Stars and product endorsement

Switch on your TV and you have all the top stars of bollywood selling you foods-to-dress-to-everything.  Watch a cricket match and Ranbitr would urge you to drink Pepsi, Akshay would push you to believe that Thums Up is better, or Asin would color your imaginatuion with orange in Fanta. And yes, don't forget your snacks, Juhi has got Kurkure for you and Saif's Lays are good too.

You are confused whether you should buy Tata sky or Airtel DTH or Videocon. How many times do you decide based on the star power of the actor you see in the ad? Chances are most of the products at your home are the result of their star appeal rather than the technical specification of the product itself. Such is the impact of these stars that, your first preference goes towards the best of them, the second towards the better one, so on and so forth.

The corporate world seem to have noticed this and are in a race to sign up the best of them to strike a chord with you. And so have the stars as you will notice from the astronomical endorsement fees that they charge for each such ad. Just take a look at the amount of fees charges by the top five and you will know, why they are kind of on your face to make you buy a product that they are endorsing. (The fees stated are indicative as mentioned in a TV channel, actual figure varies, read per ads as per deals)

• Aamir Khan (Unknown, said to have signed a Rs 35 crores deal with a moblile company)
• Shahrukh Khan/Akshay Kumar (Rs 15 Crores per ad)
• Hrithik Roshan ( Rs.12 Crores per ad)
• Salman Khan (Rs.10 Crores per ad)
• Ranbir Kapoor ( Rs. 7 Crores per ad)

No wonder why the models who are aspiring stars are jealous of them. Few years back, the television advertiment was seen to be a models territory. Now, no demarkation as such, both do both and the results are there for everybody to see, who takes home the mullah.

In one recent episode in zoom, ad guru Prahlad Kakkar expressed that the presence of stars and the sky rocketting prices are here to stay only for a very short period. Its getting increasingly difficult for public to associate a particular star with a particular product as everybody seem to be selling everything. Where is the brand recall then? How to measure the impact and payback?

I am a bit skeptical though, I'd prefer to wait and watch. At this moment I feel only the faces of the stars would change, but star endorement is here to stay for a very long long time. After all I bought my Panasonic Vierra after watchig Ranbir selling it.

True Sales man of the year, this Rocket Singh?