Bad light on pitch, brands move to movies for Rs 300-cr market

ARE cricketers really the Gods of brand endorsements? BCCI thinks not; and as it turns out, neither does a sizeable chunk of corporate India any longer. With the new BCCI endorsement directives and Team India’s poor track record, movie star endorsements, in-script advertisements and in-film brand placements are expected to get a shot in the arm. According to industry experts, the current movie marketing business which stands at just about Rs 100 crore will grow to Rs 300 crore by end of 2007. Says BR Films business head Sanjay Bhutiani: “Film celebrity endorsements are likely to get an impetus due to the current state of affairs with cricket and BCCI’s new endorsement policy. Also, second rung Bollywood stars are likely to join the brand endorsement bandwagon.” While Pepsi and Visa have changed their creatives, companies such Hero Honda have consciously decided to gradually move away from cricket and are expected to sign Bollywood stars. Says Carving Dreams’ director Afsar Zaidi “Bollywood stars replacing cricketers will happen for companies which are not related to sport.” Carving Dreams manages Hrithik Roshan, Ajay Devgan, Kajol and Bipasha. According to estimates by a movie marketing company P9, the return on investment while advertising in movies ranges from 75% to 2,000% as compared to 25% to 200% in cricket. “The entry cost to endorse on cricket is over Rs 1 crore, however branding in movies can be done for as low as Rs 5-10 lakh and gives you much better returns,” says P9 Integrated CEO Navin Shah. While product placements in movies can be done for as low as Rs 5 lakh , associative marketing can be done for about Rs 20 lakh, he points out. According to estimates by Globosport, a celebrity management agency which manages endorsements of actors such as Saif Ali Khan, Sushmita Sen, Shahid Kapoor, Lara Dutta, Viveik Oberoi and Rahul Bose, the overall endorsement pie of cricketers has dropped to 25-30% for the ongoing World Cup, compared to 65% at the previous World Cup four years back. Globosport expects the share of cricketers’ endorsements to further shrink to 10-15% by mid-2008. Even when it comes to endorsement fees, Men on the Silver Screen have been overshadowing the Men in Blue. With the exception of Dravid and Sachin, no one else comes close to male Bollywood stars when it comes to endorsement fees. Forget A-listers like Aamir Khan, SRK, Amitabh and Abhishek Bachchan, Hrithik Roshan, and Saif Ali Khan — even those lower down the rung such as John Abraham and Akshay Kumar are in the Rs 2-crore-plus per deal league. Aamir, interestingly, is the most expensive star – charging Rs 4-5 crore per deal. He endorses Titan, Coke and Toyota.

Courtesy: EconomicTimes