Shah Rukh Khan The King of Endorsements

In 1993, Shah Rukh Khan first appeared in three ads for tea brand Brahmaputra. The ads heralded the arrival of Shah Rukh Khan as a brand endorser of some stature. The very next year, he ended up endorsing three more brands – Hero Puch, Cinthol and Mayur Suitings. The series of his hits not only established him as a super star of film industry but also positioned him as a bankable endorser.



In 1996 he was signed by cola giant Pepsi, which can be seen as the turning point of his endorsement career. Shah Rukh Khan since then, has endorsed Bagpiper, Hyundai Santro and i10, Top Ramen noodles, Jeanne Arthes, Clinic All Clear shampoo, Emami-Sona Chandi Chyawanprash, Lux, Omega, Airtel, Nokia, sunfeast, Compaq, Home Trade, Videocon to name a few.

The superstar Shah Rukh Khan has 34 brand endorsement deals for year 2008 which is down from 37 endorsement brand in year 2007. I believe that other celebrity like Hrithik Roshan, Salman Khan, Aamir Khan and Akshay kumar have not shown great interest in the endorsement market. In the given scenario it is important to understand what makes him the most popular celebrity brand endorser around?

Shah Rukh Khan has been around for a long time, and has become a bankable name. He is the only one who has proved to be consistent for last fifteen years (since the release of his first movie in 1992). In recent past we have seen that the actors like Hrithik Roshan, Salman Khan, Aamir Khan and Akshay kumar are also consistent and bankable name of the Indian film industry but they are not the corporate world darling. In my views corporate world not only look for these two factors there are something more than this. The other important factors are – corporate friendliness, image of celebrity, brand personality of celebrity.





Marketers claim that Shah Rukh Khan’s appeal cuts across age, gender, and class, and blends the characteristics that mirror multiple identities – the ordinary middle class guy who went on to became the King. The king is a traditional and family loving Indian.

The biggest plus about the actor Shah Rukh Khan is that he holds self-made man image. The common Indian man associates with him and aspires to become Shah Rukh Khan. In last few years Akshay kumar has also attained status of self-made man which is challenge to the king. The other plus about Shah Rukh Khan is his image of down-to-earth, approachable person and his ability of straddling the classes and the masses. He is not niche actor like Aamir, and not even a down market actor like Govinda. In this parameter also Akshay kumar has taken a lead. This new image of the Bollywood star Akshay kumar can be a threat to the Shah Rukh Khan’s endorsement kingdom.

The fact that Shah Rukh Khan has been so overexposed by advertising leaves little room for credibility among consumers. I can’t imagine Shah Rukh Khan driving Huandi Santro or i10 but the fact that the Shah Rukh Khan’s fans still associate him with the products is doing wonders for him.

Amitabh Bachchan – The Biggest Celebrity Endorser of All Time

The celebrities are super achievers like Amitabh Bachchan, Sachin Tendulkar, Shah Rukh Khan. The celebrity has a life cycle. Among all Indian celebrities, Amitabh Bachchan is an exception. He is beyond the normal life cycle of a celebrity in terms of endorsements. Amitabh Bachchan is popular with possibly all demographic, psychographic, geographic. He commands respect across the length and breadth of India, cutting across the barriers of age, income, region and language. Today he is not only one of the successful actors but also one of the most successful endorses. Having said this I must talk about the fact that during the first two-and-a-half decades of his acting career when he was called the one-man Hindi film industry never endorsed any product.

Amitabh Bachchan
Amitabh Bachchan (Amitabh Harivansh Srivastav), born on October 11, 1942 in Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh is one of the most prominent Indian film actors of Bollywood. Amitabh Bachchan is known for his deep, baritone voice. He before entering the film industry applied for a job with All India Radio for the post of a news announcer, for which he was rejected – probably a destiny’s call. The actor also did Playback Singing for many Indian movies. The actor has also endorsed many brands and is one of the leading celebrity endorsers for Indian corporate world.





Birth of Endorser Amitabh Bachchan
In year 2000 Amitabh Bachchan, anchored Kaun Banega Crorepati (popularly known as KBC ) which positioned him into the league of the most expensive endorsers. The phenomenal success of KBC helped marketers realize that Amitabh Bachchan single-point attention-grabber. He is one Indian celebrity who could not only command attention but also lend his credibility status to the brands. He has been brand ambassador of products across industry and categories including Pepsi, Mirinda, ICICI Bank, Parker Pens, Reid & Taylor, Maruti Versa, Cadbury’s, Nerolac, Hajmola, Navratna tail, Emani Boroplus, Eveready, Dabur, Sahara city Home, D’damas, Binnani.
Amitabh Bachchan, before success of KBC had probably endorsed just one brand in mid nineties which was a corporate branding exercise for BPL. The campaign managed to position BPL as an aspirational Indian brand. After success of KBC he has endorsed brands in product categories as diverse as banking, soft drinks, batteries, paints, chocolates, automobiles, writing instruments, apparel, diet supplements, personal care and real estate.

