Breaking News! The towering inferno suddenly has competition in his role from Badshah Khan! Nah, not products or services, but in the promotion and selling of a region, state, city! Wassup wonders
Let’s face it. Bollywood is the land of dream merchants and who bigger than the Big B and King Khan! In recent times (beyond movies and product endorsements) these two superstars have been coaxed to take on new roles: Brand ambassadors of state (Gujarat) / city (Kolkata)! While this task is both daunting and challenging – to say the least – what drove the powers-that-are to make this amazingly daring move? Avid and informed B-Town and ad experts invite us to remember one simple fact: the overwhelming domination of film stars and cricketers in the public domain and media! Are all brand custodians and marketing heavyweights idiots or passionate philanthropists to offer them telephone number, pay cheques to endorse their stuff, they ask. Surely, somewhere, in some way, there has been an impact and mass connect, of a rewarding nature?
Veteran communication consultant Gullu Sen initiates the debate with “how successful this connect is or will be, in terms of the conversion ratio, will depend on the quality of the ad, but the fact that the ad will be noticed and be a clutter buster, is undeniable. Why? Because in a star-obsessed country people will definitely watch any communication with a star as compared to an everyday Joe (Jaggu) or plain Jane (Janaki)! That’s for sure!” Crayons’ Client Servicing Director Sanjay Chauhan agrees with a slight reservation. He remains both amused and confused at the levels of desperation of many brand and marketing gurus who really should know better. “Shouldn’t there be a connect between endorser and product that appears credible, exciting and positive to the TG,” he asks. Besides, isn’t there any palpable or tangible difference between hawking hair oil and confectionery, cement, cars, and ... a city or region?
“Not required,” retorts respected and renowned adman-writer Kamlesh Pandey. He believes that while never in the history of showbiz has star-power been so overwhelming, “effective results can only come when there is an appropriate brand fit. Shakti Kapoor may not be the ideal role model to sell a state, but the aam admi will certainly be attentive, interested and open to what an Amitabh Bachchan or Aamir Khan have to say, as both, the recent Gujarat campaign and Atithi Devo Bhavo have demonstrated.”
The Gujarat case study with the Big B is interesting. Till 2010, Modi’s Gujarat – say experts – was a classic example of “how to dissuade tourists from coming!” Right from perception to image perfection, everything about the state was a mess. Enter the Shahenshah, and bingo in record time, he did to the state what (in his heydays) he did to the film industry and his fans ... dynamically redefined the meaning, in scope and scale, of groundswell and footfalls! His pathbreaking Khushboo Gujarat Ki campaign (brilliantly & evocatively scripted and shot, gloriously narrated) showcases the many-splendoured state with appropriate style & panache. In fact, the campaign has placed a new and strange problem at the doorstep of the Gujarat Tourism HQ: How to deal with the sudden tsunami of tourists flooding the state?!
Let’s face it. Bollywood is the land of dream merchants and who bigger than the Big B and King Khan! In recent times (beyond movies and product endorsements) these two superstars have been coaxed to take on new roles: Brand ambassadors of state (Gujarat) / city (Kolkata)! While this task is both daunting and challenging – to say the least – what drove the powers-that-are to make this amazingly daring move? Avid and informed B-Town and ad experts invite us to remember one simple fact: the overwhelming domination of film stars and cricketers in the public domain and media! Are all brand custodians and marketing heavyweights idiots or passionate philanthropists to offer them telephone number, pay cheques to endorse their stuff, they ask. Surely, somewhere, in some way, there has been an impact and mass connect, of a rewarding nature?
Veteran communication consultant Gullu Sen initiates the debate with “how successful this connect is or will be, in terms of the conversion ratio, will depend on the quality of the ad, but the fact that the ad will be noticed and be a clutter buster, is undeniable. Why? Because in a star-obsessed country people will definitely watch any communication with a star as compared to an everyday Joe (Jaggu) or plain Jane (Janaki)! That’s for sure!” Crayons’ Client Servicing Director Sanjay Chauhan agrees with a slight reservation. He remains both amused and confused at the levels of desperation of many brand and marketing gurus who really should know better. “Shouldn’t there be a connect between endorser and product that appears credible, exciting and positive to the TG,” he asks. Besides, isn’t there any palpable or tangible difference between hawking hair oil and confectionery, cement, cars, and ... a city or region?
“Not required,” retorts respected and renowned adman-writer Kamlesh Pandey. He believes that while never in the history of showbiz has star-power been so overwhelming, “effective results can only come when there is an appropriate brand fit. Shakti Kapoor may not be the ideal role model to sell a state, but the aam admi will certainly be attentive, interested and open to what an Amitabh Bachchan or Aamir Khan have to say, as both, the recent Gujarat campaign and Atithi Devo Bhavo have demonstrated.”
The Gujarat case study with the Big B is interesting. Till 2010, Modi’s Gujarat – say experts – was a classic example of “how to dissuade tourists from coming!” Right from perception to image perfection, everything about the state was a mess. Enter the Shahenshah, and bingo in record time, he did to the state what (in his heydays) he did to the film industry and his fans ... dynamically redefined the meaning, in scope and scale, of groundswell and footfalls! His pathbreaking Khushboo Gujarat Ki campaign (brilliantly & evocatively scripted and shot, gloriously narrated) showcases the many-splendoured state with appropriate style & panache. In fact, the campaign has placed a new and strange problem at the doorstep of the Gujarat Tourism HQ: How to deal with the sudden tsunami of tourists flooding the state?!
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Zee Business Best B-School Survey 2012
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IIPM strong hold on Placement : 10000 Students Placed in last 5 year
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Professor Arindam Chaudhuri – A Man For The Society….
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