It's been a while since I wrote a concerted post and though I really want to sit and write, I think that will only happen next week. Meanwhile...

1. A text message from a friend Sunday evening prompted me to switch on 'We the People' on NDTV. Blogs & Social Media were being discussed and while I only caught bits, I think most of the conversation revolved around what's already been said/ written on other fora: blogs & social media can be misused/ freedom of speech/ who is liable and so on. Barkha Dutt had also written on this subject in HT earlier. Some of this perhaps originates from personal slander and abuse that many amongst the media fraternity have been victims of, on an anonymous blog (now dormant).

   Fundamentally anonymity doesn't lend itself to credibility. How much do we believe stories appearing in a rag? I think the same applies to blogs written by anonymous authors.

   My chosen agenda for the year is to get 'experts' to blog - once that gathers momentum, scales are going to tilt in favour of the 'real' experts anyway. Unlike today's blogosphere (at least the India scene), barring a few real experts, everyone is claiming to be an expert on everything. There is an inherent danger in that.

   I would say Ms. Dutt should start writing a blog too.

   Also, unless I missed, no one on the programme spoke about impact of blogs & social media on business.

Celebrity Endorsement Index (2004)

If you don’t have a great idea, get a celebrity to endorse your product, says one line of thought. But I wonder if the solution is as simple as that. The whole subject of brand ambassador-celebrity endorsement is intriguing. And, several questions come to the fore as one digs deep into the subject.

Take, for instance, the US where 20 per cent of all TV commercials feature famous personalities. Celebrity endorsements there are, as a matter of fact, not directed to push sales alone but to grab the attention of remote-happy television viewers. Hence, close to 10 per cent of television advertising budget in the US goes for celeb endorsements.

In India, Bollywood and sport personalities like Amitabh Bachchan, Shahrukh Khan, Fardeen Khan, Saif Ali Khan, Sachin Tendulkar, Saurav Ganguly, Virender Sehwag and Bhaichung Bhutia rule the mind-space and airwaves.

It is interesting to see Amitabh ‘touching’ our hearts with Nerolac; making a fervent pitch for peace in the public service message released after the Gujarat riots; playing the matrix for Reid & Taylor; doting grandfather in the new Cadbury’s commercial, and so on.

As an endorser, he fulfills all the FRED objectives, namely, Familiarity (target market is aware of him, finds him friendly, likeable and trustworthy); Relevance (which says that there should be a link between the endorser and the product as well between the endorser and the audience); Esteem (the polio endorsement, for example, is successful as the masses see him as a credible name-face-voice); Differentiation (in all his projections, he is seen to be one among the masses, and yet he towers above them. He is different). His appeal is universal, lesser mortals merely cater to specific niches…

So, which celebrity should one go with? Who should be the spokesperson for your product? Who caters to which niche? Does it always happen by trial and error? Should a corporate organisation pay for individual research to find logical fits for their needs/brands?

he US has a popular index, called the Q score, that summarises various perceptions and feelings that consumers have in the form of ‘likeability’ measurements. It measures familiarity and appeal of performers, characters, personalities, etc.

So, how about developing an index in India that would aid companies in reaching out to their respective audiences? The index could be classified on the basis of demographics, psychographics, and geographical demarcations. It would have to be relevant to advertisers and brand managers (who have used any of the known celebrities as endorsers; they could check out the measurable value addition), representatives from respective fraternities/domains, peers, media, etc.

The index could be based on a rating that takes into account agreed parameters/attributes, past-present media coverage/favourability and relevance, ground situation in terms of successful/unsuccessful seasons/tenures, future prospects, etc.Additionally, the index could look at whether endorsements attributed to a particular celebrity have caused a clutter.