[RaghuVis]

Before I poll on this, I want you guys to help me find answer to one question.

How many celebrities have spent money from their own pocket to buy a car that they endorse? . I am sure the number will be less than number of people who are going to vote YES!

[mufeez1234]

Marketing teams work to attract potential customers towards the product, not to actually sell it.

For an automobile or any other product for that matter to become successful, a combination of good product; excellent marketing, sales and service team is required.

We have seen many excellent cars have which were mediocre success due to lethargic sales teams(TATA).

Saying this, I think famous celebrities will certainly help to generate pull towards a particular product but for actual sales, the product itself should outdo its rivals.

[CarNerd]

Celebrities endorsing things like Soaps, Shampoos, Electronics is one thing and endorsing Cars/Bikes is another. At least the common man doesn't know what personal items they use but most of us know very well about their luxury cars. So it's laughable that auto companies get them to advertise their vehicles which are mostly in the sub 10 lakh range. I recall one instance where Kareena Kapoor had endorsed the Jaguar XJ which seemed fair to me. So is Kohli endorsing Audi.
They might not actually influence the buying decision but at least the brands they endorse should not be a mismatch.

[Axe77]

I am qualified enough to know what car I want so celebrity endorsements would not influence my purchase decision.

But to some of the points on this thread:

Marketing is not JUST about believing that the celebrity uses the product so you should also use it. It is about creating brand recall.

So while I have never bought a santro, I do still remember that SRK advertised it.

The Maruti Versa was a monumental disaster. In any other world I would have forgotten it was even launched but thanks to the Bachchan parivar I just remembered it.

There are also softer influencer factors like jeep gifting various cars from their stables to actors. That is a different context since it shows their brand association with these stars with actual usage.

I mean, I know that SRK may not be personally shopping from big basket. That does not make his campaign for them futile.

[Teqhead]

I dont think celebrities can influence car purchases. Its not a Footwear, detergent or a chocolate which you can try and judge and then decide next purchase.

A car is to be tried, tested, judged and then purchased so the major chunk of middle class in our country either take feedbacks from their relatives or friends before purchase of a car or will go on a test drive spree matched with online reviews in detail before purchasing a car.

Celebrities endorsed cars which failed to please customers like the Datsun(aamir khan), Nissan(ranbir kapoor, john abraham), Renault (ranbir kapoor), Force and Maruti versa(amitabh bachchan), mahindra kuv100( varun dhawan).
In fact shahrukh khan endorses hyundai but I guess he dint appear with creta before the new creta 2020 launch, and the previous creta was a hit.

[Sebring]

Proof that Celebrities do little for brand building, is your own line. Prabhas endorsed TUV, not XUV. Celebrities are 'clutter' in the current marketplace. There are just too many to remember, negating the exercise. In the 80s and the 90s ad agencies were careful to map/match key attributes of the endorser with key attributes of the product. Not anymore

Originally Posted by tchsvy

In long term, it (sales figures) boils down to the merits and demerits of a particular product. IMHO, the brand endorsements primarily help the companies in achieving two things i. Placing the product and ii. Brand/product recall. If the brand wants the product to be perceived in one way they will take the help of a celebrity who has similar image. Prabhas, a celebrity with 'tough' image endorsing XUV 3OO is an example. Then comes the brand recall, it will be easy for people to remember few products because they were endorsed by celebrities, this plays a crucial role for first time buyers, they will rather buy a product that does not require an introduction

[ritzy]

Originally Posted by supremeBaleno

[b]
We all like/love public figures / personalities, especially film stars. But will we base our car purchase decision on their endorsement of a car/brand ?

I remember that when I worked for Honda, more than a decade back, they had a strict policy of not engaging with celebrities to promote their vehicle. It was their belief that the product comes first and it shouldn't need endorsement by a celebrity.

However, looks like it has changed since so many years. We see Akshay Kumar doing lot of promotion for them.

[mac187]

While it is not the sole reason to buy a car, celebrity endorsement helps companies build a connect through few visible traits of the celebrity. These endorsement do play a role in sub concision minds of the buyer by influencing to either consider the brand or out right buy it in-case of die-hard fans.

Ex: TVS motors was largely a south Indian brand with very little presence in rest of India. They needed a big push pan India for their brand. Hence they signed up Sachin, at a very steep cost, as he was a Pan India star. And the gamble paid off, TVS Victor was the highest selling bike at one point and TVS's biggest success. Then they signed up Dhoni for TVS Star to further drive their sales in north India due to his rural north Indian roots.

Hyundai became a house hold name largely due to SRK. Remember this was the time when India was looking to join the Nuclear club, faced sanctions which led to a wave of self reliance. The way a Korean brand integrated itself into a largely closed society like India is a big testament to celebrity endorsement.

