The Hindu Business Line : Cricketers may regain celebrity endorsements

If the half-year report card compiled by AdEx, a division of TAM Media Research, is anything to go by, the future holds promise. From Sachin Tendulkar to Yuvraj Singh, all of whom are endorsing fewer brands this year, the future looks brighter.

Endorsement

“I would say they have an opportunity to make it even bigger than before. Our country just loves stories of resilience,” says Mr Prasoon Joshi, Regional Creative Director, South-East Asia, McCann Erickson.

Tendulkar, in the first six months of this year (promoting 11 brands compared with 17 brands in 2006), already has been on air for about 7.7 days — if seconds of spots across 200 channels were totalled. That already beats last year’s total of 5 days.

Dhoni’s endorsement career is doing even better. With 16 brands, the photogenic cricketer has already been on air for more than 10 days. Last year he endorsed 7 more brands in spots totalling 14.7 days.

Rahul Dravid has four brands less this year. Visibility of Virendra Sehwag and Saurav Ganguly has come down drastically. While Sehwag has clocked 16.1 hours, Ganguly with just two brands has managed 34 minutes. He still beats Zaheer Khan whose 6 months score reads 1.5 minutes.

Film stars in comparison continue to shine. Compared with 42 days scored by the top five cricketers, the top five stars notched up 112 days last year. Still leading the lot is Big B Amitabh Bachchan, with 27 brands this year totalling 17 days.

In 2006, he spent 29 days selling oil, chocolate, suitings, bank services and digestives. As Mr Prahlad Kakkar points out, “Film stars are larger than life and don’t have to win matches — they can tilt the playing field.”

More Stories on : Advertising | Promotions & Offers | Sports

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page