Challenge for Endorser Amitabh Bachchan
It is believed that if the endorser is associated with many brands, exclusivity can no longer be associated with the celebrity. The audience gets confused when the same celebrity plugs many brands and hence the endorsement value gets eroded. In recent times, Amitabh Bachchan endorsement list has come down but he still endorses brands in double digits. And in my view most of his brands he endorses are doing good. I believe, if it was not Amitabh Bachchan the marketers would have been struggling with the ideas. Marketers can position Amitabh Bachchan as an action hero; an energizing personality; a jovial character; an advisor; a spokesperson; Mr. dependable and not to miss a passionate endorser – there is lot in Amitabh Bachchan which is unexplored. Having said this strongly advocate that marketers needs to use the celebrity power of Amitabh Bachchan judiciously.

Idea of Positioning and Differentiation

The two different books positioning and differentiation says the same thing. The book by Jack Trout on differentiation – Differentiate or Die is repackaging of his book coauthored with Al Ries on positioning – Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind. In my views when Jack Trout separated from Al Ries wrote Differentiate or Die to position Trout & Partners Ltd. Truly a positioning genius. I strongly believe that it hardly matters what you call the activity of buying share of consumer mind – positioning or differentiation you are doing same thing.

Brand managers across globe are busy differentiating their products or say working hard to position them. However, the major problems with most of the companies are that they don’t understand the concept of differentiation or positioning. In most of the cases they work on differentiation for the sake of differentiation. The situations in a few cases are so grim that some brand managers really don’t know the difference between a name and a brand. Addressing similar situation, Sergio Zyman, and Armin Brott says that If you don’t keep giving customers reasons to buy from you, they won’t. Awareness is absolutely worthless if it doesn’t lead to sales. In my views one can’t blame the brand manager solely for the problem. The problem of positioning also depends on the proliferation of me-too products. Today any company can come out with almost similar product that their competitors have within a few days.
The brand managers of successful brands take their brand for granted. They don’t work on them regularly and as a result the charisma of brand goes down. It is vital to remember that even the strongest brands don’t stay their way without working on them regularly. They need repositioning or for your convenience you may call it brand maintenance. The brand needs to be renewed or redefined constantly, else it will die.

The market analyst firm also correlate branding with the data analysis and ROI of marketing; and few other marketers believe that it’s advertising which position products. In my vies branding is not only about advertising and data analysis – it’s also about understanding how consumer lives are changing and how is it impacting consumer preferences. I believe branding is also about developing and implementing strategy which is grounded on a deep understanding of consumers that connects companies. Authors, Sergio Zyman, and Armin Brott in their book The End of Advertising as We Know It says that Advertising is a lot more than just television commercials – it includes branding, packaging, celebrity spokespersons, sponsorships, publicity, customer service, the way you treat your employees, and even the way your secretary answers the phone.

Parsvnath SEZ Ltd. appoints three independent directors

Parsvnath Developers Limited is one of the leading real estate companies in India. The Parsvnath Group has a diverse business portfolio of commercial complexes, shopping malls, integrated townships and group housing. Besides strengthening its position in core operations of real estate, Parsvnath Developers is striving to bradbase its product offerings by catering to emerging markets and segments

Parsvnath SEZ Ltd. plans to develop 17 SEZ, having a total saleable area of 367 million sq ft, in various segments like pharma, gems and jewellery, IT/ITES, biotech, handicrafts, leather, food processing and automotive sectors apart from multi-product SEZs. Out of the planned SEZs, four have already been notified by the Centre at Indore, Gurgaon, Dehra Dun and Nanded. Parsvnath Developers has appointed R J Kamath, D N Davar and B K Goswami as independent directors of Parsvnath SEZ Ltd.

D N Davar is a Certified Associate of the Indian Institute of Bankers and a fellow of the Economic Development Institute of the World Bank. He was also the former Chairman of IFCI Ltd, the company said in a statement.

B K Goswami, prior to joining Parsvnath has worked at apex levels with the Centre, state governments and several other government undertakings, it added.

R J Kamath, is former Chairman of the Andhra Bank and Canara Bank.

The Seven Golden Rules of Cult Branding

Harley Davidson, Volkswagen Beetle, Star Trek, Apple Computers evokes passion in their customers and command loyalty. They are called a cult brand. The cult brand stood the test of time, which includes adverse market conditions, merely through the support of loyal customers.

Matthew W. Ragas and Bolivar J. Bueno in his book, The Power of Cult Branding goes into depth to distinguish between harmful and benign cults. The authors outlines The Seven Golden Rules of Cult Branding which postulates the basic rules that cult brands consciously follow to build and sustain their status in the minds of their followers:

Rule 1. The Rule of Social Groups: Cult brands give people the opportunity to become part of social groups – groups of like-minded people who prefer being different Just like HOG.

Rule 2. The Rule of Courage: Creators of cult brands tend to be fighters and winners. It helps brand knock people’s general attitude and liking to be associated with winners. The owners of the cult brand portray an attitude of brazen courage and adventure.

Rule 3. The Rule of Fun: nothing can match the taste of freedom and independence. Cult brands offer their customers an opportunity to pursue and satisfy their innate passions, thus taking their minds away from the serious responsibilities of life.

Rule 4. The Rule of Human Needs: Cult brand focus on the needs of their existing customers and give regard to their feedback, rather than expending energy to win new customers. Cult brand work on enriching the customer experience and treat the customers as King. The cult brand offers every person wants to be heard and feels happy when their opinion is valued.

Rule 5. The Rule of Contribution: Cult brands believe in giving back to their customers the profits they generate to develop and support customer communities, thus forging lifetime relations with them.

Rule 6. The Rule of Openness: Cult brands are open to one and all i.e., they are indifferent to caste, creed, socio-economic backgrounds of customers, etc. they do not discriminate among customers. They fulfill the human desire of caring, sharing, bearing and belonging.

Rule 7. The Rule of Freedom: Cult brands promote the underlying themes of freedom and non-conformity with memorable sensory experiences.

Through meticulous research and scores of interviews Matthew W. Ragas and Bolivar J. Bueno have uncovered the remarkable and untold stories behind nine very successful cult brands. The nine brands are Star Trek, Harley-Davidson, Oprah Winfrey, World Wrestling Entertainment, Apple, Volkswagen Beetle, Jimmy Buffett, Vans Shoes, and Linux.

Film insurance in India

In December 1998, after signing the deal for Taal with Mukta Arts Pvt. Ltd, United India Insurance had approached a few London and Tokyo based insurance companies to re-insure the film. The re-insurer refused to re-insure Indian films, citing the complete lack of accountability in film production in India. The re-insure were looking for a commercially viable project, backed by detailed reports regarding the risks involved, the financing of the project and completion schedule etc. However, the issue of financing was found to be the biggest stumbling block for the development of the film insurance industry in India. The hesitance of the foreign insurance companies was completely justified as the Indian film industry was completely unorganized. Those were the days when the distributors, music companies and financiers were the major sources of funds for the film industry. The other prominent source of financing were financiers such as diamond merchants, brokers, builders and other cash rich businessmen, charged very high interest rates, generally in the range of 36-48% per annum. The cheapest source of financing for the film industry was underworld mafia.

The problem ended In December 2000, a Joint Institutional Committee on Financing Entertainment Industry submitted an interim report that laid down certain norms for offering financial assistance to the film industry.

The Cine Mukta Policy
In the history of Indian Film Industry, Mukta Arts Pvt. Ltd produced Taal was the first Hindi film to be insured. United India Insurance drafted the policy from scratch and honored producer-director Subhash Ghai with naming the policy The Cine Mukta Policy. The film insurance can not be standardized it is dynamic. The structure of the film insurance mostly depends on the film. A production house can take part insurance or can also insure entire film.

The insurance premium also depends on various factors. A film where large sets had to be put up, the policy would be heavy on insurance for properties and sets, a film shot in a single room/bungalow etc., insurance on the properties and sets could be completely avoided. A film where the actors performed dangerous stunts, extra insurance had to be taken. The insuring companies do not cover pre and post-production problems, box office results and the loss of profits.

Aishwarya Rai Effect
In June 2000, Aishwarya Rai met with an accident. The accident costed United India Insurance, a sum of only INR 1.6 million but it attracted substantial media coverage as it was the first instance of the Hindi film industry availing the benefits of film insurance. The film insurance was the in thing for the film Industry. United India Insurance, piggyback on the Aishwarya Rai Effect by July 2001, had insured around 8-10 films, for sums varying from INR 25 million to INR 220 million. The insured films included YashRaj Films – Mohabbatein, Aamir Khan Productions – Lagaan, Farhan Akhtar – Dil Chahta Hai, Karan Johar – Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham and Dreamz Unlimited’s – Asoka.

The credit for pioneering the film insurance business in India goes to the producer-director Subhash Ghai. He was the first Indian filmmaker to insure his film Taal. The landmark film Taal was insured for a sum of INR 110 million with United India Insurance in 1998. The move was welcomed by both media and film personalities as opening of a new chapter in the Indian film industry.