Not all of them are well planned or huge success like the above two cases, some marketers just hire a celebrity as part of their playbook and hope something sticks. Holds true for 90% of the endorsements we see today. There are cases where leading ladies have dropped their fees to endorse brands which have had successful past associations ex. Lux . As it would help project them as the next big star of the Industry. Few have dropped their fees to ensure their visibility is maintained through Ads, this was in case of TVS Scooty endorsement.

[2000rpm]

Anyone remembers the Messi - Tata, was quite Messy in my view.

I think companies dont think their brand association well before selection of celebrities. Some have gotten it right and benefited from this.

[Brishti]

Yes for regular people, most of my work colleague had advised me to buy HECTOR instead of Seltos because of its british heritage which was strengthened by Benedict. In fact when I showed proof that MG is indeed chinese "Not that there is anything bad with it. It was just for argument sake" they would downplay the same with TATA owns JLR so same-same.

So yes endorsement is great when used to align an agenda "Like MG did" though not 100% sure what KIA wanted to say with Jackie shroff son.

[spoth001]

Originally Posted by supremeBaleno

[b]

But normal folks might think otherwise. Why just normal folks ? My friend who is an MBA from a premier institution & a big Marketing guy at a renowned organisation, bought the Hyundai Santro in the early 2000s just because Shakrukh Khan endorsed it (remember the ZipDrive commercial) and he is a big fan of SRK.

We had AB & JrAB endorsing the Versa, which flopped. I personally think car companies need to avoid wasting money on celebrities and instead focus on advertisements that showcase the pros of the car.

These stars will never drive these cars. The automobile manufacturers know this fact but their target audience is different. The common man who can be fooled and deprived and manipulated. Nevertheless, the current lot of common man is educated. Celebrity endorsed brands IMO don't garner sales just because of celebrities. These stars are used by car companies like pawns. A marketing campaign involving celebrities will gain a little momentum or could assist in some talk of town. Celebrity endorsements of cars do not fully contribute to sales, rather they are just part of the recipe. Forget celebrities, MD of Mahindra was using Maybach ? I maybe wrong. On a lighter note, If a celebrity is endorsing a phone or a watch, maybe I will be give it a close consideration

[Swap_Abarth]

Celebrity endorsements works well for FMCG products in general. Big FMCGs spends crores on endorsements for brand building activities (TV commercials, digital campaigns and newspaper ads).

Car buying is high value purchase decision for individual. People buy car/bike based on available budget and body types as priorities. Buyers are well informed with plethora of vehicle reviews available online. Celebrity adds very little, inducing buying decisions.

[neeravnaik]

So marketing is a science and works at multiple levels. The classic marketing funnel includes (simplified steps)
- Creating Awareness
- Creating favorablity to the product so that is in purchase consideration
- Influencing purchase decision

So while in a category like cars celebrities are not likely to drive the choice entirely it does have a role. The role will be higher in creating awareness and influencing consumer perception.

Even in a pricey and rational purchase like car there are a lot of emotional factors at play. Perception about things like "trust", "reliability", "fun" and of course "looks" are formed in subliminal manner. Normally word of mouth plays a huge role in this ("my dad says maruti is best of maintainence", "BMW means performance", "Mercedes is the ultimate sign of wealth", "toyota will never break") but advertising done smartly can be used to reinforce these perceptions and attitudes.

A lot of times big decisions in life can be finally taken emotionally or with gut.

So celebrities may not drive you to take the final call but helps the company's overall marketing effort.

Hyundai was a new arrival way back and when they used SRK it created a lot of buzz. At basic level it made lot more people notice them and drive a ton of awareness as people will notice the ads. Sustained effort like this creates perception that this is a "serious" and "big" company which is here to stay and subconciously becomes part of the purchase consideration.

Next level of marketing is the product itself. If the buzz created is matched by interesting and innovative models it further moves up in consumers decision making process.

Final push would come from Below the line marketing activities like dealer events and promotions which will help to seal the deal if the dealer experience is managed well.

This will work in cycles and as consumer base of the brand increases it will automatically build word of mouth when consumers become advocates themselves.

[vamsi.kona]

Endorsement by Celebs is just to make the product noticeable. I don't think even a person who doesn't know how to read and write goes and buys something because some celeb endorsed that, especially with a big investment such as a vehicle. Endorsement just makes it more noticeable and helps in product or brand recall. If the endorsement of celeb leads to sales that's just a bonus but not necessarily the primary objective.

[zaphodb]

No. Also a tangential thought -- I always wondered about the lucky draw schemes ran by company/dealers with full page ads on newspapers. Would I buy a soft-drink over another in the hope that I could be one in a thousand and win a trip to Europe? No, but may be. A car? Definitely no. Instead a car with guaranteed benefits like free/discounted insurance, accessories etc will still catch attention.

I want to go back in time and be a fly on the wall in the meeting when Kia Motors decided to make Tiger Shroff the face for Seltos. I think Seltos would have done the same numbers without celebrity endorsement.