A Comparison on Celebrity Endorsement Market and Influencer Marketing in India.

Brand ambassadors have always helped us in registering the brands in our minds. Like Sachin Tendulkar for Boost and MRF, and Amitabh Bachan for Maggi, etc. But in recent times, we have seen brands facing so many backlashes due to their brand ambassadors and vice versa.

 Brands face so many issues concerning the statements and mistakes made by their brand ambassadors. Some of the famous examples include Coca-Cola dropping Salman Khan as the brand ambassador for Thump’s Up after he made a statement comparing his grueling shooting schedule for Sultan to a raped woman.

 Another such instance includes when Aamir Khan was removed from Incredible India after his remarks on ‘Rising Intolerance in India’, even Snapdeal removed Aamir Khan after this instance. Globally also, there have been such instances where brands removed a particular ambassador after some negative remarks on them. Brands like Porsche, Nike, and Tag Heuer severed ties with Russian Tennis player Maria Sharapova after she announced, she had tested positive for Meladonium.

 On the other hand, celebrities have faced issues because of the brands as well. For Example, Ranveer Singh had to apologize for Jack & Jones' Controversial ad. Also, MS Dhoni had to leave the position as the brand ambassador of the Amrapali group after the delay in delivering the projects. Such controversies and allegations existed ever since the concept of brand endorsement came into the picture.

 Some other instances include when celebrities including Aishwarya Rai came in support of #BlackLivesMatter, but later they faced backlashes as social media pointed out that they have endorsed beauty products before.

 Another such instance is when the Indian Government banned Chinese Apps, many people urged Indian celebrities like Aamir Khan, Deepika Padukone, Katrina Kaif, etc. to drop the partnerships with Chinese brands. Also, Indian cricketer, Harbhajan Singh received enormous appreciation from across for being the first Indian celebrity to support Boycott of Chinese products.

In recent times we have seen a shift, rather a curve towards influencer marketing. Influencer marketing is becoming mainstream after the penetration of Social media in our country. Today, influencers have been categorized into Nano, Micro, Macro, and Mega influencers, based on the number of followers and reach they have.

 As per the recent Zefmo’s survey, 60% of the marketers believe that influencer marketing helps to reach out to their potential consumers. 56% say it effectively helps in connecting with both millennials and centennials. Also, 45% see it as a better alternative to traditional advertising.

 Also, through influencer marketing, a brand can reach out to their specific target groups as well, and the TG will also be able to relate to that particular product. Most of the brands do influencer marketing to increase the top of the mind brand recall, but these days we can see a shift towards intent as well from awareness.

 As per the recent survey, 69% of customers acquired from influencer marketing were of “better” quality as per the brands. Influencer marketing is mainly done for tier 1 & 2 cities. Also, 56% of brands work with influencers for visibility, and 17% to generate leads. These statistics help us to understand that influencer marketing is seeing a steady rise during recent times.

 More brands today are getting into explaining the functional part of their products/services in their messaging rather than having a celebrity as their brand ambassador to get trust. This is mainly seen in B2B brands who used to have brand ambassadors, but due to the growth that we can see in digital penetration, brands are moving into functional communication rather than getting the mere trust of their target group. Celebrity brand endorsement market has shrunk by 20% as per ET now report of June 2020. This is also because of the pandemic situation. But, many brands are not looking at having celebrities endorsing their brands as well. One such example is Amazon. And Manish Tiwary of Amazon told Brand Equity, that “We believe (and our results are proof) that our insight-led creative ideas have been the real celebrities so far”.

 Even though brands have so many options today, they will still have celebrity endorsements, because it is still the easiest gamble to play to get the trust of the consumers. recently, I watched some new ads starring some Bollywood actors. After watching them, I would like to start a new genre of advertisements, called Cringe Ads. Sharing them below, please do watch them and share your thoughts ??.

1. Vectus Pipes

 This is the first ad the brand released, after roping in Kareena and Saif as their brand ambassadors. But is this ad satisfying the need of it? Brands often care about just getting a celebrity to feature in an ad for them, instead of paying attention to the finer aspects such as functionalities, price, range, etc. And that is visible here. I clearly cannot see what message; the brand is trying to give out here.

2.     Adar Poonawalla Clean City Initiative

 This ad is trying to give us a very beautiful message, but the level of cringeyness of this ad, will not make a viewer watch it till the end. This ad could have been made in so many different ways to deliver that particular message.

 3.     Bingo

 This ad has Ranveer Singh, and Ranveer being Ranveer. He is in search of a good Potato with a suitcase full of money. At last, he finds a good potato to make Bingo! Here the brand is trying to show that they use high-quality potatoes to make Bingo. But on the other hand, Lays have already spoken about the quality of the potatoes that they use in a much better way, a long time back. Also, the patience level of a person watching this Ad should be high to sit through this.