Features: Magazine | Literary Review | Life | Metro Plus | Open Page | Education Plus | Book Review | Business | SciTech | NXg | Friday Review | Cinema Plus | Young World | Property Plus | Quest |

Brand new faces  Who’s in?

THE NEW BRIGADE Sonam Kapoor, Katrina Kaif and Genelia D’Souza

Ring out the old, ring in the new” said Tennyson, and advertisers (the ones who give film celebs their daily butter chicken) seem to be following this like never before.

Check out who’s endorsing brands today, and you’ll see it’s raining fresh faces. There’s Genelia D’Souza who has caused quite a few upsets by positioning herself as the new vivacious girl on the block. She has replaced ‘bubbly’ Preity Zinta in Cadbury’s Perk and Rani Mukherjee in Fanta advertisements.

Katrina Kaif created big news last year when she took over Aishwarya Rai’s seat as Nakshatra’s brand ambassador, and even edged her out as the Indian face of Barbie during the 50th year of the doll’s launch. She also elbowed out Sushmita Sen, from Pantene.

Asin too is steadily climbing up the ladder. After Mirinda and the regional advertisements for Tata Sky, the actor is set to take over national commercials too. She also endorses CavinCare, Big Bazaar and Pril, besides Tanishq. Among the guys, only young turk Ranbir Kapoor seems to be doing well.

Brand endorsements form a very large share of the money that film actors make. According to industry estimates, it’s a large Rs. 1,000-crore market out there. Obviously, celebrities are on the lookout for their share of the booty; especially at a time when there are more celebrities than models endorsing products.. ‘Young? Done!’ seems to be the guiding mantra for brand managers. Adman Prahlad Kakkar sees nothing wrong with that. “The business of business is to take risks. I wouldn’t say young faces are usurping established ones. But, brands are always looking for fresh faces as they generate excitement, and audiences are curious about who they are and what they do. The flipside is that these young faces do not have the deliverance of an SRK, a Big B or an Aishwarya.”

What is the charisma of these young faces? Amrish Masalia, COO, Brightest Circle Jewellery, (who chose Katrina Kaif for Nakshatra) says: “Nakshatra epitomises the expression of love and affection in a woman’s life. We felt Katrina lent a refreshing look to the brand.”

So, is it going to be curtains down for those who earlier reigned the brand scene supreme?

Kakkar balks at the ‘replacement’ theory. “How can you ever replace stars such as Shah Rukh Khan or Aishwarya Rai? And, Amitabh Bachchan is still going strong.

These celebrities can only be repositioned. If a brand sees Sonam as the next big thing, it will invest in her now and expect returns later. It will be a good investment if she has come at a fraction of the cost of Aishwarya. Of course, there is the element of risk in this. But the attractiveness of returns is far deeper.”

WHO'S IN?

Katrina Kaif Nakshatra, Pantene, Slice Mangola, Royal Challengers Bangalore

Asin Tata Sky, Big Bazaar, Tanishq, Mirinda, Clinic All Clear, Pril, CavinCare

Deepika Padukone Tissot, Wrigleys, ITC and Fiama Di Wills Fanta, Perk, Samsung

Sonam Kapoor L’Oreal Paris

Ranbir Kapoor Pepsi, Panasonic

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail