The Unfaithful Stories of Indian Stars

Ash, SRK, Sachin, Dravid, Ganguly... ...All Have Switched Camps Unabashedly

IT’S the ultimate nightmare for marketers. While brand ambassadors plead consumers to remain loyal to brands, they are increasingly turning fickle themselves, switching brand loyalties at the drop of a hat. Cricketers are the most unfaithful.Team India's leading men—Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Virender Sehwag and Rahul Dravid—have all changed camps unabashedly. Take Virender Sehwag, Pepsi's new endorser, who until late last year was gulping Coca-Cola. Batting maestro Tendulkar, who is now seen peddling ITC Sunfeast's Sachin Fit Kit biscuits, was the face of Britannia for a long time. Bengal tiger Sourav Ganguly shifted dens when he moved from Korean consumer electronics major LG to Chinese electronics brand TCL in January. Dada is not new in the game of brand-switch, having shifted from Coca-Cola to Pepsi earlier. Captain Rahul Dravid, who padded up for Team Samsung till last year, is now championing the cause of Sansui.

Creating confusion?

DOESN'Tthis switch create confusion in the consumer's mind? Says Percept D'Mark celebrity management services VP Vinita Bangard, "It depends on the extent to which a brand uses an endorser. The confusion in a consumer's mind would arise if the endorser is synonymous with the brand, which is not true in most cases." Explains Sansui COO Anil Khera, "Rahul Dravid was part of Team Samsung along with a host of other cricketers. When we decided to sign him, we factored in a time gap which we feel is enough to erase his association with the other brand in the consumers' mind."Cricketers are not the only fickle endorsers. Bollywood's reigning star Shahrukh Khan, who endorses Swiss luxury watch brand Tag Heuer, sported Omega at one point. Aamir Khan may be strongly associated with Coca-Cola today, but remember the classic Pepsi 'Sanjana' ad featuring Aamir, Aishwarya Rai and now-forgotten Bollywood actress Mahima Choudhary? Both Aamir and Ash are now part of camp Coca-Cola. Brands say the endorser-switch to the rival could also result from a change in its own marketing strategy. Says Britannia's marketing head Richa Arora, "To be fair to endorsers, they are not the only ones to switch loyalties, brand's requirements also change with time. Brand Britannia has changed over time and we have reduced the use of cricketers in our campaigns." Internationally too, celebs have switched brands over time. American tennis superstar Andre Agassi switched to Adidas in '05 after a 17-year long association with Nike. Or take French soccer sensation Thierry Henry, who plays for English soccer club Arsenal, last year switched from Nike to arch rival Reebok, now owned by Adidas. Last year, Swiss tennis champ Roger Federer also started sporting Rolex watches, after reportedly paying a termination fee to Maurice Lacroix.

Courtesy: EconomicTimes

For more detail on Retail India visit: http://www.retailindia.tv/