BUSINESS
What do campaigns such as “Washing Powder Nirma”, Cadbury Dairy Milk’s “Kya Swad Hai Zindagi Mein” and Amul’s “Amul Doodh Hai Wonderful” have in common? All of them are iconic 90s ads that have done their job without plastering a single famous face across the TV screen. But the script changed quickly. So if Savage Perfumes roped in Jackie Shroff, Dreamline needed Hema Malini to gatecrash into the buyer’s consideration set. Here’s another twist: According to a recent report by the Indian Institute of Human Brands (IIHB), two of the ads with the highest recall value during the recently concluded T20 World Cup were Birla Opus Paints and Parle-G. Interestingly, both of them did not have a celebrity. So what changed again? Two words: Influencer marketing . “Influencer marketing is booming at lightning speed, attracting brands with potential value,” says Kunal Khandelwal, group head of outreach, SoCheers. Indeed, India ’s influencer marketing industry is expected to swell to `34 billion by 2026, up from `19 billion in 2023, a recent Ficci-EY report said. The reasons are not far to seek. First, the investment on a mid-size influencer would be a-tenth of that on a mid-size celebrity. Plus there’s always the fear that the celebrity might overshadow the brand. Sandiip Kapur, founder and president of Promodome Group, says, “Celebrities can dominate the advertisement, overshadowing the product and diluting the brand’s key message.”That apart, he says there’s also the risk of negative fallout if the celebrity gets involved in a scandal. In other words, bad publicity does not guarantee good business. “While celebrity endorsements can be powerful, they need to be managed carefully to ensure alignment with the brand’s values and audience,” says Kapur. But can brands afford to say bye-bye to Bollywood or cricketing stars? Before answering that question, it is worth noting that the same survey that put many non-celebrity ads in the list of ads with the highest recall value, revealed that Shah Rukh Khan, with ads for brands like Castrol, Everest Masalas, Denver and Vimal Pan Masala, “dominated the advertising recall on brand ambassadors” during the World Cup final by an impressive 82% score. Sandeep Goyal, chief mentor of IIHB, says a previous study had described Khan as a “fading star” but now he is back with a bang. “In our older report, all the Khans—Salman, Shah Rukh, Aamir and Saif—were showing a downward trajectory. But with the grand success of films Pathaan and Jawan last year, Shah Rukh Khan is back with a vengeance.” According to Kroll’s latest ‘Celebrity Brand Valuation’ report, India’s top 25 celebrities amassed around $1.9 billion in brand value in 2023, logging a 15.5% year-on-year growth. That growth underscores the strong market demand for celebrity endorsements to drive brand value. So, what explains the ads without star sparkle that have got top honours in the IIHB’s study? It all comes down to media weight, reasons Goyal. “Both Birla Opus and Parle-G were easily the most visible ads on that day. So the media weight behind those ads was very high. The reason they were the most recalled had perhaps nothing to do with having or not having a celebrity. It’s just that if you put a lot of money on media weight, people are going to remember your ads.” Follow us on Twitter , Instagram , LinkedIn, Facebook None
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