Celebrities do bring noticeability, stature and aspiration value to brands, but the strategy works best when they are used to amplify the brand’s own narrative, say industry experts
E-commerce platform Myntra roped in top celebrities, influencers and digital, print as well as OOH media to promote its End of Reason Sale (EORS. The 18th edition of the sale, which started on June 1, 2023, had Shah Rukh Khan and Kiara Advani as brand ambassadors, besides a collaboration with AI influencer Maya. The platform, over the last few months, has associated with many celebrities in the last few months, including Ranbir Kapoor, Vijay Deverakonda, Virat Kohli, Tamannaah Bhatia.
While the brand’s media agency is Wavemaker India, its creative agency for the campaigns (Print and OOH) is Talented.
Money Matter
For EORS, Myntra has always used every possible channel to reach audiences across India.
Industry experts estimate that for EROS, the platform must have invested approximately Rs 80 crore, which includes everything.
Talking about using celebrities, an expert said, “The parent company of Myntra, which is Flipkart, signs celebrities for a year and then they utilize them for themselves and for Myntra as well. So the celeb cost is divided as such. Also, when someone ropes in A-lister stars like Shah Rukh Khan, their fee is dependent on the time they are on the floor. For example, if I sign SRK, he’ll give me two days of his time, and I have to plan my entire year’s communication based on that.”
Another industry expert shared that this is just their end of summer sale, when platforms invest during festivals like Diwali or occasions like new year, their marketing budget is way higher.
The Celebrity Pull
In this cluttered digital world, does the strategy to have celebrities on the roster help brands?
According to Nisha Sampath, Brand Consultant and Founder of Bright Angles Consulting, the Myntra EORS sale, like all e-commerce sales, is targeted to raise the awareness and usage of the site amongst the audience.
“There is a large section of the audience, especially down the population strata, who are predominantly offline shoppers. This dormant audience base will shop online when there are sales and discounts. Hence the brand is investing heavily in awareness campaigns to lure shoppers – not only with celebrity-led ads but also with great discounts,” she added.
Samit Sinha, Managing Partner, Alchemist Brand Consulting, adds, “Using even a single A-list celebrity to endorse a brand is generally an expensive proposition, and when a brand uses several, the cost is stratospheric. While it is difficult to argue that this is the most effective use of a brand’s marketing budget, it is not entirely a waste of money either. Celebrities do bring noticeability, stature and aspiration value to brands, but the strategy works best when they are used to amplify the brand’s own narrative, and not as a substitute for it. Otherwise, it’s perhaps the laziest strategy to adopt. Bill Bernbach ostensibly once remarked that ‘We don’t have a lot of money, therefore we have to think’.”
When asked if roping in so many celebrities will help get a better ROI, Sinha said, “These days it is difficult to ascertain whether the huge marketing spends that we see many online businesses doing these days are meant to boost the brand’s revenues and profits or are more a means to quickly acquire a large number of consumers to drive a higher brand valuation in the short-term. If the agenda is skewed towards the latter, then I can understand the temptation to rope in celebrities as the lowest common denominator to attract a large number of consumers as rapidly as possible without worrying too much about their purchasing power or their eventual revenue potential.”
Similarly Sampath opines, ‘The e-commerce space has become more competitive now and brands have to rely on high-voltage marketing to bring audiences. The strategy to rope in celebrities has its value, provided we recognize that this is a short-term measure and will not necessarily build the brand. For that, the sales experience also has to be positive, with timely delivery, good quality of product/packaging and prompt customer service.”
