MxMIndia

Tag: SRK

  • Over the next two years, Shah Rukh Khan will feature in digital, print, and TV campaigns for bp and Castrol, showcasing their wide range of products

    SRK joins Castrol India as official brand ambassador

    Castrol, BP Group’s lubricant brand, has got Shah Rukh Khan, as its brand ambassador. Over the next two years, Shah Rukh Khan will feature in digital, print, and TV campaigns for bp and Castrol, showcasing their wide range of products.

    Said Sashi Mukundan, President of BP India and Senior Vice President of the BP group: “The association with Shah Rukh Khan reflects our dedication to innovation and excellence in the automotive industry. This move embodies our shared values of performance, reliability, and sustainability. We are proud to be a part of this endeavour, as we shape the future of mobility together.”

  • Prabhuji Sweets and Namkeens

    SRK & Rashmika partner to promote snacks

    By Our Staff

     

    Prabhuji Sweets and Namkeens, has announced an exclusive partnership with Shah Rukh Khan and Rashmika Mandanna.

     

    Commenting on the partnership,  Manish Agarwal – MD, said: “Prabhuji Sweets and Namkeens have long been treasured as a cornerstone of India’s snacking tapestry. While our delectable creations have remained India’s delight, our association with Shah Rukh and Rashmika is a testament to our aspiration to showcase the essence of our flavors to the Indian Palette. Our commitment to delivering unparalleled taste experiences remains unwavering.”

     

  • The audiences are smart enough to tell a real controversy from a fake one, writes Shailesh Kapoor

    Pathaan: Cinema over Politics

     

     

    By Shailesh Kapoor

     

    Shailesh KapoorTill about three weeks ago, there seemed imminent danger that Yash Raj Films’ Shah Rukh Khan starrer Pathaan, which released on Jan 25 this year, will have to face headwinds from several right wing affiliated groups. There were threats to disrupt the film’s release, over ‘issues’ that can best be described as manufactured. Our news channels did their job in blowing up these trivial issues (the orange dress objection is outrageously amusing), and it seemed that the film may struggle to get a proper release in some of the states.

     

    Today, on the 10th day of the film’s release, it has gone on to break every possible box-office record in India, ad remains in contention to be the highest Hindi film grosser of all time. It has revived the overseas box-office of Hindi films, and ushered in the SRK 2.0 era. The protests have disappeared, as have the pro-right news channel debates. A comment from the Prime Minister, urging his party workers to stay away from talking about films, was a command too direct to ignore.

     

    There’s a lot to learn from the unfolding of events over the last two weeks. Boycott campaigns targeting Hindi films had been normalised in 2022, and when a film failed, a large part of the failure was attributed to these campaigns. In many cases, those involved with the film (actor, director, producer, etc.) fueled this narrative themselves, as if to exonerate themselves of the responsibility of having failed to make an audience-friendly film.

     

    With Pathaan, the theory that politically-motivated campaigns can impact the fate of a film at the box-office have been laid to rest. As long as a film can release, in a way that it’s safe to visit a theatre, the audience will embrace it on merit. Which is not to say that the audience’s political leanings will not impact their movie choices. In an analysis published on the Ormax Media website in 2021, films that propagate nationalist ideas, such as Uri: The Surgical Strike and Tanhaji: The Unsung Warrior, showed stronger audience traction among those supporting the ruling party (BJP).

     

    But these films wore their politics on their sleeve. In Pathaan’s case, there is little in the content that’s overtly political. Taking a simplistic and safe approach, the film packages its ideas of secularism and ‘nation over religion’ in a way that’s largely apolitical, and never sermonic or ideological. The origin story of the protagonist, Pathaan, has a distinctly secular ring to it. But it’s never used as a messaging device. The film, primarily a crowd-pleasing entertainer, makes its political points, but leaves it to the audience to interpret them, through their own political lens.

     

    The audiences are smart enough to tell a real controversy from a fake one. That Shah Rukh Khan is a Muslim is not an argument this country will buy, to not watch a film. Ironically, this may have propelled some of his fans, who belong to all religions and political ideologies, to support the film even more. As if to make the point that even though cinema can tell political stories, it is not a medium for politicians to play their murky games.

     

    SRK’s Amar Akbar Anthony comment at a recent press conference, held to celebrate the film’s success, is the only authentic political message in or around Pathaan. In a way, that comment sums up why the inane controversy around the film fizzled out. Because unlike the film, it did not appeal to its target audience.

