Bollywood + Cricket = Advertising Accountability

Sumedha Srivastav - Televisionpoint.com | Mumbai
Bollywood stars and cricketers are proving to be a winning combination for advertisers this year, resulting in an greater advertising accountability.

While film stars have always been in demand for ads, with Team India bringing home glory after winning the T20 series and the India-Pakistan Test series, the marketability of Indian cricketers has skyrocketed.

While Saif Ali Khan, Yuvraj Singh, Harbhajan Singh, Dhoni and Robin Uthappa talk about making life larger in one ad, Shah Rukh Khan and Dhoni celebrate the spirit of success in another.

Ad filmmaker Jay Mehta feels that the Bollywood-cricket combo works very well with the film audience here. "Bollywood always had a presence in ads; it's just that brands are now cashing in on the revival of the Indian cricket team. It's like having the best of both worlds," Mehta says.

Ad man Bunty Peerbhoy points out that sports and movies are high focus groups and when brought together, add to the glamour quotient of an ad. "This is a new phenomenon in the ad world and the reason is the emergence of innumerable brands. We have so many brands now that there is no novelty in using just Bollywood stars again and again. Using a cricketer adds to the novelty value." he says.

"Besides, cricket is like a religion in this country. Moreover, cricketers have become superstars in their own right with the sport being promoted on such a large scale even though we have only a handful of glam players," Peerbhoy says.

However, sports personalities in the ad world are in a more vulnerable position than film stars. Binod D'sa, an advertising professional, says, "Though cricket stars are big money, their value in the advertising market is totally performance-dependent."

Bunty agrees, adding that winning matches is more important than how they perform. "Let them lose one series and you will see them vanishing from the screens. We enjoy winning and not the sport. That is why we are a single sport country and hardly see stars representing other sports in ads," he says.

But ad consultant Vijayan Menon feels that the likeability factor of a brand ambassador is very important, irrespective of whether it's a Bollywood Star or a cricket player.

"The image of the person is more important than the performance. The audience has to like him. When you get called for an ad, it's because of how you are perceived by customers, not your recent performance," he says.