The buzz in the Advertising and marketing field is that the endorsements for South Indian movie actors is the “next big thing” in business. Ever wondered why most of our celebrities don’t endorse as many brands as their Bollywood counterparts? And why we’re subject to dubbed ads, which are more humorous than convincing? This articles hopes to throw some light on the business of celebrity endorsements. Luckily for me, all the four actors in my family have been the brand ambassadors for leading brands. Also, as a producer at Geetha Arts and CEO at Southscope, I have interacted with the big boys of Marketing & Advertising on this topic and had a ring-side view if the celebrity endorsement business. This article being a lengthy one, has been broken into two parts.
PART – I:
Why celebrities use brands?
Since this is no marketing lecture, let me jump straight to the point. Brands see great value in roping in a celebrity to endorse their brand. If they dint see RoI (return on investment) on celebrities, they would’nt be doing it. Afterall, the celebrity endorsement market in India is pegged at Rs 850 crore. A celebrity endorsement gives the brand many advantanges. It gives a high-recall value to the brand. An average consumer is exposed to hundreds of marketing messages a day, through TV ads, newspapers, hoardings etc., The one that has a celebrity, 'cuts though the clutter'. It gives instant recognition to the ad.
Also, celebrities endorsing a brand, gives it certain amount of credibility - no what what naysayers say. Most of the times there is a good marriage between the brand's characteristics and that of the celebrity. Like Pepsi always positions itself as the "youth drink" hence it has Ranbir Kapoor and Ram charan Tej, two youth icons as its brand ambassador. Genelia's bubbly image goes well with the brand she endorses like Fanta, Virgin Mobile and Perk. These associations make the consumer identify and relate himself to the product better. Marketers call this 'brand connect'.
A 850 crore market, dominated by Bollywood
With its wide reach, Bollywood still has the lion's share amongst the endorsement market. There was a point when crickets and other sports stars started notching deals on par with actors, but again the tides shifted in favour of actors. The celebrity endorsement market in India is Rs 850 crores annually. And movie stars command 70% of this, while the remaining is mostly sports stars. The surprising part is, of this South Indian movie stars only account for a measly Rs 20 crore!
Having a cult like following amongst its movie goers, and having about quarter of the country's population and GDP, shouldn't southern movie actors get a bigger cut of this pie? Ideally, yes - but let’s have a look on why this hasn’t been the case and what the future holds.
The "unified Indian consumer" myth
Through the post-liberalization era marketers believed that, India will turn into one large unified mass (like China), where people can be easily divided into demographics according to age, income levels and location (urban, rural). They believed if they crack the 'great Indian middle class' they have a huge mass of 500-600 million consumers in one go. But, that’s not the case. Though, politically, in spirit we Indians are one, culturally - we're vastly different from one another. Brands are realizing that to appeal to today's new-age, well-informed consumers they should make campaigns that talk in their language, reflect their beliefs and be relevant to their culture. The "one size fits all" attitude doesn't work anymore and brands are quickly adapting this new found insight.
Marketers call India "the most pluralistic" market and rightfully so. There is even a book titled "We are like that only" by Rama Bijapurkar that explains how marketers should respect India's diversity and not treat them like a single mass. Slowly marketers have realized that to increase 'brand connect' they have to localize ads and talk to consumers in a way it appeals to them.
Andhra Pradesh, the 70th biggest country of this world
Each state or region is becoming a huge market by itself. Marketers cannot afford to oversee them. With a Rs 2.67 lakh crore economy, AP is India's third largest economy after Maharashtra and UP. If Andhra Pradesh is a country, it would be the 70th biggest economy in the world ahead of Oman, Lebanon, Bulgaria, Kenya & Jordan amongst others! With nearly 100 million population and a per-capita income of Rs 30,000, Yes, we're that big! Tamil Nadu has a Rs 2.41 lakh crore economy. Karnataka is a Rs 2.11 lakh crore economy while Kerala's economy is 1.32 lakh crore in size. Why do you think ThumsUp has a separate brand ambassador for AP? It’s because the state contributes nearly 20% of their national sales. Why does Airtel tie up with a movie for cross promotion every month? Andhra Pradesh is their single largest market for the brand where they hold the No.1 spot. The two biggest liquor consuming states in the country are Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka followed by Punjab. Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu are home to 4.2 crore and 5.1 crore mobile connections respectively. Likewise, for every product or service - be it electronics, housing, food & beverages, financial products - the southern markets are huge.
Limited reach of Bollywood in South India
To penetrate further into these 'regional' markets, brands need to localize the campaigns and make them relevant for the consumer. In most cases, a Bollywood star wouldn't be enough. A big-budget Bollywood starrer, like My Name is Khan or 3 Idiots would release in about 30 towns in Andhra Pradesh. Where even a small-budget Telugu film would release in more towns than that. If a brand has to do an "in-film placement" and marketing tie up to increase their AP sales, a small-budget Telugu film is a better platform. Though people in Tier-II and Tier-III cities can recognize Bollywood stars, most of them wouldn't connect to them as they wouldn't have seen the movies (or very few, if so) of those stars. Even in a mega city like Hyderabad, where over 60% of the people can speak Hindi - the highest grossing Telugu film (Magadheera) sold Rs 22 crore worth tickets, where as the biggest Hindi hit (3 Idiots) sold just Rs 9 crore worth tickets! While neighboring Karnataka is a more Bollywood-friendly market, the reach of Hindi cinema is even lesser in Tamil Nadu and negligible in Kerala. Some of the smarter brands have realized they need a local brand ambassador if they have to improve the 'connect' between their consumers and their ads. Some of the smarter brands have a separate brand ambassador for thier 'national' campaign and a seperate one that appeals to their regional consumers.
Brand National brand ambassador (or for northern belt) Regional or South India brand ambassador
Fair and Handsome Shahrukh Khan Surya
Pepsi Ranbir Kapoor Ram Charan Tej
Kurkure Juhi Chawla Simran
Navratna Oil Amitabh Bachchan Suriya, Mahesh Babu
Tata Indicom Kajol Trisha
Fanta (previous campaign) Rani Mukherjee Trisha
Perk (previous campaign) Preity Zinta Trisha
Idea Cellular Abhishek Bachchan Siddarth
ThumsUp Akshay Kumar Mahesh Babu, previously Chiranjeevi
Vivel Shampoo Hrithik Roshan Trisha
7Up Mallika Sherawat (previously) Allu Arjun
The big bosses of most brands are based out of Delhi or Mumbai and have a limited understanding of South India. A lot of them still see the South as a single mass - with similar attitudes, culture and preferences. They make decision and execute campaigns based on their 'perceptions' rather than understanding of the market. How brands and marketers get the whole South Indian market wrong is another topic worthy of an article by itself, which probably I will write later. But this is one of the reason why we see many of dubbed ads more hilarious than engaging, as the people who created it have no idea of their target audience. As brands realize this mistake, they're looking more towards 'regionalization' of their campaigns. Their best bet to help them in this mission - a regional brand ambassador. The endorsement oppurtunities don't limit to superstars alone, but to the B-list and character artists. Also, 'national brands' are not the only ones who need a brand ambassador. To know more, read the remaining part tomorrow.
By,
Allu Sirish
The writer is son of Telugu producer Allu Arvind and nephew of
Telugu Megastar Chiranjeevi
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