The Rs 210 Crore Man

Is he worth this much? And why are marketers in India so sold on celebrities as a way to boost their sales?

Mahendra Singh Dhoni is the new king of good times. It has been great going lately for the Indian cricket captain on and off the pitch. First, a beautiful bride, and now a sensational endorsement deal worth Rs 210 crore over two years. 

Clearly, this dude has cracked it cool. For Cool is the new marketing currency. Cool lets new brands such as Amrapali, just another property developer before Dhoni’s touch, get well known in double quick time. Cool also mixes well with Pepsi. Dhoni communicates everything the fizz marketer wants people to associate the brand with—youth, success, refreshment, the list can go on.  

So, what does it take to be the highest paid brand endorser in India? The size of Dhoni’s deal means that to make money off it, the publicity firm that handles him-—Rhiti Sports—will need to have him endorse brands that pay about Rs 10 crore each, and even that may not be enough. All the same, Rs 10 crore a pop is a huge pay hike for Dhoni. Before this deal, he reportedly charged in the range of Rs 5 crore per assignment. If any one event signals the end of India’s economic recession, this is it.

What Captain Cool has going for him is the image he’s acquired. Articulated through his lifestyle and performance, it’s an image that marketers find difficult to resist. But why is this? Why do the world’s best-known brands splurge so much cash on endorsements? What are the values they’re trying to turbo charge their own brand recall with? And finally, how enduring are these values? 

Says noted sociologist Ashis Nandy of Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, a Delhi-based  think-tank: “Dhoni connects directly, and he is the Believable Superman. The middle class, the core mass market, sees in him one of their own. His cricket success is critical to the brand. Yet, success is not in itself enough. He retains his appeal, his lifestyle is easy to relate to, and he is not in another orbit. He is the most accessible among stars. The Collective likes to imagine that it’s possible… Dhoni embodies aspiration and communicates it in an easy going manner.”

This blend of an earthy image with the fact that Dhoni has not left his roots too far behind is critical for advertisers. Dhoni wears no cape, he is not invincible, yet he achieves and succeeds. He is someone you know and you like—there is an element of the real. This is rare in today’s times of superstardom, where celebrities lose touch with the masses all too often.

“Dhoni has genuine appeal and it’s mass,” says Santosh Desai, branding wizard and CEO of Future Brands, “His achievements as a captain and cricketer are extraordinary. He is the cool dude, period. The guy has no blond streaks in his hair anymore, and that in many ways makes his status iconic. Dhoni has the rare ability to be many things to many people. His aggressive and exciting batting style, his cool demeanour and his relatively humble background fuse with his extraordinarily successful captaincy to create a mega brand.”

But doesn’t Shah Rukh Khan, who made it completely on his own without a godfather and even parental support, have the same advantage? Disagrees adman Prahlad Kakkar. “Shah Rukh Khan is scripted ketchup,” he says, “Dhoni is the real thing, and he can and does lose. Shah Rukh is fantasy, while this chap is as real as real gets. He is exciting to watch, difficult to predict in that he can also drop anchor if need be. Dhoni is a finisher. You will notice that for Dhoni, calmness is the key. He reacts similarly to success and failure. With the exception of his haircut, everything has been the way it was before he hit big time. Dhoni is India embedded—in many ways, a guarantee for brand penetration.”

Dhoni sits atop the endorsement food chain. The deal is so big that it radically resizes the market. The size of the endorsement market before this deal was estimated to be in the range of about Rs 600 crore. Now Dhoni alone commands a huge chunk of the pie. 

It’s a maze out there, however, and you often slip just when you think you have peaked. Not long ago, Tendulkar was the market’s Alpha Male, with a sporting deal reportedly worth Rs 180 crore (a five-year contract). Industry sources say that Shah Rukh Khan earns nearly Rs 140 crore, and Amitabh Bachchan likewise, over a similar half-decade time span.  “Time was when we had the bargaining power,” says a veteran Mumbai-based adman who also runs a sports management business, on condition of anonymity, “We were the via media, after all, between the star and the brand. It was easy to have a top player or film star contracted for as little as Rs 2 crore per assignment. Times have changed, and today the star knows his value and hikes his fee at will. You can’t even get a film star to dance at your wedding for Rs 2 crore anymore. Most won’t come for any money… they have become conscious of the values they represent.” 

