Psychographic Connect: Stars are loved and adored by their fans and advertisers use stars to capitalize on these feelings to sway the fans towards their brand.

Demographic Connect: Different stars appeal differently to various demographic segments (age, gender, class, geography, etc.).

Mass Appeal: Some stars have a universal appeal and therefore prove to be a good bet to generate interest among the masses.

Celebrity Endorsement in India

Phase 1: The Pioneering Phase (1950-1980)
This phase was characterized by: -
1. Limited channels of communication
2. Demand exceeded supply
3. Heavy regulation and governmental regulations
Some bigger companies from their global experience introduced the concept of celebrity endorsement. HLL has used Hindi film stars to endorse their beauty soap Lux since the fifties.

Phase 2: The Growth Phase (1980-1990)
The introduction of television added a variable effective medium of communication. Indian stars going global with events like Asiads and World Cup victory. Vimal, Thums-Up, Gwalior and Dinesh are some of the other brands that used star-appeal in the early days of mass advertising. There was a spurt of advertising, featuring stars like Tabassum (Prestige Pressure-cooker), Jalal Agha (Pan Parag Pan-masaala), Kapil Dev (Palmolive Shaving Cream) and Sunil Gavaskar (Dinesh Suitings).

Next

* Contributed by -
Mala Tandon,
Branch Sales Manager, ICICI Bank,
Sudeep Mehrotra,
IIM Lucknow.