter as Sachin was too big for any brand. And Kareena plugging Sony Vaio (Confession: I was handling the brand for some of that time). Today she is the spokesperson for iball tablets. And she was the glamorous spokesperson for Vaio and is the same today for iball. Any credibility issue here? Shouldn't the celebrities themselves not stay away from such things. Or is the love for money more important. And what about the second brand? Do they think enough time has passed and people will forget or they just don't care. We remember Amir Khan for his Coke ads. But do we remember his Pepsi ad with Mahima and Aishwarya. Maybe much time had passed. Or maybe that was just one ad and for a short time. (www.youtube.com/watch?v=aptaw0QgcsA)
The fact remains that Celebrity usage will not only remain but also prosper. Today's evolved consumer is also going to be very cynical about it. Credibilty has to be given a proper thought. If there is a credibility issue it would be better not to do celebrity advertising.
Oh! one more thing. In this genre two negatives do not make a positive. So using two celebrities without any justification or without tackling the credibility issue will just increase the celebrity bottom line, not the brand bottomline.
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