     

  • Despite no box-office presence of note for almost a decade, Shah Rukh Khan’s is a case study in what true superstardom is, writes Shailesh Kapoor

    SRK: The Last Superstar Standing

     

     

    By Shailesh Kapoor

     

    Shailesh KapoorFive days hence, Shah Rukh Khan’s Pathaan will release worldwide. The film marks the return of SRK to the cinemas after an unusually long gap of more than four years since his last release Zero in December 2018. During this period, the actor has featured in some cameos, most recently in Laal Singh Chaddha and Brahamstra. But it’s been quite some wait to see him in a lead role again.

     

    The wait seems even longer because his last few releases have ranged from being unremarkable to disappointing. The search for an SRK film that did well at the box-office and found audience appreciation too would take us back to 2013, when Chennai Express released, and then further back to 2008 and 2007, when Rab Na Bana Di Jodi and Om Shanti Om released, respectively.

     

    It’s been a decade, then, since we saw SRK deliver a film worthy of his superstar status. But 2023 is the year where he seems to be in a hurry to correct that. Pathaan will be followed by Atlee’s Jawan and Rajkumar Hirani’s Dunki. All three films have an anticipatory vibe to them. Pathaan is set to open huge, on the right side of Rs 40 crore, and its second day is likely to cross the 50 cr mark, with the Republic Day national holiday push.

     

    How SRK has managed to maintain his stardom, despite no box-office presence of note for almost a decade can be a mystery to many. But it’s also a case study in what true superstardom is, and how it manifests itself.

     

    The tag ‘superstar’ is used so loosely by the media today, that it has lost its real meaning. When I was growing up in the 80s, Amitabh Bachchan was the only reigning superstar. None of the other stars of the time, such as Mithun Chakraborty, Rishi Kapoor and Anil Kapoor, carried that tag. Only in the early 90s did Shah Rukh Khan get associated with that word. Sunny Deol, who had some huge box-office successes in the 90s, was not called a superstar either. In fact, Madhuri Dixit was the only other star in the first half of the 90s to enjoy that status.

     

    Somewhere from the mid-90s, the media started using the word more liberally. Today, it is used almost interchangeably with the lesser version “star”, which itself is used to describe almost every other actor, including those who do not carry any box office pull at all.

     

    SRK’s stardom was built in the 90s, through a spate of successful love stories, some conventional and others experimental for their time. His romantic persona continues to be his dominant pop culture imagery, a tribute to which is the one of the brighter spots in Laal Singh Chaddha. But the actor has been keener on exploring the action genre in recent years, because of his age and also his personal preference for it. But he’s still looking for a big action blockbuster that gets the box office going beyond just the opening weekend. Pathaan hopes to be that film.

     

    In an era of excessive content and media options, including OTT, short videos and social media, building a superstar persona seems next to impossible. The aura of superstardom came with an idea of inaccessibility and scarcity, which today’s media ecosystem does not support. It’s safe to say that we have already seen the last of our true-blue superstars. And Shah Rukh Khan could be the last man standing from that list, if 2023 is any indication.

     

  • SRK is also the face of online fashion etailer Yepme.com, which is currently running a contest to promote his upcoming film 'Fan'

    Online grocery store Big Basket ropes in Shah Rukh Khan as brand ambassador

    By Varun Jain

     

    Online grocery store BigBasket.com has roped in actor Shah Rukh Khan as brand ambassador for an undisclosed fee. The company announced it through a series of tweets on Saturday.

     

    “We’ve got a brand new look! Experience the all new Big-Basket!” the tweets said. This was followed by another- “Shah Rukh Khan is a BigBasketeer! What about you?”

     

    Vipul Parekh, co-founder of BigBasket, declined to give the financial details of the deal. “The endorsement fee is under NDA (non-disclosure agreement), so I may not be able to give you an accurate figure. However, it is not as little as we would have liked and not as much as what everybody believes it to be,” he said.

     

    It was reported earlier that actors Shah Rukh Khan, Aamir Khan and Amitabh Bachchan are learnt to charge  Rs 8-12 crore annually for e-commerce endorsements, which is 20-25% higher than rates for some well-known offline brands they currently endorse.

     

    “We have selected SRK because of his universal appeal, which cuts across age, gender and geography. For a mass market national brand like Big Basket, that was very important since we appeal to an equally wide audience,” said Parekh.

