Brand Ambassadors reviving the brands at the time of recession

Team: College: Team Members:

Branded Monks NMIMS

Binit Kumar +91 9867764657 adonis.binit@gmail.com

Kartikey Sharma +91 9833220538 kartikey038@gmail.com

Vikas Soni +91 9920782879 sonivikas@gmail.com

Signing up stars for endorsements is a time-tested strategy and has been effectively used by some of the top brands in the world including Nike and Pepsi. In India too, HLL has used Hindi film stars to endorse their beauty soap Lux since the fifties. Vimal, Thums Up, Gwalior and Dinesh are some of the other brands that used star-appeal in the early days of mass advertising. And who can forget Kapil Palmolive Dev? Ask about the objective of using a celebrity in an ad and most admen will talk about making an impact on the bottom line. They believe that star endorsements have several benefits, key among them being building credibility, fostering trust and drawing attention any or all of which can translate into higher brand sales. In an extremely cluttered world of advertising brand ambassadors help brands break the clutter. So when there are thousand mint brands running their ads, association with Salman Khan helps Chloromint stand out and be noted. Also there is a flow of values from celebrity to the brand. When Amitabh Bachchan promotes Parker, trust and credibility of Amitabh rubs on to the Parker brand as well. Recession with it has brought a reality check for the advertisers. The benefits that Brand Ambassadors bring to any brand are not cheap. So companies in the slow down across the board are feeling the pinch and the major corrective measure is cost cutting. As in any economic downturn, advertising takes a big hit when costs are cut. Several companies are demanding more accountability from their ad agencies and marketing departments. Gone are the days of I know half of my ad spending is wasted but not sure which half. Companies now want laser like precision in their advertising. As a result celebrity advertising has come under pressure. With big celebrities like Shahrukh Khan, Amitah Bachchan, Sachin Tendulkar costing companies crores, advertisers are now looking to use celebrities more cautiously. Also with celebrities like Shahrukh, Amitabh endorsing almost 30 brands, the whole idea of celebrities breaking the clutter has come under a question mark. Does this then mean death of the brand ambassadors? If success of some of the ad campaigns during this recession is any indication, answer is a profound no. As Mohammed Khan, Chairman of Enterprise Nexus puts it, Using a celebrity by itself is not a bad idea provided it is done intelligently.

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Idea whose time has come

Idea needed to have a strong communication plank. In its initial days, the brand did falter with its various propositions as most of its communication looked high on imagery and low on promise and offering. This made the brand re-think its strategy and it went in for the different-strokes-for-different folks strategy to clearly communicate to its core users. Ideas real stroke of luck came during the past two years after it signed Abhishek Bachchan as its brand ambassador and used various socially relevant, progressive and disruptive ideas weaved around mobility to connect to its core TG in non-metro circles. And today Idea not only sailed through rough weathers of recession but made inroads in the market share of the existing players.

Frito Lays: Chala change ka chakkar

Since snacking is mostly a hunger-driven impulse decision, staying fresh in the consumer mind is very important. To maintain top of the mind recall among its customers the brand has undertaken several unique communication initiatives for example, was called "Chala Change ka Chakkar," which is an umbrella campaign for Frito Lay Indias entire product portfolio (Lays, Kurkure, Cheetos, Uncle Chips, and Lehar). This promotion had allowed chosen consumers to live a day in the life of an Indian Bollywood celebrity (who are the brand endorsers) like Juhi Chawla or Saif Ali Khan. The idea did the magic in generating excitement around the brand and made it stand out in the clutter of existing brands at the time of recession.

Bajaj Allianz: Life after super agent

Bajaj Allianze for last few years have used their mascot Bajaj Allianze Super Agent for its advertising. Customer could discuss and clear doubts with the mascot. Now the company has signed Olympic Bronze medallist Vijender Singh as its brand ambassador. When we signed on Vijender, we did so with a view to talk to a younger target group (TG) in the age range of 28-33 years, says Akshay Mehrotra, head, marketing, Bajaj Allianz Life. Our products have been adapted to suit the younger generation. The new campaign not only helps Bajaj Allianze to stand out among the slew of Insurance companies but also sends the message loud
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and clear. When someone takes out a life insurance policy, the idea is to protect and defend oneself against unseen harm. Therefore, when an accomplished boxer, who can knock the living daylights out of his opponent, tells you to buy insurance, it's in line with the brand identity.

