[Mpower]

Originally Posted by smartcat

Logan -> Kunal Kapoor? When did he endorse that?

During launch, but Himesh would have been better but anyways, here another you missed.

Kinetic Flyte --->Bipasha Basu aka Bips

[blackasta]

If its an unknown brand - then celebs do help in spreading 'brand awareness'. They can also help create/spread a 'niche' segment.
But a car sells on its merits and de merits - and no one can help it there.

Brand awareness example - SRK and Hyundai
Segment awareness example - John and yamaha performance bikes, Priyanka and scooty.

[SunilM]

I voted no.

I have a Hyundai Santro, but to say it was because of Shahrukh? No way. Heck, no one in my family, except one, even knows who Shahrukh is.

IMO celebrity ambassadors are highly overrated. Santro sells because it is a quality product, especially when compared to Marutis of that time. If only Shahrukh sold, Mayur Suitings and Videocon would be top sells, but they are not. And these are definitely not bad products either. The Indian buyer is way smarter then we think. He knows where to put money.Alto sells 20K without any celebrity endorsement!

A good advertisement, even without a celebrity, will do an equally good job of spreading the news. This poll confirms this.

[prince_pervez]

I think celebrity endorsements work for people more who want names to be attached with a brand. That is why AD companies hire people with a pretty decent history and all. Remember the Tiger woods saga ? Where is Accenture on TV now ?

It can also work when there is a thin line between 2 choices. For eg. If a person has very very similar choices he might make up his mind choosing for the brand ambassador he likes most.

I am not sure if the Santro brand kicked off because of SRK.
I am sure it worked because people had only the M800 to look
up to in those days and the Santro with a USP of a tall boy (first at that)
was a welcome change.
Having said that, if a Kim Kardashian is endorsing something I don't like or
ain't good I will not buy it no matter what! And there are many more like me.

[dbirlase]

Its all about branding. Maybe not for the forum members, but think about those people who don't have access to all these technical info. Most rely on mass media which is endorsed.

[Minardi]

You forgot Saif and Rani Mukherjee endorsing Aveo.

I think Palio was a big hit during the period of Sachin's endorsement. I don't mean Sachin's magic worked or it was a hit because of Sachin. Palio's failure later on should not obliterate its earlier success.

[prince_pervez]

^^ Especially the limited versions with Sachin's signature and all. The only 1000 cars sold in no time.

[Mr_Bean]

I feel investing money on celebrities is a waste of time, Hyundai has done the most among car AD's with SRK..

Worst failure was Chevy Aveo featuring Saif Ali Khan
Punto - hmm could be certainly at a place where yuvraj is now..

[airbender]

Be it cars or any other product, a wise person never makes his decision based on celebrity endorsements. But there are others.

[SILVERWOOD]

Whether Celebrity endorsement has a positive or a negative impact on the brand is a debate that is open to interpretation. But till the time the corporate world continues to foot fancy bills of celebrity endorsers and till consumers continue to be in awe of the stars, the party is not likely to break up.

It is already a well debated issue whether celebrities should be used for endorsements. I am of the opinion that the brand should be the center of attraction and celebrity should support the brand and they should not steal the limelight.

Toyota Innova is an interesting brand. Interesting because it redefined the MUV segment in India and also it replaced the famous Toyota Qualis . Innova was launched in 2005. It replaced the successful Qualis when the sales of Qualis was at its peak.

Toyota decided to replace Qualis because of two reasons. Qualis was a major success among the tour operator segment but was not popular at the individual/home segment. Second reason was the increased competition from Chevrelot Tavera which was perceived to be a more refined upmarket SUV.

Toyota also wanted to bring in the latest products in the Indian market. Qualis was only a test product. Further, Toyota wanted to appeal to the individual/home users rather than the commercial segment.

Innova is positioned as a luxury MPV. The brand has the latest technology and is refined to perfection. The brand had roped in Aamir Khan as the brand ambassador. Innova is positioned as a vehicle for all purposes . The brand uses the tagline " All you desire " and the ads are also catchy. The brand is priced at a premium and is targeting families which are SEC A A+ and large in size.

Innova had effectively used the charisma of Aamir Khan to promote itself. The basic positioning of Innova is as a getaway vehicle that is spacious, trendy and upmarket. Innova has tried to distance itself from the Qualis ,its successful predecessor which was popular as a Taxi .

So it was necessary that Innova be promoted as an upmarket car that can be associated with the successful. So Aamir makes sense. The execution was perfect so was Aamir.The pricing of Innova was also inline with the positioning with over 7+ variants and priced at a premium.Toyota wanted to see less Innova Taxis and more families owning Innova.But the questions is did it happen.? We all know the answers.

[DieselAddikt]

I voted NO. I have a car (INDICA Vista) that no celebrity endorses. My buying decision decision depends on my requirements and inputs from people around me.

But then, this is a land where you see a Godman in every traffic signal. So there may be people who go after what celebrity brand ambassadors say.

[dar3dev|l]

well IMO, if the marketing is right, one doesnt need an ambassador ! It all about how the product is described to the end user via the resp media. On the other hand, brand ambassadors does help in increasing the sales of a non-selling car.

P.S: voted NO

[vikrantj]

One ad that is a great bouncer to me is that Xylo -Happy feet . I did not understand why Atul Kasbekar (Is he that big a celeb to be a brand ambassador ??) is in the ad when people look at the models only (they fail to notice Xylo too!!) and secondly why are they comparing space in a sedan to that in a MUV ?

--Vikrant

[dbirlase]

Tata Motors are some people who didn't do any marketing for the indica. The cars like indica sold like hotcakes, becoz of the reputation and the trust people had on tata motors.

[prince_pervez]

I have a feeling that people are not looking at the broader angle. You may be surprised to know that people don't know the specifics of a car. They will buy if something looks good, suits their budget and if their favourite celebrity is endorsing it. We Bhpains have knowledge, or can find it here, and know most of the things related to cars, but there is a vast majority who doesn't even know where the air filter is, what does it do, is it worth keeping or maintaining it etc etc. As long as there is going to be such a segment of people (whom I don't hold a grudge about) there will be celebrities involved. Not all are salaried, not all pay installments there are rich farmers who wear Tissots and Rado and don't know heck what is running down in them.
In a particular soft skill training class we were being told about a fisherman who walked in to a titan watch showroom dressed in traditional attire and was mocked about and left alone to explore. Something caught his eye and he enquired about it. He was told it was waaaay too expensive and was being ushered to a cattle class section for cheaper watches. He pulled out bundles of five hundreds and walked of a pair of watches (eventually for his son and daughter in law who were visiting after a long time something). The watches costed around 55 K something. So you never know man, who has what under his dhoti