Brands Will Continue To Use Celebrity Equity To Build Their Own, Say Experts At BW Marketing World & Alchemist Webinar

BW Marketing World and Alchemist hosted a webinar on ‘Covid.19 Celeb Biz.20- The Aftermath’. This webinar was held in association with exchange4media and Auntourage. The underlying theme of the panel was to explore the changing dynamics of celebrity and brand associations in post Covid times.

The webinar brought together eminent personalities representing the brand side and the celebrity side. The panellists included: Actor Boman Irani, Actor Taapsee Paanu, Sundar Raman, Former CEO, Reliance Sports, Satyaki Ghosh, CEO, Domestic Textiles, Aditya Birla Group, Swarnim Bharadwaj, Global Brand Director, Unilever
-Singapore, Pankaj Sharma, Director, Consumer Products Division, L’Oreal India and Brian Tellis, Co-Founder and Group CEO, Fountainhead.

The session was moderated by Dr Annurag Batra, Editor in Chief, BW Businessworld and exchange4media and Manish Porwal, MD, Alchemist Marketing Solutions.

The discussion was engaging and gripping till the end wherein experts shared insights of how the new age brands will change given the demand of the current situation and the way forward.

In his opening remarks Boman Irani mentioned that something strange happened about a week or two ago when brands started asking him to take a camera and send them videos which will be later edited to make them into an advertisement.  Same incident was reiterated by Taapsee Paanu.

“I do not feel that the lockdown situation is going to go on. I hate the word ‘new normal.’ We have been through so many of these before and we will find a solution to this as well. I refuse to accept that this is the new normal” said Irani.

Speaking about the shift to digital media and celebrity endorsements, Taapsee Pannu said, “There will be innovation of all kinds in times to come. It will be either extremely aggressive kind of marketing or extremely hesitant. There won’t be a mid-way. The celebrities cannot be completely cut-off because there is a certain market that is already aware about the celebrity and they help the brand to reach out to the masses.”

Pankaj Sharma of L’Oreal emphasised that it was important for brands to bring back demand post Covid.  “While the current scenario might not be permanent but it definitely has certain implications. It will lead to change in consumption habits. At L’Oreal, we are thinking and planning to stimulate the demand back into our business”, said Sharma.

He also added that the challenge of clutter will rise. In his view, a celebrity spokesperson could cut through this easily and help in increasing brand salience.  Sharma agreed that in times to come brands will keep using celebrities for endorsements.

Citing the importance of brands to be vocal during crisis situations Swarnim Bhardwaj of Unilever underlined that celebrities are also voices of authorities and need to come up to relieve people.

“The problem of Covid has to be addressed and the brand message to be adjusted accordingly so that they come across as authentic in these times.”

Bringing in the focus on smaller or micro celebrities, Satyaki Ghosh of Aditya Birla Group said there was now a new category of celebrities like the TV stars, OTT platforms and bloggers who were available to work with the brands. Ghosh said that brands will need to create demand within their limited spending capacity post Covid. I believe that alternate stars will have a very big role to play for smaller brands.

Ghosh also mentioned scenarios where big brands like Pepsi, Coke, Cadbury and Nestle have handled downtime situations using big celebrities. He also underlined that in tough times brands will keep choosing celebrity endorsements for building brands.

Sharing his insights from the sports world, Sundar Raman mentioned, “At this point of time be it actors or sports-people, they want to get back to their craft. Within the entire endorsement space, sport occupies just 20 per cent which is about 350 endorsements roughly in a year.”  

Raman also spoke about the changing dynamics of celebrity influencers in sports. “The casual usage of celebs will go down steeply in times to come. The largest impact will be on start-ups as a lot of them are using celebs to gain awareness. There will be certain changes and newer models will evolve. A more blended model of endorsement will take place and a substantial amount of digital medium will be used.” said Raman.

Brian Tellis very aptly mentioned that the circumstances we are dealing with are temporary and that we have to adapt to it until things go back to normal.

Giving an example of the celebrity campaign ‘I for India’ which saw a massive response and donations from the public, Tellis said that digital is playing a larger role in the experiential segment and is going to see growth in times to come. At the same time he believes that digital will never replace the businesses it will only help to enhance them.

The discussion was full of great insights from the world of brands and celebrities. The participants believed that the times to come will witness a rise in digital wherein the content of brand advertisements will have to be carefully curated to reach the right audiences and create the correct impact.

All panellists agreed that celebrity endorsements cannot be done away with even in case of tighter budgets due to the ease of access these celebs provide to brands. At the same time celebs will have to be more careful in showcasing their personalities and choosing the right brands.