By the sound of those mega-figures, it looks as if a celebrity crazed country is expected to get crazier still as the economy and advertising budgets expand. If current trends hold up, you really ain’t seen nothin’ yet.

As the Indian economy expands at a torrid pace, market after market will reach what marketers call a ‘take-off point’. As consumer numbers swell (think mobile phones), marketers will lunge to reach out as far and wide as they can. And desperately so.

Of course, retail coverage will play a big role in the business efforts, but for most such brands there is no substitute for mass advertising. Within media, the din of thousands of voices trying to catch attention poses a huge challenge. How to outshout the crowd? Nobody helps do this better than a familiar face.

Given how fast India is emerging, that is true even for brands you may think are too well known to need any help. That’s what market expansion is all about. As more and more people move up the socio-economic escalator, brand awareness needs to play catch up. “In India, outreach is still the critical challenge,” says Ravinder Zutshi, deputy managing director, Samsung India, “Branding is very important, but it is reaching out to your dealers, being present at the points of purchase, having strategic availability, that ensures success in the long term. Brand ambassadors will become more popular as the Indian market matures in terms of outreach and availability.” Yes.

Newly launched brands, of course, have to cut through the cacophony in any case.  “Brand ambassadors allow for high visibility in a short time,” says Latika Khaneja of Collage Sports Management, a firm that handles cricketer Virender Sehwag, “If you are a relative new entrant, or if you have plans to increase market share, endorsements from a superstar can allow for a jumpstart on your brand recall. On the other hand, established firms like Adidas and Sehwag are an example of strategic long-term brand employment.” 

Sums up Madhukar Sabnavis, regional director of thought leadership at ad agency Ogilvy: “Indians have four core obsessions: cricket, cinema, celebration and celebrities. So it’s not surprising-—marketing and advertising’s fascination for celebrities and brand ambassadors. The heroes in these fields can and do override spatial differences, and this enables new entrants to go for a big bang cross-country brand impact. For more mature brands, the reason to look for an ambassador is often the need to get greater advertising return on investment. Finally there is competitive pressure. When your competition has one, you tend to be tempted to get one too.”

Glamour grabs the eyeballs, but it’s the values conveyed by a celebrity that secure lasting space for an endorsed brand in the consumer’s mind. The projection of these values, therefore, must be done with due care. The marketing touchstone here is ‘synergy’, which combines ‘synchrony’ with ‘energy’.

So Sachin Tendulkar’s being a ‘solid’ achiever helps Jaypee Cement attain an image of solid dependability. Royal Bank of Scotland used him last year to establish a similar impression of itself on its debut in India—at a time that foreign banks were seen to be wobbly. Or take Sony Vaio, a range of slim laptops endorsed by Kareena Kapoor. “We hired Kareena Kapoor for Vaio X, as the synergy between the brand and Kareena was perfect. Both are famous for being ‘size zero’ and stylish. The association has been extremely beneficial in terms of increased brand visibility and product recall,” says Tadato Kimura, general manager, marketing, Sony India. 

Another successful fusion of core brand values with a celeb personality is Thums Up and Akshay Kumar. Bollywood’s macho man is an action hero, and this works well for the brand’s adventure sports orientation. “We saw an immediate connect, a direct fit between what we wanted to communicate to the youth for Thums Up and the values that Akshay Kumar stands for,” says Deepak Jolly, executive vice-president, public affairs, Coca-Cola India, “He is physically fit, a genuinely trained marital artist, and actually enjoys doing some of the stunts that we show in our ad campaign. We are happy with the return-on-investment that Akshay has got Thums Up. The synergy has shown results.”

In contrast, Amitabh Bachchan represents ‘the voice of authority’, and this helps in conveying serious messages. His work for the Pulse Polio Mission, for example, has been a very successful example of a credible superstar’s voice that was taken very seriously across India, especially in pockets that had proven resistant to such messages in the past. 

Then, there is Aamir Khan, whose work—or over-work—for Tata Sky has been widely noticed. Says Vikram Mehra, chief marketing officer of Tata Sky, “Direct-to-home was technology intimidating to the masses. They were not sure if the service would be a problem if they can’t figure out the use. When we decided on a brand ambassador, we had only Aamir Khan in mind. He is perceived as a perfectionist, and this was what we strive for in our service. His second equally critical value is solid credibility, which is what the Tata Group stands for. Glamour and star appeal, while important, were secondary. Endorsements are value-driven decisions and not just about glamour, sex appeal or popularity.”  Aamir Khan, according to image consultant Dilip Cherian, “brings to the table a highbrow audience capture”.

