Popular faces give 'hard brands' soft look

When computer brand Acer signed actor Hrithik Roshan as a brand ambassador, it was the latest in a long line of such announcements in what marketers call non-traditional or "hard categories".

Earlier this year, Bangalore-based property developer Golden Gate Properties hired film stars Kajol and Ajay Devgan to endorse their upcoming township. Towards the end of the last year, another Bangalore-based developer Nitish Estates signed cricketer Shane Warne as brand ambassador followed by Skyline Constructions signing Indian team captain Rahul Dravid.

Explaining the fast increasing trend of signing on celebrity endorsers in the fields like personal computers and real estate, brand consultant Harish Bijoor said the move is primarily to soften a hard category. "Going ahead, this trend would become more visible in categories, which have not seen endorsements so far like servers and ITES." Globally, management consultancy and technology services firm Accenture already has golfer Tiger Woods as its brand ambassador.

Bijoor said as the consumers would evolve, so also the categories which would opt for celebrity endorsers.

"Every company wants to portray a soft consumer face, irrespective of the products or services it offers," said Bijoor. "Getting a well known face to talk about your brand is the simplest ways of presenting your prospective to the customers," he added.

W S Mukund, managing director, Acer India said, "The tie-up with Hrithik is a natural fit with the personality of the brand, which stands for youthful, trendy, friendly, adorable and aggressive. Brand association with Hrithik will give us a better mindshare among the young and the first time users."

But does the mindshare convert into actual sales for the company? Quite likely not.

"While signing on celebrities in categories like real estate does lead to increased awareness around the brand, it does not necessarily mean increased sales. Such moves score high on the awareness front, but not too high in terms of conversion into interest and desire to buy," said Bijoor.

While celeb endorsements were traditionally restricted to fast moving consumer goods (FMCG), over the years these moved a notch higher to durables.

Over the last few years, most mobile phone brands have started signing on brand ambassadors like Abhishek Bachchan for Motorola. Earlier last year, Lenovo signed on brother sister duo Saif and Soha Ali Khan to endorse its brand. Soon after that, Compaq announced Shahrukh Khan as the face of its computer range. With most of these celebs already endorsing a large number of brands, this is just one more brand to add to their list.

"How effective these endorsements actually are in terms of driving sales is what remains to be seen," said industry observers.