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Championship question: Celebrity overdose on IPL helps or hurts brands?

The danger for companies is that the star is remembered, the brand is not, writes Sandeep Goyal.

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Sandeep Goyal
5 min read Last Updated : May 18 2019 | 1:18 AM IST
The IPL this year was an even bigger hit with television reach topping 444 million viewers--259 million in Urban, 186 million in Rural--in BARC Week 18, May 3 data, and video viewership on Hotstar crossing 175 million in just the fourth week of the tournament. Subsequent weeks data, I am sure, will show even higher numbers. No wonder, therefore, while the eight teams slugged it out for supremacy in the stadia, there was another much bigger battle of the brands raging off the field, on your TV screens. So much was after all at stake. 

Vodafone started a new trend way back in 2009 when they launched a special ‘IPL-only’ campaign with the ZooZoos, based on the realization that the T20 tournament is the biggest (and zaniest) television property of the year, by far, and hence merits brand creatives that are different. The ritual has gained momentum over the years, and today many more brands debut on the IPL, and there are many more who create bespoke advertising only for the IPL window. Tata Harrier, Netflix Selection Day and Sporto Red were among the noticeable debutants this year; Cadbury Fuse, Dream 11, PayTM, Zomato Premier League, Frooti, Myntra and Vimal Elaichi, besides some others, broke new campaigns on the six-weeks long tournament on Star Sports. Similarly on Hotstar, ‘IPL-only’ campaigns were run by Wrogn, Peter England wedding suits, Netflix-Bahubali, Halaplay, Fanfight, Freecharge, Budweiser, Cadbury gems and ZooZoo Fanbreaks. All underlining the growing importance of the IPL to most brands seeking millennial audiences.

Yes but, the most dramatic change that the IPL has witnessed this year is the overload of celebrities being used by various brands to stand-out at the IPL. There was not one, not two, not three but four Akshay Kumars on show in the Tata Intra mini-truck ad; Akshay was also seen peddling Envy ‘French’ deos and Policybazaar; Virat and Anushka were together, yet never in the same frame, in Google Duo and Myntra; Virat was alone in TooYumm; but featured alongside Harmanpreet and Mithali Raj for Royal Challenge; Ajay Devgn was selling Vimal Kesri; newly-weds Deepveer cosied up for Lloyd aircons; Dream 11 had Dhoni who was also pushing Bharat Matrimony and redBus; Alia Bhatt and Varun Dhawan were seen together in the Frooti Life campaign; new comers Vicky Kaushal and Kartik Aryan were featured by Vivo and Oppo; Aditya Roy Kapur was also roped in by Oppo; Aamir Khan was in PhonePe and Vivo; Shahrukh was playing mentor to kids in Byju and V-Nourish; Hema Malini continued her longstanding support to Kent RO; Mr. Bachchan was fixing it for Dr. Fixit; Ayushmann played pivot for Polycab; Ranbir Kapoor and Paresh Rawal were paired again in a new commercial for Coca Cola; Ranbir was also paired with Deepika in the Asian Paints ad. Phew! The list could go on and on and on, and if I were to also include the various cricketers from the various franchises featuring in team sponsor ads, it would be endless. 

Suffice it to say there was almost as much of Bollywood on screen as cricket and cricketers in IPL 12. Celebrities, young and old, old and new, had been hired by brands as if without them their brand would have no identity. On the contrary, methinks, in the overcrowded celebrity parade during IPL, brands that did not use these famous crutches perhaps fared better. Swiggy with its endearing advertising, sans any famous faces, had ads that had both cut-through and high memorability. Who can forget the ‘gulabjamun’ ad they put out last year, and an equally hilarious sequel this year?

On IPL, there is undoubtedly a lot of celebrity clutter. To neutralize that, one would presume, brands need to either hire a bigger star to dwarf competition or have creatives that are really outstanding and different. Unfortnately both formulas don’t necessarily always work. 

Just having a top-leaguer like Virat or Akshay may not really help because these busy stars are the face of far too many brands. The danger therefore is that the star is remembered, the brand is not. Newcomer V-Nourish must have paid a bomb to hire Shahrukh, and aired its commercials with high frequency in the finals, but few if any would actually recall the brand name. Shahrukh to most viewers was just Byju. 

For creatives that stand out, you have to either invest in creating a property like the ZooZoos or there is little hope of differentiation. Ranbir’s acting and mannerisms are just the same in Coca Cola and Asian Paints; Aamir in PhonePe as the grandfather is almost wasted; four Akshays in Tata trucks don’t tell the story any better.

So, have a celebrity by all means; but let him or her not just merge with the crowd of other famous faces. At ad-spots that cost Rs. 9-10 lacs per 10-seconds, and an endorsee that puts you back for a crore to 10-crore, if you are on IPL your choices are limited: either stand-out or get-out. 
Dr. Sandeep Goyal is an advertising and media veteran. The views expressed are personal.

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Disclaimer: These are personal views of the writer. They do not necessarily reflect the opinion of www.business-standard.com or the Business Standard newspaper
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