     

    “SRK has the ability to get into the skin of the character and embody it with a lot of believability. We felt it was important that people could relate to the Big Basket brand ambassador.” The company is doing a campaign that covers all channels — print, TV, outdoor and radio.

     

    “We will be breaking our television commercials featuring SRK next week and expect to make a significant impact on our business with them. We have a long-term contract with SRK which is renewable annually. We expect him to be a consistent brand icon for us,” said Parekh.

     

    Khan is also the face of online fashion etailer Yepme.com, which is currently running #iamfan contest on its platform to promote the upcoming film ‘Fan’, in which the actor has the lead role.

     

    Source:The Economic Times

    Copyright © 2015, Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. All Rights Reserved

    Licensed to republish

     

  • The Insight for the new campaign stems on the premise as to whether HD box should be a self-centered or a rational purchase?

    Dish TV promotes new proposition – Joy for the Entire Family

    By A Correspondent

     

    Dish TV has unveiled a new campaign promoting its HD offering. The cricketing season is at an all-time high with the ICC World Cup and most service providers in the category are celebrating the onset of event, promoting the exuberance of an HD experience. The Insight for the new campaign stems on the premise as to whether HD box should be a self-centered or a rational purchase?

     

    DishTV offers consumers 40 HD channels with Dish truHD+ and be it cricket, soaps, adventure, kids, movies or music, entertainment is focused on everyone in the family.

     

    The films revolve around SRK playing the role of an elder brother in the family to Varun Sharma who is tech savvy urban college student in his final year. The insight of a younger brother looking up to his elder brother, in eventuality trying to act smarter and cooler is very nicely captured with light humour through the films. SRK, however with dish truHD+ turns out to be the favorite of the entire family.

     

  • Does endorsement from multiple celebrities at the same time help a brand? Like how TAG Heuer has roped in Ranbir Kapoor in addition to Shah Rukh Khan

    Two better than One?

     

    By Ishani Duttagupta

     

    Recently, Swiss luxury watch brand TAG Heuer roped in Bollywood heartthrob Ranbir Kapoor as its brand ambassador. Nothing unusual about that, considering Ranbir endorses major brands such as Panasonic and Nissan; and TAG is known for opting for the best of Hollywood and Bollywood to back its label. To be sure, the brand has had stars from Steve McQueen and Uma Thurman to Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt.

     

    Except that never has more than one film celebrity endorsed TAG at the same time. Currently, Cameron Diaz is the only actor on the brand’s endorsement list – the rest are largely sportspersons, including Cristiano Ronaldo and Maria Sharapova. TAG annually changes its ambassadors, replacing older ones with fresher faces. For example, before Diaz came on board in 2012, Leonardo DiCaprio was the Hollywood face of TAG.

     

    In Different Zone

    India, though, may be an aberration – at least as things stand now – with two Bollywood superstars promoting the Swiss luxury label. Along with the 32-year-old Ranbir, there’s also Shah Rukh Khan (SRK), now 49, who has been TAG’s ambassador since 2003. The obvious question then: is the brand ambassadors’ version of succession planning playing out at TAG in India? After all, it has happened in other categories; around five years back, Pepsi ended its decade-long associations with the likes of SRK and Sachin Tendulkar to bring on younger ambassadors. And, guess who led that youth brigade? Ranbir Kapoor!

     

    TAG Heuer, for its part, denies that it is going down the same road. “Bringing the two biggest stars of Bollywood together is not just the first for our segment, it’s also a first for us globally. As a company, it’s in our DNA to break the rules and we wanted to bring together both the biggest names in Bollywood today – SRK and Ranbir Kapoor – to communicate our leadership,” explains Puneet Sewra, marketing director, TAG Heuer.

     

    Mr Sewra adds that there are no plans to replace SRK, who has been a TAG brand ambassador for over a decade, with Ranbir, currently the hottest young gun of Bollywood. “Ranbir is not replacing SRK, and there’s no clash between the two. Through Ranbir Kapoor, we are reaching out to young consumers in the 18-25 age bracket; in many ways both our brand ambassadors represent the same kind of values in their Bollywood career, of doing things differently and both have played anti-hero roles. It’s about what differentiates the two of them and not about their age.”

