Seems like most of our top Bollywood stars are keen on turning into to advertising stars, and are competing with each other for the title of who endorses the most. They appear in more commercials than they do in films.
The Two Khans , AB, The Kumar and the rest of the flock seem to be intent on endorsing any brand that they can lay their hands on from gold loans to paint! Who cares a dam about brand fit?! Who can blame them if they make some easy money and insulate themselves from being at the mercy of the box office or the producer.
The big question is, what are the marketeers doing? Every one seems to want to follow the herd and get a celebrity to endorse their brand. Why? Would it be an achievement on the resume or keep the Boss's wife happy?
There's such a bombardment of it on TV and Print that its getting harder to associate or recall (top of mind) a brand that a celebrity endorses or is a great fit. Gone are the days when one could associate an Amir Khan with Titan, a Shah Rukh with Hyundai and Amitabh with Cadbury. I still recall the Colgate Palmolive -Kapil association from years ago because it was such a good fit and because of its memorable tag line.
The idiot box is swarming with so many celebrity endorsements across channels that I wonder if there are any more brands or products that have not undergone the celebrity touch. There's so much celebrity clutter and uninspired advertising, that they (brands) are lost in the plot and seems like the ad guy's job has just got easier - sign on a celeb , put together an insipid creative, and keep the client happy!
A lot of these ads seem to be more intent on pushing the celebrity than the brands themselves thus over shadowing the original intent of driving awareness for the brand/product. Its just getting more tiring to see such ads.
The stars seem to be intent on diluting their brand image, and the brands seem to be intent on spending their precious advertising rupees on weak celebrity associations and advertising.
The more I see such bland advertising the more I believe in the dearth of creative and strategic BRAND thinking amongst our branders and marketeers. Its hard to digest the utter waste of such precious marketing rupees on such advertising!
Why is it happening? It could boil down to the lack of belief in one's product or offering. In essence, if you have a weak (just another me too) product which has nothing going for it in terms of relevantly differentiating itself from the competitive set OR in satisfying an untapped consumer need born out of insight, it would be a perfect fit for a celebrity push.
This trend while it lasts is like shooting an arrow in the dark hoping it would hit the target.
Would I buy an Airtel DTH because of Saif or Kareena or whoever else endorses it? Naah,.. buy you may very well say the objective is served since you can recall the Airtel Brand, but I would instead opt for Tata Sky cause it spoke out to me with its creative new ad of 999* no conditions apply, and the fact that I can skip those unwanted language channels and not simply because of an earlier Amir Khan association....
The Two Khans , AB, The Kumar and the rest of the flock seem to be intent on endorsing any brand that they can lay their hands on from gold loans to paint! Who cares a dam about brand fit?! Who can blame them if they make some easy money and insulate themselves from being at the mercy of the box office or the producer.
The big question is, what are the marketeers doing? Every one seems to want to follow the herd and get a celebrity to endorse their brand. Why? Would it be an achievement on the resume or keep the Boss's wife happy?
There's such a bombardment of it on TV and Print that its getting harder to associate or recall (top of mind) a brand that a celebrity endorses or is a great fit. Gone are the days when one could associate an Amir Khan with Titan, a Shah Rukh with Hyundai and Amitabh with Cadbury. I still recall the Colgate Palmolive -Kapil association from years ago because it was such a good fit and because of its memorable tag line.
The idiot box is swarming with so many celebrity endorsements across channels that I wonder if there are any more brands or products that have not undergone the celebrity touch. There's so much celebrity clutter and uninspired advertising, that they (brands) are lost in the plot and seems like the ad guy's job has just got easier - sign on a celeb , put together an insipid creative, and keep the client happy!
A lot of these ads seem to be more intent on pushing the celebrity than the brands themselves thus over shadowing the original intent of driving awareness for the brand/product. Its just getting more tiring to see such ads.
The stars seem to be intent on diluting their brand image, and the brands seem to be intent on spending their precious advertising rupees on weak celebrity associations and advertising.
The more I see such bland advertising the more I believe in the dearth of creative and strategic BRAND thinking amongst our branders and marketeers. Its hard to digest the utter waste of such precious marketing rupees on such advertising!
Why is it happening? It could boil down to the lack of belief in one's product or offering. In essence, if you have a weak (just another me too) product which has nothing going for it in terms of relevantly differentiating itself from the competitive set OR in satisfying an untapped consumer need born out of insight, it would be a perfect fit for a celebrity push.
This trend while it lasts is like shooting an arrow in the dark hoping it would hit the target.
Would I buy an Airtel DTH because of Saif or Kareena or whoever else endorses it? Naah,.. buy you may very well say the objective is served since you can recall the Airtel Brand, but I would instead opt for Tata Sky cause it spoke out to me with its creative new ad of 999* no conditions apply, and the fact that I can skip those unwanted language channels and not simply because of an earlier Amir Khan association....
No comments:
Post a Comment