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Tag: Krishna Mohan

  • Several marketers are now waking up to the potential of small screen stars as brand endorsers

    Big brands use TV stars to connect with masses

    By Rajiv Singh

     

    Now, Malhotras can raise a toast. After gulping down countless cups of tea during umpteen meetings over the last few months, this middle class family in North West Delhi has finally found a ‘perfect’ match for their son. Rashmi, their prospective daughter-in-law, is not only beautiful but also has a pet name ‘Toasty’ – something that instantly clicked with the Malhotras.

     

    Reason: The other Toasty they know is a lovable daughter-in-law, played by Aishwarya Sakhuja in Sony’s TV fiction Saas Bina Sasural, who keeps her family together. “I am sure Rashmi has similar qualities like Toasty,” said an elated Mrs Malhotra.

     

    Malhotras are not alone in getting influenced by serial characters. There are thousands of such people across the country. And several marketers are now waking up to the potential of small screen stars as brand endorsers.

     

    Over the last six months, a slew of brands including Cadbury, Emami, Hyundai, Maruti, Dulux, Red Label and Lux has roped in popular TV celebrities such as Sakhuja and Hussain Kuwajerwala who can connect well with people at a fraction of cost of hiring a popular Bollywood actor.

     

    “It’s a great strategic move by brands. The TV characters have a strong resonance with the viewers, especially the middle class that relates to the values shown in the serials,” said Prathap Suthan, an advertising industry veteran who created the government’s ‘India Shining’ and ‘Incredible India’ campaigns and is now the chief creative officer of iYogi, an online technical support services provider.

     

    Saurabh Uboweja, director of brand consulting firm Brands of Desire, said that by casting TV stars with successful running soaps, advertisers can have the dual advantage of both role and star endorsement for a sensible signing amount: “They get two candies for the price of one.”

     

    MONEY MATTERS

    While TV celebrities do have their own large fan following, their relatively lower endorsement fee is a huge plus for several companies in the present tough business environment where subdued consumer sentiments and rising costs have hit sales of several products.

     

    One such company is Maruti Suzuki, the country’s largest carmaker that has had a tough last year and expects its sales to fall 11 per cent in the year ending March.

    “In the current cost-cutting environment, it makes more sense to hire TV stars,” said Shashank Srivastava, Maruti Suzuki Chief General Manager (Marketing). The carmaker roped in TV celebrity Anita Hassanandini this month to feature in its Swift Dzire commercial. Last December, it signed Kavita Kaushik and Rajesh Kumar from SAB TV to endorse its multi-purpose vehicle, Eeco.

     

    “Selling a car is not like selling a Bournvita,” said Mr Srivastava. “So, there’s no point in shelling out fortune in having big Bollywood celebrities.” Big celebrities have not really worked for Maruti. Father-son duo of Amitabh and Abhishek Bachchan could not boost its Versa sales in 2000-2001. Maruti has also had actor-director Farhan Akhtar and actor R Madhavan to endorse A-Star and Wagon R, respectively, but with limited success.

     

    CLOSER TO LIFE

    Marketers also say it’s easier for people to relate to TV celebrities than big screen stars. “While a Bollywood celebrity projects an image which is aspirational and larger than life, TV celebrities relate closer to the real life of the viewers and are hence becoming extremely popular,” said Krishna Mohan, CEO of FMCG firm Emami, which signed Suhana of Star Plus’ serial Sasuraal Genda Phool aka Ragini Khanna in November last to endorse its moisturiser Vasocare.

     

    Unlike film stars, small screen celebrities are identified with the characters they portray in popular long-run serials. So people relate them to the values their characters hold, like a committed housewife, an ideal husband, a perfect daughter… ¦ It helps brands project a distinct identity by endorsing them.

     

    Late last year, paints brand Dulux rolled out a media innovation by tying up with three popular television serials to create vignettes that resonate with their thematic campaign, ‘Apne Rang Chalakne Do’. AkzoNobel’s brand showed the lead pairs from Star TV soaps Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai and Iss Pyar Ko Kya Naam Doon, and Sony’s Saas Bina Sasural in its commercial.

