| Even now, globally prominent celebrity couples endorse products, such as rock singer David Bowie and super model Iman (Tommy Hilfiger), singer-actress Vanessa Williams and Lakers' football player Rich Fox (Radio Shack) and British couple soccer player David Beckham and wife Victoria Adams (Ray Ban and Adidas). |
| And now actors Kajol and Ajay Devgan have been roped in to lend their names to as many as three products over the last four months "" the most recent being the launch of Kotak Mahindra Bank's Best Compliments Card. |
| Earlier, the couple had signed on as brand ambassadors for Tata Indicom and Whirlpool India. Only once before has an Indian couple "" Sharmila Tagore and 'Tiger' Pataudi "" worked together in the Indian advertising industry. |
| With an endorsement fee that market analysts peg at Rs 8-10 crore per company per year, why has this couple suddenly become hot property? |
| Interestingly, each of the three companies they represent use the same adjective to describe them: "They're a solid couple." Says Shashi Arora, vice president, marketing, Kotak Mahindra Bank, "As a financial institution, we want to project values of stability, integrity and respectability. Their reputations for honesty are impeccable and their marriage is extremely strong." Kotak Mahindra, which spent Rs 37 crore in 2004-05 on advertising, signed on the couple specifically for the product launch of the card. |
| But the couple also appears in a Tata Teleservices ad for Tata Indicom Truepaid, where Kajol prevents her husband from being swindled into purchasing a phone that does not provide the maximum talk time. |
| Abdul Khan, vice president, marketing, Tata Teleservices, says "The Tata group has established values of purity, quality, and trust. Our brand ambassadors Kajol and Ajay reflect these core values." |
| A survey cast Kajol as the most popular actress among Tata's prospective target group "" males in middle-income categories aged 20-45, who are first-time buyers of mobile phones. |
| Market research also revealed that their wives were extremely influential in all household purchase decisions. The surveys decided the storyline. Says Khan "Good advertising translates real life behaviour into entertaining stories." |
| Whirlpool India signed Kajol and Ajay in February 2005 for a series of campaigns. The duo was first seen promoting the new refrigerator Genius in April. |
| In contrast to Kotak Mahindra and Tata Telecom's desire to project values such as integrity, stability and trust, Whirpool India, whose annual ad spend is Rs 45 crore, wanted to project a different set of values. |
| "Whirlpool defines the brand's personality as contemporary, bright and lively, caring, confident and in control," says Shantanu Dasgupta, vice president, marketing, Whirlpool India. |
| Would Kajol or Ajay independently have been as attractive as their couple for brand ambassadorship? Sagar Mahabaleshwarkar, senior creative director, Ogilvy & Mather, says "No, not really. Kajol and Ajay have very different personalities. Kajol is vivacious and bubbly, good for the 'fun' type of products'. Ajay Devgan is the reticent, strong, silent type who stands for 'honesty and careful decision-making'. As a couple, they work well because of their chemistry." |
| "It's a casting coup," says Thomas Xavier, national creative director of Orchard Advertising. But Mahabaleshwarkar predicts that any more ads with the couple could lead to overkill. "They should stop now. Signing on too many product endorsements will make them stale." |
| He cites the example of Amitabh Bachchan: "It's difficult to discern what he stands for any more, and brand recall is limited. It's just another Amitabh Bachchan ad." |
| Jagdeep Kapoor, chairman, Samsika Marketing Consultants, agrees: "Since they are the only brand ambassador couple, there is an optical illusion effect. If there had been others, it would have taken many more endorsements to lead to over-exposure." |
| But whatever people might say, in reel life, as in real life, Kajol and Ajay's success is ensuring "that they live happily ever after". |
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