Bollywood Endorsements Worries Brand Consultants

In India, the lucrative celebrity endorsement industry has many brand consultants worried over an approach they might call too fast and too furious.

Bollywood stars account for 80% of the 185 million dollar industry. In a market so large and competitive, many worry that celebrities are rushing toward the money while bypassing essential questions about their relevance to the brand.

At the heart of the issue is authenticity. If celebrity endorsements are seen as indiscriminate, as many brand consultants fear they will, they run the risk of destabilizing the industry as a whole.

Is Freida replacing Aishwarya as the face of L’Oreal Paris?

Recently, rumors had it that Aishwarya Rai Bachchan would soon be replaced by the Slumdog Millionaire chick, Freida Pinto as the new face of cosmetic firm L’Oreal Paris.

However, a denial has come from the officials of L’Oreal Paris, “We are shocked and surprised to read in some sections of the media/press about Ms. Aishwarya Rai Bachchan being replaced as the face of L’Oreal Paris,” said an official statement from the firm.

These rumors cropped when Ms Pinto was seen featuring in the L’Oreal Paris New Year 2011′s commercial ad.

“L’Oreal Paris strongly reiterates that this is absolutely untrue and that Ms. Aishwarya Rai Bachchan continues to be our valued spokesperson, as she has since 2000. While she remains an integral part of the L’Oreal Paris worldwide Dream Team, she was unfortunately unavailable for our New Year commercial shoot due to prior commitments,” the statement added.

The statement also made it clear that since Ash was busy with her prior commitments, she wasn’t able to make it for the shoots of the commercial ad of New Year.

Praising the beauty, the statement added, “She (Ash) is one of the most iconic women of our times and is certainly the face of L’Oreal Paris internationally and in India for a range of products,”

Cricket celebrity MS Dhoni has been dropped from endorsing Aircel’s latest social networking handset INQ

Cricket celebrity MS Dhoni has been dropped from endorsing Aircel’s latest social networking handset INQ. The latest move came after the celebrity cricketer was seen promoting two mobile handsets from two different brands at the same time.Mumbai-based company Maxx Mobile Communications has asked Aircel to pull off the commercial after seeing the controversial advertisement. “We have communicated our stand to Mindscapes Maestros, the agency that manages Dhoni, asking them to discontinue the advertisement which has Dhoni endorsing INQ handset as it breaches category exclusivity in the handsets space,” said Mir K Rasool, marketing head, Maxx mobile.

Aircel is promoting the social networking handset INQ in partnership with the UK-based social networking handset maker INQ Mobile. “MS Dhoni is our brand ambassador for Aircel. Therefore, he endorses all products and services for Aircel. However, when we were informed by MS Dhoni’s agent that he is endorsing Maxx for IPL, keeping the sensitivity.

Pepsico’s soft drink brand Mountain Dew has signed Salman Khan

Pepsico’s soft drink brand Mountain Dew has signed celebrity Salman Khan for an annual fee estimated at Rs 5 crore, placing the Dabangg superstar at par with cricketer Sachin Tendulkar.Riding high on the success of his film Dabangg, one of the biggest hits of this year, Salman becomes Mountain Dew’s first brand ambassador. So far, the lemon-based drink had opted for high-energy commercials featuring high-octane stunts.The deal places Salman ahead of other film stars such as Hrithik Roshan and Saif Ali Khan , said two executives from the celebrity management space. “This is the first time a brand ambassador has been signed for Mountain Dew in India,” a PepsiCo spokesman said. He declined to comment on the deal size.

When contacted, Matrix India Entertainment Consultants founder director Vivek Kamath did not comment on the development. The agency manages Salman’s endorsements. PepsiCo has positioned Mountain Dew as a macho drink with the tagline,‘darr ke aage jeet hai’.The company spokesman said Salman identifies with the philosophy of the brand and has a strong national appeal. The beverage maker has chosen the 45-year-old Salman Khan when its flagship brand Pepsi promotes itself as a youth-centric brand in line with its ‘youngistan’ theme.In fact, brand Pepsi dropped actor Shah Rukh Khan and cricketer Sachin Tendulkar in the last two years, justifying that the two stars did not fit in with the brand’s ‘young’ image.
This year, Salman has been a sort of saviour to Bollywood. While some of the most hyped films like Hrithik Roshan’s Guzarish and Abhishek Bachchan’s Raavan flopped, Shah Rukh Khan’s My Name is Khan was an average grosser. In fact, even before Dabangg became the hit that it has, general entertainment channel Colors had roped in Salman as host of its popular show Bigg Boss’ fourth season.