     

    “Since daily soaps are a big draw in India and the consumer follows their journey closely, the protagonists of the daily shows had the appeal that was needed to propel the idea,” said Pushkar Jain, marketing manager for Dulux at AkzoNobel India.

     

    However, there’s a flip side of using TV celebrities as well, said Mr Uboweja: “Brands want to capture these stars and their soaps when they are running hot. But the shelf life for both is fairly short”. “This ad strategy is a bit like instant noodles, good enough to fill the stomach but not enough to satiate the appetite,” he added.

     

    Source:The Economic Times

    Copyright © 2012, Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. All Rights Reserved

     

  • Other brands tying up for the song include luxury carmaker Audi, mobile service provider Aircel and Chennai-based consumer durables retailer Vasant & Co

    How Cool-averi! Emami places brand in ‘Kolaveri Di’ song

    By Rajiv Singh

     

    Now, it’s Emami’s turn to sing “Why this Kolaveri Di”. The Kolkata-based FMCG maker’s Himani Navratna hair oil will have its place in front of the camera when the viral hit song is shown in Tamil film ‘3’, stated CEO Mr Krishna Mohan.

     

    Dhanush, actor and producer of the movie and lyricist-singer for the song, confirmed that a number of national and local brands have tied up for product placement during the song sequence. “Yes, brands have tied up for in-song placement, but I can’t disclose the details,” he told ET.

     

    A person familiar with the development said other brands tying up for the song include luxury carmaker Audi, mobile service provider Aircel and Chennai-based consumer durables retailer Vasant & Co.

     

    ‘Kolaveri Di’ has become a national rage with more than 42 million hits on YouTube, over 2.5 million ringtone downloads and 3.5 million video downloads since its digital release on November 16 last year.

     

    For Emami, it will be the first product placement in a Tamil movie. The maker of Zandu Balm pain reliever rub and BoroPlus anti-septic cream has had its brands present in some Bollywood super hits songs such as “Munni Badnaam Hui”.

     

    “The tie-up will give extra mileage to Emami products (in the south Indian market),” said Mr Mohan, adding that Navratna oil with its tagline ‘ Thanda thanda cool cool’ makes a perfect connect with the song. “From Kolaveri di to coolaveri di,” he added.

     

    Navratna Oil, an Rs 450-crore brand that is already endorsed by top South Indian actors such as Suriya, Junior NTR, Chiranjeevi and Mahesh Babu, has more than 65 per cent share of the Indian cooling hair oil market, estimated at close to Rs 700 crore. While Emami dominates the cooling hair oil category in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, its volume share in the overall hair oil segment in the two states are 14 per cent and 18 per cent, respectively.

     

    BEACH SONG, STREET SONG

    Arun Pradheep, CEO-director of Brand Workx, an experiential marketing firm that helped Emami seal the deal for “Kolaveri Di”, said that the song was recently filmed in a set made to replicate the crowded shopping street of Chennai’s Marina beach.

     

    “The sequence is such that the hero, played by Dhanush, does a choreographed step in front of the Emami stall while we show a lot of consumers buying Navratna oil,” says Pradheep. He said the placement was planned according to the lyrics and the mood (hero’s heartbreak for heroine, played by Shruti Hassan).

     

    Association with top Bollywood actors and product placement in songs and movies has been Emami’s hallmark marketing strategy for years.

    While ‘Munni Badnaam Hui’ helped push Zandu Balm sales in 2010, Emami funded the entire cost of a Bhojpuri film song last year which had a mention of Himani Navratna Extra Thanda hair oil.

     

    Pritie S Jadhav, chief operating officer of P9 Integrated, the in-film marketing agency of Percept Group, said brands use films as a medium to gain higher return on investment as compared to conventional advertising.

     

    The lubricant brand Mobil was displayed prominently in the Kishore Kumar-starrer chartbuster “Ek ladki bheegi bhaagi si” from Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi movie in 1965; yellow Rajdoot motorcycle became famous when lover boy Rishi Kapoor rode it in 1973 superhit Bobby.

     

    Jadhav, however, warns that this strategy will benefit a brand only if it is seamlessly integrated with the script. “Otherwise the work will look forced and jarred.”

     

    Source:The Economic Times

    Copyright © 2012, Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. All Rights Reserved