Celebs good for ad recall, not for sales

It’s a known fact that the use of celebrities in advertising helps break the clutter. But when it comes to converting into sales, their performance is quite poor. A joint survey conducted by the IMRB and IPAN asserts this fact.

As per this study, almost 86 per cent of the respondents across India agree that the most prominent ads that they recall have a celebrity in them. However, when it comes to South India, where film celebrities are almost worshipped, it’s surprising that only 58 per cent of the respondents remember ads because it has a celebrity endorsing the brand.

When it comes to buying a product, only 3 per cent people across India consider the presence of a celebrity in the ad before purchasing the product. Around 78 per cent people look at the quality of the product before making a purchase decision.

The reason behind the low influence of celebrities in purchase decisions is also backed by the belief that celebrities endorse brands just for money and themselves use higher end or imported products. Around 51 per cent respondents said they believed this, while only 22 per cent respondents said they believed celebrities use the products they endorse.

Hindi film superstar Shah Rukh Khan tops the list of celebrity brand ambassadors with 17 per cent votes, followed by the Bachchans – Amitabh and Aishwarya.

However, when it comes to only male celebrities, Amitabh scores over Shah Rukh Khan because, probably, diehard Aishwarya fans also voted for him. Amitabh Bachchan got 19 per cent votes, followed closely by Shah Rukh Khan, with 18 per cent.

However, there was a unanimous belief that Khan and Bachchan are overexposed in ads. So much so that 15 per cent of the respondents had wrong brand recalls for ads featuring Amitabh, and 9 per cent for Shah Rukh Khan.