Face of value

Celebrity endorsement, though a meek practice, is prevalent

When asked, most people recollect the instigating corporate campaign of Ncell more than others—you know the one, where former Miss Nepal Sadichha Shrestha is smudged with bright purple color on her cheeks. “I think I admire that very ad the most, it just brings back such good memories”, Sadichha agrees to it.

Apparently, faces have strong impressions in mind—they stick, lodge themselves on the front lobe of the left side brain—and people relate personalities with products. Hence comes a worldwide phenomenon: Celebrity Endorsement. “If you take India for example, actors from all category, singers and even national level sportsmen endorse many responsible products. Why should Nepal not take that as an example? We also have sellable faces, people with enough background to actually tell that a product fits their personality. It is a healthy commercial stratagem”, says Hari Bansha Acharya, renowned actor who endorses more than half a dozen brands with his acting partner Madan Krishna Shrestha, as MaHa duo.

Celebrity endorsement (for the sake of technicality, used as such) is an advertising cog wheel that lodges right into the mechanism of a wide topic under ‘branding’. Abhay Gorkhalee, head of marketing at Dabur Nepal Pvt. Ltd. lays out the contextual aspect of an endorsement fact, “I wouldn’t say that if a celebrity portrays a product as such, the brand gets a sudden boost up the very next day. But it proves to be one crucial aspect of communication. People listen! Celebrity endorsement is not the key but it is one specific angle in the blueprint of branding”.

Why do brands require people, then? A multinational company brings internationally acclaimed product to the Nepali market, but then takes one single local face to give portrayal to the product. What is the reason behind it? The key here is ‘acceptance’. A product that has already made mark in the international market need not prove to be same in the local context. People need to relate to a product—they need to understand its use—they need to ‘accept’ it. In most cases, Indian products enter Nepali market with no strategy what-so-ever. An example could be an Indian mobile company that used Mahendra Singh Dhoni, captain of national Indian cricket team to endorse its product in India. In Nepal’s context, however, the mobile company has not made such a good mark—not because the mobile phone is not a sellable product, but MS Dhoni as a marketing gimmick proved to be a neuter. Sadichha Shrestha maintains, “A known face adds value to a brand. If I present a product, let’s say a hair product then I have to be able to keep up to what I claim. People need to relate to what I am saying, showing or portraying. My hair has to look good at all times so that when people see me they can not only relate to the brand but also realize that the brand profile fits me”.

Ranjit Acharya, the chief executive officer of Prisma Advertising and an expert in endorsement strategies paints downsides of endorsements, “It is all about the right timing and right placement. If a celebrity profile is higher than the brand image of a specific product, it works wonders. A single brand gets to go into levels that have not been explored. But if the celebrity profile is wrong for a brand, it backfires. It is absolutely crucial for a product or a brand to understand profiling thoroughly.

“When we used Sneh Rana as an endorser for Samsung home appliances, the target audience gave a positive reaction to the brand. She fit right into category—Samsung, an MNC used a local celeb and communicated correctly with its audiences here in Nepal. This is called the tactical use—and even as there are a few celebs used, the idea is still to evolve”.

Garnering right target audience is the biggest challenge that a brand faces during its brand positioning and after a brand gets a profile. Abhay Gorkhalee illustrates, “We do try to promote and support our local faces as well, but we need to understand whether that helps to position the brand or not. We need to see if the personality is right or wrong—whether the face value helps us reach our customers or not. It is not whether a celebrity person brings profits to an organization—no, that is not important. Communication is important!”.

Veteran actor Hari Bansha Acharya elaborates this concept even further with his experience, “You see, we do not randomly choose products and say we endorse it. It is not that easy—it is never that easy. Endorsing doesn’t mean that we go and pick up a cigarette and say that we approve of it. We don’t do that! We try to understand the product, we cognize to economic agenda and marketing strategy of that product—and then decide whether our involvement gives that brand an uplift or not. We are socially known people—our commercial value has to be in tune with what we portray. It is all a process”.

This ‘process’ that Hari Bansha Acharya talks about could be most intricate but a mandatory in all endorsements as Sadichha Shrestha parallels her notion at the same par, “Every endorsement has to follow a routine process. A brand cannot solely come up because of me—there are premises and characteristics that have to go with it. Sometimes advertisers and companies come up to me and say that I need to show the bubbly side that people know me as. At that time, I try to make myself understand that that is how I am and the brand wants to portray itself as my personality befits”.

At this point, Ranjit Acharya demonstrates celebrity endorsement criteria to its optimum yes or no requirement. He says, “Celeb endorsement has helped many brands gain on to their image, also at times tactical crisis management is done through celeb endorsement. For example when cavity was in crisis in India few years back, Amitabh Bachchan was used to address the problem. Whether he made it possible or not is now out of question—but it happened after he entered the picture, so it seems not just relevant but required”.

From his experience, Hari Bansha Acharya shakes hand to this verification that Ranjit Acharya advocates, “We endorsed Western Union Money Transfer. We have received gratitude from Western Union saying that they entered the top ten money transfer service in Nepali context after we endorsed it. Before that, they were at number sixteen. You see, everyone needs their hard work’s worth—we also do it for the money, but things like these—when Sanima Bank thanks us for our involvement and NLIC says that they have been really happy with the positive response they have received—these things count”.

Accountability, at any given point of branding and product placement, makes a frame that fits every idea of celebrity endorsement possible. Had it not been for accountability then every other advertisement, every other branding would have used a known face—it would be that simple. Risk of backfiring that Ranjit Acharya mentions, the angle of communication that Abhay Gorkhalee has drawn, brand versus celebrity profile that Hari Bansha Acharya has categorized and the face value reconciling with brand value that Sadichha Shrestha tells—they all tell whether a brand can make it or break—via celebrity endorsement.