     

    He also points out that the fact that India is the only country with two brand ambassadors from the film world points to the confidence TAG has in the Indian market. Brand gurus, however, are not as convinced, and find it difficult to concede that age has nothing to do with the brand appeal of a celebrity – even if the person in question is SRK.

     

    “There are indeed very subliminal but robust ways of putting succession planning into place in the brand-endorsement space and it’s a great thing to do really. In cases where the current brand ambassador was losing sheen in his/her space of work, be it cinema or cricket or whatever, a second and third face become a way of gradual succession planning,” brand consultant Harish Bijoor said.

     

    Happy Coexisting

    And how does the new ambassador on the block himself see the situation? “I have grown up watching Mr Shah Rukh Khan’s movies and his work has always inspired me. He was part of the TAG campaign for many years and it was so cool for me to wear a watch that he wears; and now to wear it with him is a dream come true,” Ranbir Kapoor told ET Magazine in an exclusive interview while launching the brand’s new campaign ‘Don’t Crack Under Pressure’.

     

    Ranbir adds that he is careful when choosing brands to associate with and has often rejected offers. “Like my movies, my brands are my identity and people start identifying me with them. I will only become the face of those products that I use and love in my own life. It’s important because the companies are talking to their target audience through me and I have to be sensitive to them.”

     

    Though TAG Heuer currently doesn’t have any plans of featuring both its brand ambassadors together in any of its promos, Ranbir says he would love to be in the same frame with SRK. “It would be a dream come true – to do something with both TAG Heuer and Mr Khan. In fact, to work together in any capacity with him would be a dream come true.” What’s clear is that today SRK and Ranbir are pretty much at the top of the heap in terms of star value. US consultancy American Appraisal, which recently conducted India’s first celebrity brand valuation study, found that amongst Bollywood stars only SRK and Ranbir have valuations north of $100 million.

     

    “While our analysis has not assessed the impact of celebrity endorsements on the brands they endorse, there is no doubt that a significant amount of associative credibility can be derived from having a top ranked celebrity brand ambassador. Both SRK and Ranbir Kapoor emerged as the two largest celebrity brands in our study and having them both as endorsers can only be a huge positive,” said Kapil Bellubi, vice-president, American Appraisal.

     

    American Appraisal’s assessment, which is based on the current rankings of celebrities (from a standpoint of popularity, credibility and endorsability, average endorsement fee rates, current number of annual endorsements and an applicable brand multiple), ranked SRK at No. 1 with a brand value of $164.9 million or Rs 1,011 crore; Ranbir Kapoor followed at $129.4 million or Rs 793 crore.

     

    Brand Appeal

    The study also found that the age of a celebrity plays a part in their potential to continue to endorse brands in future. “The exception though is SRK whose appeal across several age groups remains reasonably strong. Based on our study and research, the top two celebrities in India currently generate average annual endorsement fees ranging from `12 crore to Rs 17 crore per endorsement,” adds Mr Bellubi.

     

    Two ambassadors work as an effective hedge against risks of many hues, ageing being just one of them. “Gone will be the halcyon days of the solus brand ambassador. Brands will progressively use more than one face. Your brand ambassador is human after all,” Mr Bijoor explains.

     

    TAG Heuer, of course, is not the only brand using more than one celebrity as brand ambassador in India. French cosmetics group L’Oréal Paris has four celeb brand ambassadors in India: Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Sonam Kapoor, Freida Pinto and most recently Katrina Kaif.

     

    “Our ambassadors in India are distinguished personalities in their own right and are well known across the country. Aishwarya is synonymous with L’Oréal Paris, and this is because she has been with us for more than 10 years,” says Manashi Guha, general manager, L’Oréal Paris, India.

     

    Garnier India, a cosmetics brand from the L’Oreal stable, too follows the policy of multiple Bollywood celebrities with different age profiles as brand endorsers and has Deepika Padukone, Alia Bhatt, John Abraham and Sushant Singh Rajput on board. The difference, though, is that each star endorses a different sub-brand. So if Deepika is the face for BB Cream and Fair Miracle, Alia Bhatt promotes Pure Active Neem Facewash and Fructis Triple Nutrition.

     

    Similarly, John Abraham endorses the Men Powerlight range and Sushant Singh Men Acnofight range. “Each of the sub-brands within the Garnier portfolio delivers a unique proposition to its consumers, and therefore is associated with a brand ambassador who best espouses the benefits associated with each product,” explains Rupika Raman, general manager, Garnier India.