Shahrukh Khan as a brand ambassador of Nerolac paints

The Kansai Nerolac Paints has brought celebrity Shahrukh Khan as their new brand ambassador. The appointment has been made keeping in mind the company's eco-friendly decorative paint solutions for the festive season. This is not the first time the brand will be using a celebrity as brand ambassador as they've previously used Amitabh Bachchan, and Mohanlal too.

Kansai Nerolac in the recent past have increased focused on safer, eco-friendly paints using new technology to produce low VOC (Volatile Organic Compound), lead free paints.

Kansai Nerolac Paints have significantly improved the product offering with a new range of eco-friendly products that have been produced using advanced technology, conforming to highest norms of health and environment safety. At this point we felt the need of an ambassador who reflects this and who could help us effectively communicate this to our consumers. celebraty Shahrukh Khan was a perfect choice for Kansai Nerolac Paints and are extremely happy to have him.”
shahrukh Khan enjoys a mass appeal and is amongst the most popular personalities in the country. Kansai Nerolac Paints planned a nationwide television campaign as well as outdoor and print in select markets across India.

Dhoni tops in celebrity endorsements

Indian cricket captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni has topped the chart for celebrity endorsements on Brands the first six months of this year, leaving behind not only Shahrukh Khan and Sachin Tendulkar , but also the gorgeous ladies of the silver screen.

During the January to June period, while Dhoni endorsed brands for 24 companies on TV, Shahrukh and Sachin were seen promoting the products of 16 and 15 firms, respectively, according to the Adex survey of TAM Media Research.

Interestingly, Dhoni also left behind many Bollywood actresses, who enjoyed a combined 45 per cent share of the total celebrity endorsements on TV between January and June.Kareena Kapoor, Sonam Kapoor, Kajol and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan were some of the most popular Bollywood beauties, who were seen frequently endorsing products in TV advertisements.According to the survey, Bollywood actors and sports persons accounted for 42 per cent and 10 per cent, respectively, of the total celebrity advertisements on TV.During the period, Dhoni appeared for a host of brands, including Reebok, Aircel, Godrej and TVS.In July, he had signed a Rs 210 crore deal with Rhiti Sports Management and Mindscapes to manage his long list of endorsements and brand associations for two years.The deal, the richest in Indian cricket history, surpassed batting superstar Sachin Tendulkar's estimated Rs 180 crore, three-year contract with sports management firm Iconix in 2006.As per the Adex survey, the top five categories endorsed the most by celebrities included aerated soft drinks, cellular phone services, toilet soaps and shampoos.

UK are more likely to follow brands in social media

Internet users in the UK are more likely to follow brands in social media than they are to follow celebrities. A study of over 1,000 internet users (by the IAB, Opinion Matters and RMM) found that whilst only 13.4% of users follow celebrities, more than one in five (20.3%) follow brands. Brands are, therefore more than 50% more popular than celebrities in social media. This is good news for brands and shows the benefits they can get of using social media and using it well. But it also reinforces the importance for all brands of getting a social media strategy in place.

The research also showed than more than one in eight UK consumers have given feedback to a brand or organisation in social media. That is more than half of those who say they are following a brand in the first place and shows that, when consumers are following brands in social media, they are also likely to interact with it.

Another way to ‘interact’ with a brand in social media is not to follow it or to give it feedback directly, but to complain about it in a public arena. The survey found that 7.7% of UK consumers had done just this and in 40% of cases brands had responded rapidly to these complaints and comments. Getting your social media monitoring in place is important for brands as it helps you to find and, if appropriate, respond to mentions and such complaints. The research also shows the benefit of brands monitoring and responding like this – almost four out of every five (77.8%) people who were contacted by a brand were left with a positive feeling about the brand.

So consumers are more likely to follow a brand than a celebrity. Of those who follow a brand, more than half will interact with it and give it feedback. Consumers are also complaining about brands and organisations through social media, and those who receive a response from the brand through the same medium and highly likely to leave with a positive feeling about that brand.

In an environment where we know that most people will happily consume, and be influenced by, discussions and comments. The number of UK consumers actively discussing and feeding back on brands in social media is relatively high, and underlines how critical it is for all brands and organisations to address how they are using social media and to make sure they are using it in a way that makes sense for them, and adds value to them as well as to their audience.