Thursday, April 1, 2010

BELIEVE IN THE BEST

Celebrity endorsements is what every marketing or advertising magazine is talking about these days.It is important for marketers and companies to understand that just because you get my favorite hero to endorse for a product,I will not buy it.Remember! Customer is the KING who can think and is not dumb.

I personally believe that a celebrity must be roped in only if the product/ brand/idea has a resemblance in some form with the celebrity.Thank god! I am not the only one who thinks so,some sensible marketers also do.Just as I say this,some classic examples come flashing in memory.There is no denying to the fact that celebrities have done considerable benefit to brands and added to the image of the brand.But don't pull it too far.
Take for instance the new WHEEL ad where Salman Khan(Ya!!!! for a detergent) and Prachi Desai(Eh....who??!!!) are a couple and they start singing and dancing(supposed to be romantic) and to add to the a(d)gony is the background romantic score.Even if all that is accepted,why will anyone believe that Salman Khan uses WHEEL?Or in some way resembles WHEEL?
The other blunder I came across on TV recently was the NEW Vaseline Men's range where Shahid Kapoor,who is actually a good choice considering his 'not so bad looks' and celebrity status.Even the tagline "Be prepared" is a well thought line.But all is not good when he says "Main use karta hun Vaseline Men".
Oh Really? Kabse? Last week when it was launched? It would be believable if he said that he likes the new product for some benefits or anything.
People might like fictional novels and SciFi movies but when it comes to advertisements,one needs to believe in the product and the advertisement.Celebrities can surely play a big role in it but only when a consumer believes that there is some sense in relating the product to the celebrity.I am also ready to see Rakhi Sawant in the Shaadi.com ad but not Salman Khan in WHEEL detergent.
While surfing news channels,I came across a clipping which said "Manmohan Singh makes primary education compulsory".At the end of the clip was the PM himself saying "I believe education is very important.I am,what I am because of the education I got". Now that is what I am talking about.A celebrity endorsement so powerful that everyone wants to buy into it. Many of us have the mail with the resume of Dr.Manmohan Singh in our mail boxes.We know he is counted among the most intelligent and educated PMs of India and so when he says primary education is important,we have no choice but believe.

3 comments:

yogesh patel said...

nice post !!

The wheel example was quite funny, here who should we blame the media agency who came up with this idea or the marketing manager of wheel who approved this ad?
Are they that dumb to not understand the basics of branding and using celebrities ? I think brand managers feel that using celebrities is the only way to capture the attention.

You can blame the celebrities also to an extent , pay them money and they'll endorse anything,,, doesnt salman have 'common sense' that he's no where a fit or match to the qualities of the wheel brand.. I think the failure of his movie VEER forced him to accept Wheel... may be this time he'll hire some one else to write the script for a movie..

Ajay Kalwani said...

NICE POST, AND THAT WHEEL eg. WAS REALLY NICE.
Keep it up, keep posting. The marketing world needs u :)

Ankit said...

hey i must say its a nice post n not to forget even yogi's comment is koool.....