The idea for this post originated during one of the weekend drink sessions with a few
buddies, who all happen to be marketing guys with fancy MBAs and stuff. Normally,
the topics discussed never deviate from Reema Sen, Jothika, Asin etc etc (Tamil/Mallu actresses, for those not in the know). :-)
But somehow we veered to cars, stars promoting cars, the value (if any) that they add
to the brand, in terms of sales etc.
One of the guys (an MBA from a premier institute) and a manager at an MNC at B'lore,
is of the firm opinion that stars add a lot to the brands that they promote, in terms of
sales, brand recall, value etc. He is a big SRK fan and SRK's promoting Santro was the
main reason why he bought the Santro many years ago. So, if a guy who understands
the dynamics of business/marketing can take a purchase decision based on adulation,
I guess there will be lots more out there who think on the same lines.
However, my personal view was quite the opposite. I do agree that stars provide immense visibility (eyeballs, in marketing jargon) to a brand and also aid brand recall. But do they
have an effect on sales, as in increasing the sales ? I am sceptical of that.
I am a big fan of Jothika, but I have never ever even thought of buying any of the products
that she endorses. Infact, I avoid buying products endorsed by her. I try to keep my
adulation separate from my purchase behaviour. Infact, if I were to buy products that she endorses, I would feel used, because that is what the companyis trying to do in the first
place by having her endorse the product.
I also feel that using personalities for endorsing products, increases the cost of products,
because the company would have to add the fees paid to the stars to the product. So,
whenever possible, I consciously avoid buying products that use stars for endorsement.
A recent example being our refrigerator purchase a few weeks ago. We avoided Whirlpool,
LG etc only because we did not want to line the pockets of Kajol & family and Abhishek
Bachan. Instead, we went for Samsung, which did not use any stars for endorsement.
Another important thing is the association of the endorser with the brand/product and
how the consumer perceives it. In the case of Santro, only a naive buyer will assume that
SRK actually finds value in a compact car worth a few lakhs and will be driving one in
real life. For most of us, it is pretty clear that SRK did it because he was paid enough to
lend his name to a brand. I cannot relate a filthy-rich actor like SRK with a compact car.
If SRK were promoting a Merc or something, I would see value in that, because there is a possibility of his actually owning/using that car which suits his image. But driving around
in a Santro ? Nah...
But then if you noticed, Mercedes Benz does not use personalities for promoting their cars. Because those personalities anyway aspire for the Benz brand and to ride in one.
There are various examples from the Indian auto scenario itself, which we could consider,
apart from SRK-Santro. There is the Maruti Versa fiasco where inspite of the Bachan father -son duo promoting the van, it flopped. And more recently we have Abhishek promoting the Fiesta, while Saif/Rani promote the Aveo.
Fiesta is selling pretty good, but how much of it is due to Abhishek ? Its more due to Ford's
Diet Diesel campaign, which claims a mileage of 30kmpl or more per litre of diesel for the
Fiesta-D. Now that's an intelligent way to spend marketing bucks, instead of lining the
pockets of some movie star. Ofcourse, whether it is truly ethical is debatable, because a guy
who swallows the Diet Diesel marketing gimmick and expects his car to return that mileage
in his daily city commute, is in for some serious disappointment.
Aveo is not selling much - so did the strategy fail here or did it not sell due to some other negatives ?
As far as car purchase behaviour in India goes, it is usually about mileage (kitna average hai ?), looks, size (get the biggest car at that price point), maintenance costs (American is costly to maintain compared to Japanese) etc.
A very accurate quantification of the value addition that stars make to the brand with respect
to the fees they charge, might not be possible. As some marketing guy said, "I know that half
of the money I spend on advertising is a waste. The problem is I don't know which half it is."
But then, the fact that SRK still endorses Santro in new advts, means that the guys at
Hyundai seem to be quite pleased with his contribution.
We could not reach an unanimous conclusion. Just that we agreed that while it could work for some products, it could backfire or not work for others.
Any readers that are willing to share their gyan on this, could answer to :
1. Will you buy a car (over other similar or better options) just because it is endorsed by
your favourite personality ?
2. What about products other than cars ?
3. Do you think stars help increase sales of cars they promote ?
4. Do you prefer an advertisement featuring a personality or one that just gives relevant technical info about the car's merits ?
Might give us some points to ponder over during our next drink session.
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