     

    Regional Focus

    Emami, a Kolkata-based marketer of cosmetics and health products, too follows a policy of having multiple celebrity actors as brand endorsers. But that is probably more to do with cutting across geographies and demographics rather than succession planning. “By leveraging a celebrity’s regional appeal, we have more than one brand ambassador for some of our products where communication remains the same but only the celeb changes, explains says Harsha V Agarwal, director, Emami.

     

    For instance, southern superstar Jr NTR endorses Navratna Cool Oil in Andhra Pradesh, even as Amitabh Bachchan and SRK promote it nationally. Clearly, for some superstars, as long as they keep effectively planning their success, there’s little need to plan their successor.

     

    Source:The Economic Times

    Copyright © 2014, Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. All Rights Reserved

    Licensed to republish

     

  • Bollywood A-listers Shah Rukh Khan & Ranbir Kapoor emerged as the only two Indian celebs with more than $100-million valuation in perhaps the first ever celebrity brand valuation study in India

    SRK, Ranbir only celebs in $100 mn Club

     

    By Ratna Bhushan

     

    Bollywood A-listers Shah Rukh Khan and Ranbir Kapoor emerged the only two celebrities in the country with more than $100-million valuation in perhaps the first ever celebrity brand valuation study in India.

     

    Cricketers MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli took the next two positions, though well below Khan and Kapoor, according to valuation done by US consultancy firm American Appraisal. The total value of the Top 15 celebrity brands in India is over $820 million, or about Rs 5,025 crore, said the study that calculated celebrities’ brand valuation based on the individual’s reputation, credibility and ability to generate income from endorsements, as well as the adjusted average annual endorsement revenue they earned after deducting relevant costs including taxes. The top 15 celebrities in 2013-14 generated over Rs 1,100 crore in endorsement fees, which accounted for close to 50% of their annual income, the report said.

     

    “We found that brand value changed dramatically based on performance and delivery in the celebrity’s area of core competence. A string of failures impacts celebrity value very rapidly,” American Appraisal India managing director Varun Gupta said. This means that Dhoni’s lean patch on the cricket field may have taken a toll on his brand valuation.

     

    The Indian cricket captain’s brand valuation at $72 million, or Rs 441 crore, is less than half of table topper Shah Rukh Khan’s. Riding on more than 10 top-notch endorsements including Hyundai, Nerolac Paints and Royal Stag, SRK has a brand valuation of $165 million, or a little over Rs 1,000 crore.

     

    Founded back in 1896 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, American Appraisal specialises in valuation. The company entered India six years ago and did a brand valuation of the Indian Premier League, or IPL, this year.

     

    Only three women – actresses Deepika Padukone, Katrina Kaif and Kareena Kapoor – figure in the top 10 list of the American Appraisal report, which said the average endorsement fee for a oneyear contract for female A-listers at about Rs 5.5 crore is almost half of their male counterparts’ Rs 10.5-crore average annual fee. Top cricketers on an average get approximately Rs 8 crore as endorsementfee.

     

    “This remains a very male-driven industry and actors get paid significantly more,” said Anirban Das Blah, founder of talent management firm Kwan, which represents Ranbir Kapoor. “This is something we are not comfortable with. Hopefully things will change,” he added.

     

    Times Celebex, a monthly rating index of Bollywood stars based on box-office performance, endorsements and popularity on social media, among other parameters, ranked Salman Khan at the top for the month of September, followed by Hrithik Roshan, Priyanka Chopra and Deepika Padukone in that order.

     

    Salman Khan anchors popular reality television showBigg Boss and endorses seven highly advertised brands. In American Appraisal’s report, cricketer Virat Kohli has bettered superstars such as Salman Khan, Aamir Khan and even Amitabh Bachchan.

     

    But only three sportsmen – all cricketers-made it to the Top 15 league, while globally big sports stars like David Beckham, Lionel Messi and Roger Federer rule the endorsements space ahead of big Hollywood stars.“Movie stars are probably a more stable source of celebrity value, with higher longevity,” Gupta said.

     

    Analysts said Indian celebrities have yet to catch up with their western counterparts.  “Most global celebrities have ownership of scalable brands – whether it’s Beckham or Messi or Angelina Jolie. Here, we are still evolving and hopefully will get there soon,” said Afsar Zaidi, chief executive officer at talent management firm Carving Dreams, which represents actor Hrithik Roshan.