Such finer values count. So, whether it is Aishwarya Rai endorsing Longines with ‘You make my head spin’ as her line,  subtly playing on the question of her free will, or selling L´´oreal by arresting you with eyes that brook no compromise, or even Kajol trying to get youngsters lapping up Alpenliebe, playing on her perceived ability to have things happen the very way she likes, there is no getting away from brand synergy.  “If I want to reach out to Indian women, especially the housewife,” says Cherian, “Kajol will be the natural choice. She is a family-oriented person, yet an achiever. She appears strong-willed without being threatening. She is the bahu next door.”

Synergy planning is all very good, but sometimes whims can work too. Bajaj once wanted a ‘crazy’ launch for its motorcycle Discover, according to an insider, and Jackie Chan was hired for it. “There was no connection between the bike and Jackie Chan,” says the source. But the ad was entertaining enough to signal a sort of free spirit.

Also, even a good match could go awry. The lubricant brand Castrol, for instance, once hired Rahul Dravid. Nothing wrong there, reliability being the value touted. However, the campaign rolled out late, and Dravid was woefully short on form by that time.

The good news for marketers is that the Indian star constellation offers a whole boutique of different values. Shah Rukh Khan and Amitabh Bachchan have differing appeals, says Ogilvy’s Sabnavis. “Amitabh’s strength is in reinvention and a certain class; it is also an ability to connect, especially post KBC, which gives him mass appeal,” he elaborates, “Shah Rukh on the other hand is the face of new India, an almost unbelievable fairy tale where you make it just on your own.”

Shah Rukh Khan commands aspiration, while Amitabh reflects arrival. This means they rarely compete for the same endorsement. In cricket, though, there are some similarities. Sehwag and Dhoni, for example, are both aggressive and unconventional players from modest social backgrounds, though the former’s appeal could possibly prove more enduring over time. 

Endorsements are not without their risks. Ask marketers who track the fates and fortunes of celebrities worldwide. How, for example, does a marketer guard against something like what happened to Tiger Woods? When you make decisions putting a famous face at the centre of your publicity campaign, you might wake up to discover that ‘fame’ could turn to ‘infamy’ overnight and there is little you can do about it. By its very nature, celebrityhood is beyond anyone’s control—not yours, not even the celebrity’s.

The case of Tiger Woods is a perfect example of how bad things can become if your brand’s values suddenly clash with the celebrity’s newly re-fashioned image. Everyone from Accenture and Gatorade to Gillette and AT&T got singed by that disaster, after Woods’ remorseful confession of multiple infidelities to his wife. The brands and their adlines still find themselves as the butt of jokes, though arguably this only immortalises some of these profound adlines for posterity to remember (‘The Best a Man Can Get’, ‘High Performance’…).

Needless to say, the Tiger Woods incident has left its mark in India. Explains Latika Khaneja, “Contracts do have clauses that take into account player behaviour and extraordinary circumstances. However, most of the time, this is not such a big threat to the brand. The bigger threat is the star’s endurance. If you’re riding the crest of a wave with a star, most brands do not mind a little bit of the trough.” 

Some companies, however, track their endorsers’ performance as they would a stock portfolio. After just a couple of flops, Hrithik Roshan seems to have faded from TV screens, for example. Coca-Cola has found other ways to sell. Another case is that of Sania Mirza. Once the poster girl of endorsements, the only bounce back she has recorded recently has been off-court—in gossip columns after her marriage to a Pakistan cricketer. Cadbury’s Bournvita dropped Sania Mirza soon after the wedding. Adidas, however, has stuck by Sania with its multi-year endorsement deal.  

What everyone is hoping doesn’t let anyone down is the Indian economy. As it revs up in the years ahead, you can be sure that the few who exercise control on the collective psyche of the many will make ever bigger bucks. 

After all, brand ambassadors are the easiest and surest way to reach out to a very large audience in a highly fragmented market. A thousand brands are sure to bloom thanks to their well-paid endorsers, the odd Sania Mirza notwithstanding.

About The Author

Ninad D. Sheth