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He embodied the values of Cadbury as a brand and connected with all of India - mothers, teenagers, children, media persons and trader partners. The 'infomercial' that followed had Bachchan first voicing his own concerns, and then assuring consumers that his doubts had been satisfactorily laid to rest (after the factory visit).
This reinstated customer faith in Cadbury and sales have now touched pre-worm crisis days. Cadbury is now back with its old 'Joy of Life' campaign. This is a classic case of a company which had never used celebrities but when the need arose, an icon revived the brand by passing on his trust and values to it.

Situation 2: Asian Paints will always be remembered for its 'Mera wallah cream' campaign and more recently the 'Wah Sunil babu' campaign. There have been very forgettable celebrity endorsements from Akshaye Khanna and Saif Ali Khan in the past (probably people were not able to visualize stars painting their own walls). This is a case of a company whose non-celebrity commercials have done way better than their celebrity campaigns in terms of recall and message delivery.

Conclusion

There's one thing about celebrities. You love them or hate them, you certainly cannot ignore them. In the short-term, celebrities might be able to propel brand image and perceptions and attract greater eyeballs. But for the long term there are no alternatives to a sound strategic or creative idea. In the long-term, the brand and not the brand ambassador has to be the hero.

Concluded.

* Contributed by: -
Bikram Bindra & Kaushik Vijay. G,
Faculty of Management Studies,
University of Delhi, New Delhi.