Bollywood may eat cricket’s ad lunch

March 27th, 2007Related|Filed Under

Saurabh Turakhia

Mumbai, March 27, 2007

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In the high-risk, high-reward world of celebrity endorsements, there is new wisdom dawning after India’s debacle in World Cup cricket: compared with the failed Men in Blue, silver screen stars are built stronger to last longer in the heady game of brand building.

A Bollywood star makes roughly Rs 2 to 3 crore a  year, about twice what it costs advertisers to hire a leading cricketer at his peak, but industry executives say that movie stars may make up in reliability what cricketers lack. Film personalities also have an added advantage - they enjoy more than face value because advertisements have entertainment value and visual artists can score more over run-getters and wicket-baggers in this.

Aditya Agarwal, director in cosmetics group Emami, which has effectively used superstar Amitabh Bachchan, says people adore Bollywood stars, and hiring them is less risky.

“Even if two films of a superstar flop, there is no immediate impact on his or her career,” he said.

Cricket is certainly high-risk. Smaller advertisers certainly have burnt their hands more badly as an event like the World Cup comes at a premium and India’s dismal performance has resulted in substantial money failing to deliver.

MK Machaiah, senior business director in leading media buying firm Mindshare said, “People go to the moon to admire and applaud their cricket stars but go to the same extent to criticise them in case of bad performance.”

Angry fans recently damaged Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s under-construction home after India’s defeat at the hands of Bangladesh.

Santosh Desai, chief executive of Future Brands said Bollywood is a less uncertain choice because careers in the movie world do not collapse fast.

“In the immediate aftermath of the Indian debacle, some money may certainly shift towards Bollywood. People on the threshold of signing deals with cricketers will definitely reconsider the decision,” Desai said.

However, not everybody sees a smooth swap between the sporties and the screen idols.

Prasoon Joshi, executive chairman, McCann Worldgroup India, feels it is unfair to compare the two, “One has to judiciously spend the money available and such unforeseen circumstances can come up with respect to Bollywood filmstars as well. For example, if a star gets mired in a controversy, it has an immediate negative effect. Also, if four to five big films flop in a row, there may be adverse effects as well,” he said.

There Are 3 Responses So Far. »

  1. Comment by jayshah on 27 March 2007:

    By the reaction of the popular media - no Indian cricketer will get an ad for sometime :-(

  2. Comment by rks on 27 March 2007:

    I was listening to Pawar yesterday on Aajtak and he was not talking tough and I felt there are not going to be major changes in team.
    http://www.thestatesman.net/page.news.php?clid=5&theme=&usrsess=1&id=151212

  3. Comment by texas_swat on 27 March 2007:

    Cricket will always remain a riskier proposition. I now hear that the companies are asking for thier money back from TV channel.

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