     

    Mr Zaidi said at least two brands created by celebrities – HRX apparel by Hrithik Roshan and Salman Khan’s Being Human-had global scale potential.

     

    Source:The Economic Times

    Copyright © 2014, Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. All Rights Reserved

    Licensed to republish

     

  • Is it entertaining/engaging, will people enjoy repeat exposures? If you are doubtful of this, trash the idea. The Frooti ad, after the first exposure, is very painful to watch

    Debrief: Frooti: Simple. But boring.

    By Anil Thakraney

     

    To Frooti’s credit, at least they haven’t put out a typical lifestyle ad. At least there’s an idea, which is the ‘drool’ factor. As in, when you are really hot and thirsty, you would stare longingly at the sod who’s gulping down a cold drink. But apart from that, the TVC goes downhill.

     

    So, SRK downs the drink, as some footballers and kids continuously stare at him. That’s pretty much all that happens. For some strange reason (perhaps because it’s a football field), they’ve used what sounds like a Spanish track, which is Greek to most of us, so it adds no value to the commercial. But the bigger mistake is that of using Khan. Because he’s over used and over abused in advertising (and media), the moment the film opens with him, you switch off mechanically. Given that the idea is so simple, they definitely needed a rarely used celeb, if at all.

     

    There’s another problem: When you decide to keep things simple, which is a good thing in advertising, the first question you need to ask yourself is this: But is it entertaining/engaging, will people enjoy repeat exposures? If you are doubtful of this, trash the idea. The Frooti ad, after the first exposure, is very painful to watch. Even you are a diehard SRK fan, which I am not. I think this very critical factor was overlooked at the storyboard stage, when it should have been on top of the agenda for a cold drink ad.

     

    Net net: Shah Rukh Khan just bagged another load of big moolah. And Frooti got forgotten in the bargain. Waste of money.

     

    [youtube width=”400″ height=”220″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Hn6EzpB9KA[/youtube]

     

    Rating: (On a scale of 1-5): 1. Yawn.

     

  • Shahrukh Khan's 'Red Chillies' appoints Venky Mysore as CEO

    SRK gets KKR CEO Venky Mysore to also helm ‘Red Chillies’

    By Nandini Raghavendra

     

    Shahrukh Khan’s Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) CEO, Venky Mysore will take on the additional responsibility of Red Chillies Entertainments Pvt Ltd as CEO. He will take full responsibility for all the operations of the production house in addition to his role as CEO and MD of the KKR.

     

    Riding on the back of over 25 years of experience in the financial services industry across several global markets, Mr Mysore has held several senior leadership positions in the US, Canada and Asia and has built many successful businesses. He has been heading KKR since Oct 2010 and has led KKR to become a successful and profitable businesses also the defending champions in the IPL.

     

    “Venky is a seasoned business professional and I am delighted that he will take over as the CEO of Red Chillies which has established itself as one of the leading production houses. The VFX division is among the best in the business. Venky has done a fantastic job as the CEO of KKR and I am confident that he will be able to lead Red Chillies to a much higher level of performance and professionalism,”” said Mr Khan.

     

    As for the KKR CEO, the additional responsibility is an opportunity to work with “”The biggest brand which means huge opportunities ahead of us. I look forward to this exciting challenge as we strive hard to build a world class organization.”

     

    Red Chillies, owned by SRK and Gauri Khan, was founded in 2004 from what was previously called Dreamz Unlimited. So far, Red Chillies has produced ten films and co-produced five of which two are yet to release. The VFX vertical, a particular favourite of SRK’s has been involved in projects outside their own movies, the latest being Kamal Hassan’s Vishwaroopam.

     

    Source:The Economic Times

    Copyright © 2013, Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. All Rights Reserved

     

  • The agency has devised a crowdsourcing campaign using Shah Rukh Khan, where existing owners and prospective buyers of the i10 can write a script for the next i10 TVC

    Crowdsourcing is Innocean’s theme for Hyundai i10

    By A Correspondent

     

    With growing competitiveness and a need to refresh the communication for Hyundai i10 Hyundai mandated its agency Innocean Worldwide India to conceptualize a new campaign for the brand in line with its dominant presence in the compact segment. For 2013, Innocean thought about energizing the entire targeted base with a bait to get them thinking about the car. Not only was the intent about creating an energy field around the brand Hyundai i10 but also to make the entire universe of prospective car buyers a part of the communication engagement. The agency has devised the a crowd sourcing campaign using Shah Rukh Khan, where all prospective buyers of i10 and its existing owners get to write a script for the next i10 TVC. If selected the contestant gets to act with SRK in the TVC for i10.

