The Hindu Business Line : Star track

When Bharti's Airtel brand refused to renew Sachin Tendulkar as its brand ambassador, he quickly signed two deals with Canon and ITC's Sunfeast brand. The speed at with which the master blaster has been signing endorsement deals shows that he is back in the reckoning with advertisers. While the varying fortunes of a celebrity determine the kind of endorsements taken up, a scientific method is needed to measure the effectiveness of hiring a celebrity.

Recently AC Nielsen and Percept D' Mark embarked on India's first scientific research to evaluate the efficacy of celebrities and their brand fit. The PDM AC Nielsen Star Power Index is an assessment of the popularity of leading celebrities as well as their current role as brand ambassadors.

Shailendra Singh, Joint Managing Director, Percept Holdings, says, "The need of the hour is a measure that can be referred to when taking a celebrity endorsement fee into consideration and understanding the values associated with each celebrity and the brand fit they provide. Previously, when a celebrity charged a certain amount, the basis used to determine his effective was the `flavour of the season' approach."

But this study will assist brands by providing a scientific and logical approach to assess the value the celebrity will bring into the brands. It checks the personality fit of the celebrity with the brand and derives a remuneration factor for the celebrity.

Last year, Hansa Research also released its Celebrity Track study enumerating the celebrities in order of preference. The syndicated study of Celebrity Track has tried to measure the popularity of stars endorsing various products. Ashok Das, Managing Director, Hansa Research, says, "We covered a very large sample spread over five lakh towns in our study. Basically, the key measures required to select a celebrity to endorse a brand is his (or her) ability to be recognised, whether the person is well liked to create a positive feel for the brand, and the image of the celebrity in terms of being in sync with the key brand values. We conducted the first ever `Celebrity Track' last year. This study covered around 200 celebrities from cinema, TV, music and sports and looks at their recognition, likeability and image. To the best of my knowledge, this was the first organised initiative to measure celebrity popularity and its relevance."

The need for both syndicated and commissioned research has been felt by talent management companies and ad agencies — the potential users of such research. Harish Krishnamachar, Managing Director, Iconix, says, "All this while people have used their experience in choosing celebrities. But considering celebrities have helped and also not helped certain clients and the large investments made, there is a need for measurement and that is where we are headed." Iconix is a new talent management company floated by Saatchi & Saatchi, which started operations by handling Sachin Tendulakar's endorsements.

Says Darshana Bhalla, CEO, Mates, the entertainment division of Madison Communications, "Measurability would make the task for the brand that much easier since it would be in a ready format. At the same time, I would consider whether it is an officially appointed third party with well tested parameters which can give an unbiased view."

Mates is managing filmstar Akshay Kumar's endorsements, and measurability is essential while choosing brands for the star. Recently, Akshay Kumar was appointed the brand ambassador for Microsoft as it launched its X-Box 360 in India.

Says Punit Jagasia, Business Head, Lintertainment, a division of Lintas India: "We look at the strategic brand fit between the values of the brand, and what the celebrity has, and how much the celebrity will help the brand grow in tangible and intangible terms. The time frame is usually dependent on the contract clauses and time-cost of the celebrity, and more importantly, the dependency that the brand would like to have on its ambassador. Yes, a scientific approach is a must. The Star Power study might not be there yet, but it does give a broad direction that one can act upon. It gives companies a very broad framework to work with as choosing the right brand ambassador might not be so easy."

Pitching for the right type of research agency that can come up with the exact fit for a brand ambassador is also gaining ground. In the case of Diageo India, the liquor major is scouting for a research agency, which will advise in choosing celebrities to help its brands. Santosh Kanekar, Director, Marketing, Diageo India, says, "There is a growing importance in the measurement of the impact of celebrities on brands. We have pitched for agencies to help us with such brand tracking studies to understand the health of the brand." Staying away from the big names, Diageo recently appointed upcoming actor Shiny Ahuja as the brand ambassador for its vodka brand - Shark Tooth.

Apart from giving a broad direction, research can also help in figuring out whether the celebrity has worked for the brand. At the India Brand summit held recently, Ashok Venkatramani, Vice-President - Skin Care, Hindustan Lever, said the corporate major was yet to decide on whether celebrities worked or not. He spoke on the 4C criterion, enumerating Clutter Break, Credibility Fit with TG, Connect with the audience and whether the proposition was Clearly Differentiated. According to him, there are factors such as cost versus ROI, uniqueness of the celebrity, the debate on whether celebrities were driving advertising or the concept and multiple endorsements from a celebrity.

Percept's Singh believes his study will give all the answers. "If the study finds that there is lack of consumer connect with a certain celebrity on brand, the brand manager can take corrective measures to ensure maximum effectiveness for his brand. The PDM AC Nielsen Star Power Index will answer questions relating to success rate of celebrities."

At the same time, some brands have been approaching research agencies such as AC Nielsen for pre- and post-evaluation of their celebrities. Says Bhalla of Mates, "It is not that companies have been blindly choosing their celebrities. There is both qualitative and quantitative research involved. "But with Percept's partnership, AC Nielsen is today better equipped to face the challenges involved in celebrity measurements.''

Says Sarang Panchal, Executive Director, AC Nielsen South-Asia, "Love, hate, adulation, pride ... celebrities today induce powerful emotions, not just in their fans but across audiences. With the Star Power Index study, we aim to make the process of celebrity-brand connect a more scientific process, providing marketers with the tools to make the right decision. We have been doing this kind of work at a global level to understand the celebrity power of international stars across the world."

And it's not just about making the celebrity-brand connect more scientific. The celebrities themselves indulge in an analysis of what is going to work for them. In the case of Akshay Kumar who has been signed up by Mates, the star believes in signing up brands which he can have a positive impact on and help increase their visibility in the market.

Meeting the celebrity's expectations also has to be taken into account. "Airtel has become the number one brand in the three years that I had been its brand ambassador. I don't make compromises and the brand has to meet my expectations," stated Sachin Tendulkar at the press conference in which he was announced as Canon's brand ambassador.

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