The Hindu Business Line : So, who's a right celebrity to use?

India's early exit from World Cup cricket had many marketers withdraw their cricket-centric campaigns fearing a negative impact on their brands. It has also seen companies negotiating with movie stars who are deemed safer bets than sportspersons, as in the case of the latter, non-performance is a tangible, quantifiable factor. So is there a right kind of celebrity that marketers can use? What makes one safe and another risky?

Brand gurus, corporate executives and advertising experts are divided on that one. After all, there have been stars and superstars who have been hurt by scandal and seen the endorsements dwindle; there are sportspersons (rare, though) who continue to be evergreen endorsers despite running into a bad patch.

Ramesh Narayan: Look for `fit'

Communications consultant Ramesh Narayan says the celebrity chosen should have a `fit' with the product/service being advertised but that too often, agencies opt for a celebrity only as an "eye-stopper." "Sehwag for a textile company (he is not the most natty of dressers) or Pathan for Indian Oil are actually meaningless endorsements. They fill the vacuum created by the lack of a big idea," he says.

But when Sachin Tendulkar bats for Boost, one hopes the fitness, the energy and the stamina associated with him rubs off on the product. In such cases, a blip like India's loss at the World Cup would not have any adverse effect on Boost's advertising, believes Narayan.

JagdeepKapoor: Credibility's prime

"You can't have the celebrity substitute for the performance of a brand. They supplement the image and generate trials, but it's not going to be magical," says brand guru JagdeepKapoor, Chairman and Managing Director of Samsika Marketing Consultancy. "Credibility is more important than celebrity," says he. As he sees it, the celebrity's non-performance will rouse the consumer's ire, with the brand coming under the spotlight for the wrong reasons.

Vishwadeep Kuila, Vice-President (Sales & Marketing), GM Pens (maker of Reynolds), says contracts with sportspeople are usually not performance-based. The brand reserves the right to drop the celebrity if they get involved in a scandal or are dropped from the team for more than 5-6 months or are injured and not playing or retire from the field. Brands that take on sportspeople as ambassadors have to be prepared to take the downs with the ups, he adds.

Meenakshi Bhalla, President of Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide-India, who has worked with celebrities in her stint in advertising, says: "Let the brand always be the hero, work hard at ensuring that you are creating a brand so that reliance on such factors as celebrities is rare."

"Once in a while, you may choose a celebrity to overcome some hurdles, as in the case of Cadbury, but not in every ad and promo," says Bhalla. When Cadbury India had to restore people's confidence in its products after the worm-infestation episode, it hired Amitabh Bachchan to convey the message its chocolates were safe and came in improved packaging. However, when the pesticides-in-cola controversy reappeared last year, Pepsi chose its CEO to reassure its consumers. (Coca-Cola stuck to Aamir Khan.) Pepsi spokesperson Punita Lal had then told BrandLine that as it was an issue of quality, trust and safety, consumers felt the `owner' of the company would naturally be the most concerned and best qualified to set their minds at rest.

"How come the Chairman and not the celebrity came to the fore when there was a credibility crisis?" questions Kapoor of Samsika, who says credibility is the cake and celebrity, the icing. Every celebrity comes with their own risks and advantages but the brand that does not use a celebrity is choosing the best way and has many options, he says.

But what about categories where differences between the brands are few? Many believe using celebrities is warranted in such situations. But not all buy this argument. Says Jagdeep Kapoor, "It's not that they don't have any qualities - there's taste, there's refreshment, there's fun - they do have enough core values." "In the case of Sprite and 7 Up, for example, which are equally `non-differentiated', no celebrities are used. In fact, 7 Up has made its mascot Fido a celebrity, and no bunch of losers can dim his equity," says Ramesh Narayan. "Which celebrity built up Thums Up? It's not as if it didn't have competition when it was launched," questions Kapoor.

Harish Bijoor: Revive brand icons

Says brand domain expert Harish Bijoor of Harish Bijoor Consults Inc: "Cricket stars and film stars occupy limited bandwidth and limited purposes within the minds of consumers today. This is limited to the awareness-creating phase.

"I would put my best buck on brand icons and mascots instead. Bring back Gattu for Asian Paints and Goody the Tiger for Nerolac. Get to the graveyard of brand mascots and revive them all!" he exhorts.

Vishwadeep Kuila: Hedge your bets

Kuila of GM Pens says audiences will come back to cricket. "You have to hedge your bets - you may not spend money on such advertising right now, but it's not as if audiences won't ever come back to cricket," he says. It's in sports that fans deify sportspeople but drop them like hot potatoes when their luck changes, and brands have to factor all that in. "You can't prevent a population of a billion from getting emotional, you can't expect rational behaviour, they wouldn't be fans if they were rational," he explains, adding that a "ducking period" rather than a change of strategy would be a good move when sentiments are low.

Says Ramesh Narayan, "In the celebrity-crazed society we are nurturing, this downswing in mood is strictly temporary. These same cricketers will be back endorsing everything from shaving cream to cars in time for the next season. Remember, cricket is a religion here. And we never turn our backs on our Gods, do we?"

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