The Age of the Underdog

With Sachin and Saurav, Amitabh and Preity appearing in too many ads to make any material difference to the brands they endorse, advertisers are signing on an entirely new class of celebrity.

It's about time, coz study after study shows that celebrity endorsements are becoming increasingly ineffective, although this varies across cultures and target groups.

Certainly, young people are becoming increasingly indifferent to a "I use this soap, so should you" kind of endorsement in India as well. The connect has to happen at a deeper much level.

New endorsers
Coke has just announced that it is signing up Jassi, Rajyavardhan Rathore to endorse the brand in India. This is the first time the brand is moving out of the Bollywood-cricket celebrity circuit.
"Both Singh and Rathore are seen as achievers, as go-getters in real life. They have stepped out of the shadows of anonymity to fame by the sheer dint of their hard work, " said Vikas Gupta, V-P Marketing, Coca-Cola.

Hmm. So, the age of the Underdog is here. Even Abhishek Bacchhan, the current superhero, darling of the masses is all the more loved for the fact that he had to struggle through flop after flop before finally making an impact.

Then, there was Iqbal.

But, there is a thin line between being a loser, and an underdog. 

Losers whine, while underdogs eventually shine.
Losers blame the world for their problems, while underdogs try to see the problems in themselves, as well.
Losers are victims of their circumstances, underdogs overcome them.

Advertisements directly or indirectly do influence your purchase decisions. Atleast they can bring a brand to consideration set which is good enough. Now the point is whether celebrity endorsements help or not. Again its not celebrity per se but the creativity which matters. The second thing which matters is current awareness of the brand. Pepsi and Coke can bring in any celebrity, its going to help them as their current brand awareness is very good. Coke gained a lot from Aamir Khan. It was mixture of both the factors..
But look at Berger Paints. When they brought Amitabh Bachchan as their brand ambassador, according to a study, junta thought he is promoting Asian paints... What a waste!!! You spend money and your competitor gains from it..

Other point.. you might have a very nice entertaining ad.. Everyone will laugh ... remember the ad.. but no one will remember the product.. so it wont even get into consideration set..

So my take will be that.. you need to creative but brand should not get lost in creativity .. you need to be careful if your competitors brand is already strong.. For want of creativity... At least a celebrity gives an excuse for the lack of creativity that we see in indian Commercials. Well, talking about commercials and endorsements, endorsements seem to work well, if a certain exclusivity is linked between the celebrity and the brand a la Nike and Jordan.. But when the same celebrity endorses many brands we only remmeber the celebrity and not the brands. But when a Brand gets to sign a celebrity, they happen to do some commercials... making up for the lack in creativity.

I guess - endorse advertising is losing its efficacy any ways. As awareness levels among Indian consumers rise and real life heroes decline (if there are still some left) we shall see fewer Indians buying or believing in brands endorsed by anybody, be they "go-getters", "underdogs", "Losers" or for that matter a "no-one". A very narrow line of products/services will find buyers due to endorsement.

Viewers like me still judge an ad by its concept like the creative ones by Fevicol and another whatchamacallit chocolate brand which I don't happen to recollect right now. I'm guessing there are others similar to me, for me it's really not a difference if a celebrity endorses in few ads or many.

I was just wondering, with Jordan quitting the F1 circuit this year, what would happen to brand 'Narain Karthikeyan' ? What happens to his many adverts on TV and more importantly to his future as a formula 1 driver?

NOW THERE IS A TUG OF WAR BETWEEN ABHISHEK AND ABRAHAM FOR ENDORSEMENT DEALS , AS BOTH ARE HOT COMMODITIES IN THE MARKET. BUT I THINK HUTCH DID THE TRICK BY HAVING IRFAAN TO ENDORSE THERE PRODUCT. THAT WAS INNOVATIVE AND ABOVE ALL USING HIS VOICE AND LOOKS , RATHER THAN OOZE OR OOMPH IS WAT I LIKE ABOUT THE ADD.

WITH BRAND SOURAV, SACHIN DOWN AND OUT.
AB AND SRK BEING PLASTERED ON ALMOST EVERYTHING ON EARTH.

.............THIS HAD TO HAPPEN.

MAKE HAY WHILE THE SUN SHINES IS THE MANTRA FOR AD WORLD.......

What about this Boman Irani guy? He comes in almost all ads ...atleast 10-12 I can say...I don't know if he really is that effective, beyond any other celebrity! But yeah roping in persons who are winners in other fields is a very welcome move by the ad community. As for the Cricket Stars, endorsements are becoming ineffective in promoting sales of the products they endorse, it's pretty obvious that their clout directly depends on how well the Indian Cricket team is doing at this point. And we all know it isnt exactly "perfect".

In that context, it's hard to understand how both Jassi and Rathore qualify as "go-getters". Jassi is a fictional characer. Mona Singh is playing a role - she herself was a successful model before getting into acting.

The old Jassi was an underdog. The new Jassi is a loser.

And Rathore - India's only individual silver medallist at the Olympics - is really in a class of his own!

What next: Pepsi and Abhijeet Sawant?