Celeb Status

From mere actors to stars to finally being trademarked and patented as brands. Real life breathing humans who are our favourites suddenly become icons and then brands.

Celebrities have always fascinated cine-goers. Their larger-than-life attitude and portrayal on the big silver screen has amazed audiences to a large extent. Look around you: they have turned to brands. Brands with a value and an identity of their own. Brands that have a face, a name and above all a lineage of raving fans and a string of blockbusters.

Consider the brand Hrithik Roshan and observe the equity built over a period of time – right from his 'Kaho Na Pyaar Hai' debut to the very recent 'Yaadein'. There is a brand line playing at work. From the introductory stage of the celebrity to the found brand equity. The question however remains: sustenance. This is where things like events, performing at producers’ daughter’s wedding, et al come into play. Then there are always the brand spoilers – the press, the journalists, and more importantly the scandals doing the Bollywood rounds.

Shahrukh Khan is another brand to reckon with. Starting off slow and lukewarm, this is one brand that has made it, but now needs re-invention. The audience will often get bored noticing Shahrukh in the same old mushy romantic roles. However, if his brand manager (the agent or secretary) decides to revamp his image, then the selection of roles has to be unique. Isn’t this something like customising to the audience’s tastes? Definitely! How else can you stay in their hearts and create TOMA (Top-of-Mind-Awareness)?

It’s the industry per se that is going through a lot of changes day by day. The movie industry’s rules are transforming drastically. Professionalism is creeping in slowly and steadily. The completion of a movie does not take years any more. So in turn much is demanded from the super star; his brand equity is a very strong determinant of its brand measurement. Constant re-invention and a whole new package uphold the brand loyalty. Others include the approach towards co-stars or rather co-brands, the brand attitude, the brand popularity and the public image of the brand.

Often it’s also not the celebrity endorsing the product, but it is actually the other way round. The product adds to the celebrity’s lifestyle. For instance, Omega depicting Cindy Crawford’s magnetism and her very exquisite lifestyle, thereby in turn creating a brand aura around Crawford. The same goes for stars - products such as Salman Khan-Thums Up, Cyrus Broacha-Cadbury’s, Shahrukh-Pepsi and many more.

Another perspective to celebrity brands is that of not remaining just celebrities, but extending themselves to other career options. For instance, Sanjay Suri ( the chocolate, blue-eyed boy of Pyaar Mein Kabhi Kabhi and Daman) owns a partnership stake in one of the software companies. On the other hand, Jeetendra has turned financier for his daughter’s banner, “Balaji TeleFilms” and also does a cameo in one of the soaps. The small screen in no way deters the celebrity’s image. In fact, by reaching out to a huge audience on a regular basis, it only increases it. Take for instance, Shahrukh Khan again. Before making it big in Bollywood, he was on the “idiot box” for years doing a whole lot of serials, attracting attention and thus had a major break.

The transition period for some stars to brands may be long or short – depending on the product history(past films) and the popularity they have achieved. For instance it took a while for even Rekha to transform herself to a successful brand.

Then there are the stores banking on the star’s brand image to sell their merchandise – Archie’s and Hallmark alike adorning their stores’ walls with star posters, star notepads, star pens, even star mugs. What brand extension! All trademarked and patented. There was a big ruckus when Rakesh Roshan sued Archie’s for illegal publishing of Hrithik’s Posters, without permission. This in fact gave Hrithik even more brand mileage.

This is how stars are made. Definitely they are not born but created from the marketer’s warehouse. An intricate detailing of how to promote and where. Of what to do and what not. These nitty-gritties have to be kept in mind while building a star-brand. The rest is visible on the silver screen as the lights go off. Well almost!

Related reading:

1. “Glamour Marketing”; TheManagementor.com; Jun 2001

2. “Star Wars: the movie turned brand empire”; Curtis, James; Marketing; Jul 1999

3. “American Express and Movie Fone announce long term marketing alliance”; BusinessWire; Jul 1998.

Back to Q-Chest  |  Top