Ministry of tourism: Atithi Devo Bhav

With recession looming large coupled with terrorist attack on India made a huge impact in terms of foreign travelers coming to India for business or pleasure. To tackle the situation, the Ministry of Tourism had roped in Aamir as the brand Ambassador for its brand campaign 'Atithi Devo Bhava' (guest is akin to god) to showcase the country's rich heritage and culture. The kind of personality which Aamir has did a favor to the Incredible India initiative and this has increased the confidence of tourists which was reflected with the improved number in the tourists this fiscal.

Zoozoos: Not just mascots

A brand ambassador may not always be a celebrity or for that matter it need not be human. It could be a symbol or a mascot which symbolizes the values of a brand. The advantage of a mascot over celebrity endorsement is that it is cost-effective. Also a celebrity endorses multiple products, creating confusion in the minds of the consumers, unlike the mascot that is unique to each brand. Not only do the mascots create instant recognition for the brand, it also helps advertisers cut through the clutter. In a diverse market like India where mass brands have not less than 16 language translations for their ads, mascots are a very powerful means to create a stronger connect with the consumers. It appeals not only to the educated mass, but even an illiterate consumer, who instantly identifies the brand with help of the mascot. In 2008, Vodafone had unveiled the Happy to Help series during the first season of the Indian Premier League (IPL). With the launch of the second season, Vodafone has given birth to the Zoozoo: a special character created specifically to convey a value added service (VAS) offering in each of the newly released commercials. The popularity of zoozoos, the white, ghost-like creatures promoting Vodafones value-added services, are indicative of the fact that mascots are definitely here to stay.

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Not one but range of ambassadors

Another new phenomenon this recession has been using multiple brand ambassadors. Harish Bijoor, brand-strategy specialist and CEO of Harish Bijoor Consults, believes, Celebs with universal appeal are no longer available and the Shah Rukhs and Amitabhs, by endorsing 30odd brands at the same time, have led to a disappearance of the single-star-to-single-brand concept. If one of them were to leave the brand, it will still have some faces on board. Therefore while Dabur has Dhoni alongside Amitabh, Kurkure has retained Juhi Chawala while roping in Kareena Kapoor for its sub brand.

Conclusion
This recession has highlighted the fact that Brand Ambassadors including celebrities and mascots remain the most efficient way of getting quick and real consumer mind share in the smallest possible time. Companies which realised the fact that cutting marketing expenses was a short sighted approach that will not help them get out of the slow down and lack of sales invested wisely in brand ambassadors which were a natural fit with the brands and thus realised the benefits, cases in point being success of Abhishek Bachchan for Idea, Genelia for Fanta and Amir Khan for Tata Sky. The learning from this economic slowdown was not going for wild cost cuttings but making effective and efficient investments. So brands invested wisely in synergistic brand ambassadors and in turn brand ambassadors imparted credibility and aspiration to their endorsed brands. Thus breaking the clutter, reinforcing trust in brands, reinvigorating sales and bringing the profits back to the positives.

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References
http://ibnlive.in.com/news/recession-bruises-big-brand-faces-freshers-lucky/89882-7.html http://www.topnews.in/fanta-drops-rani-mukerjee-its-brand-ambassador-2121492 http://www.mydigitalfc.com/companies/genelia-d%E2%80%99souza-brand-ambassadorspinz-523 http://entertainment.oneindia.in/bollywood/features/2008/brand-endorsement-hit081208.html http://www.travelbizmonitor.com/aamir-khan-selected-as-brand-ambassador-for-mots-atithidevo-bhava-campaign http://business.rediff.com/slide-show/2009/jul/14/slide-show-1-what-an-idea-sir-ji.htm

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