     

    Saurabh Dasgupta ECD at Innocean Worldwide India said, “The challenge for us lay in the defining the contours of this campaign to elicit a high level of response and stay true to the brand values of Hyundai i10. Yet at the heart of it all the communication intent is simple: imbibe the brand’s virtues, craft a script and full your acting dreams with SRK!”

     

    The TVC in the first phase of the campaign has an agitated SRK asking the fumbling director for his lines and then turning to the audience asking them to write in with their scripts. This campaign utilises the digital platform extensively to close the participation loop. In the words of B Sridhar Group Director, Media & Digital Services at Innocean, “The campaign has given us a rather good sized canvas to draw a digitally integrated communication effort that’s all pervasive.” A micro-site enables all participants to upload their scripts as text, video or even audio files. There is the regular snail mail too. A single response number with ‘missed call’ facility enables an IVR driven interaction wherein the scripts can be recorded by the contestants.

     

    “It’s a rather exciting idea we have thought of and it’s a composite one which looks at all aspects of communication and engagement touchpoints,” said Vivek Srivastava, Jt MD of Innocean. “The integration of diverse media apertures is one of the strengths of this endeavour and showcases our team’s technological capabilities alongside the dexterity with the advertising craft,” he added.

     

    The campaign in this phase will run for six weeks seeking the consumers’ participation and thereafter return with the crowd-sourced id featuring the Hyundai i10, SRK and the winner.

     

  • SRK's image has suffered in the last couple of years not only due to the controversies that have surrounded him but also because he is an ageing celebrity

    Is Brand SRK losing sheen due to controversies?

    By Samidha Sharma

     

    He was, arguably, the biggest Bollywood superstar not long ago but with a few unsuccessful releases, a night club brawl and now a scuffle with officials at a Mumbai cricket stadium to his credit, Shah Rukh Khan’s brand is losing sheen.

     

    In the last couple of years the actor has not signed any big brand endorsement deals, although his portfolio still boasts of more than a dozen brands. People in the endorsement industry say that SRK’s image has suffered in the last couple of years not only due to the controversies that have surrounded him but also because he is an ageing celebrity.

     

    “Controversy does not make for good brand endorsers and any marketer will keep away from a celebrity like that. Besides the controversies that have courted him recently, what is a bigger concern is that he is ageing and that does not bode well for multiple brands in India that want a youth connect,” said Manish Porwal, MD, Alchemist, a talent management agency.

     

    Cola major PepsiCo, for which SRK was a brand ambassador for a long period, dropped him in 2009. In a move that was veering towards the youth, the cola major got on board Ranbir Kapoor. Later, telecom major Airtel did not renew its contract with SRK, although, they have not officially announced their disassociation with him.

     

    LOST IN TRANSITION?

    Endorsements: Tag Heuer, Hyundai, Belmonte, V-jon, Navratna, Dabur sona chandi, Lux Cozi, Linc pens

     

    SRK’s endorsement rates haven’t come down though as he charges around Rs 1.5 crore per day. But it’s 50 per cent less than what Aamir Khan commands.

    Today, his roster of more than a dozen of brand endorsements include Belmonte, V-jon, Navratna, Dabur sona chandi, Lux Cozi, Linc pens, besides a few marquee names such as Tag Heuer and Hyundai. SRK’s endorsement rates haven’t come down though as he charges around Rs1.5 crore per day.

     

    However, it’s 50 per cent less than what his contemporary Aamir Khan commands, but the latter has largely been off the endorsement market of late, say industry people.

     

    “What you are seeing is something that a lot of stars have gone through. It’s a transitional phase which all celebrities go through; while some bow out gracefully, some do not. It is an inevitable shift of power and it has not been a smooth ride for him,” said Santosh Desai, CEO at Future Brands.

     

    However, some of the brands that he endorses are sticking with him. DTH player Dish TV, which has him as a brand ambassador for over five years, says these incidents have had no rub-off as far as his brand appeal among masses goes. “There is no dent that has been made on Brand SRK, we will continue to have our association with him,” said Salil Kapoor, COO, Dish TV.

     

    Source:The Economic Times

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