We saw 36 brands fusing South & Bollywood for endorsements in 2023: Aviral Jain, Kroll

According to a recently released Celebrity Brand Valuation Study titled, “Brands, Business, Bollywood” by risk and financial advisory solutions firm Kroll, the overall brand value of the top 25 Indian celebrities in the study is estimated at $1.9 billion in 2023, an 18% jump as compared to 2022. Virat Kohli reclaimed the number one spot with a brand value of $227.9 million, nudging Ranveer Singh to second place at $203.1 million. 

For Bollywood, the year 2023 was a remarkable comeback with a blend of nostalgic hits like “Gadar 2” featuring Sunny Deol, “OMG 2” featuring Akshay Kumar and “Tiger 3” featuring

Salman Khan. This resurgence was fueled by a mix of established stars and highly anticipated sequels, creating a dynamic cinematic landscape.

Having delivered three blockbuster hits in 2023 (Pathaan, Jawaan & Dunki), Shah Rukh Khan secured third position with a brand value of $120.7 million, marking his return into India’s top five celebrity endorsers since 2020. “This was one of the biggest changes we saw,” said Aviral Jain, Managing Director of Kroll. Jain pointed out that the more than 100% jump in Khan’s brand value was largely driven by the three films’ success which further led to the expansion in his brand portfolio, which grew by 60%. Khan’s endorsement fee too, as a result, grew by 20-25%.

Akshay Kumar dropped a rank this year to the fourth position with a brand value of $111.7 million while Alia Bhatt moved to fifth with a brand value of $101.1 million. 

Among other notable movements was the meteoric rise in brand value of Kiara Advani moving from rank 16 to rank 12, and Katrina Kaif returning to the list of India’s most valued celebrity brands after five years. 

The Kroll report highlighted how the globalization of entertainment has paved the way for Indian celebrities to become global ambassadors for brands. 

The accessibility of international platforms/events have allowed Indian talent to reach a global audience. Also, the Bollywood actors have become sought-after faces for international brands. For instance, Alia Bhatt became the face of Gucci as global brand ambassador immediately after her debut at the Met Gala in New York. Deepika Padukone’s presence at Oscar events has established her as a global icon. She is also the face of global brands like Louis Vuitton and Qatar Airways.

The Iconic Fusion - South & Bollywood

Jain highlighted that another celebrity that has done consistently well in terms of brand value is Rashmika Mandanna who jumped from the 25th rank to the 20th rank with a 50% growth in her brand value and an increased brand portfolio as well. Mandanna who originally came from the South Indian film industry paved her way into 2023’s blockbusters like Animal, thus adding to her brand value. 

According to Jain, Mandanna’s wasn’t just a standalone case. 2023 in fact saw a fusion of South Indian film industry and the Bollywood aka Hindi film industry in not just movies but also brand associations. “There were 20 brand endorsements, which had a fusion of Bollywood and South Indian stars in 2022, that increased to about 36 endorsements in 2023.” 

Some examples of the same were actors like Ranveer Singh and Samantha Ruth Prabhu endorse Pepsi, or Sara Ali Khan and Rashmika Mandanna endorse Fiama. 

Can social media influencers make it to the list?

Jain explained that while some social media influencers might have the follower base close to that of some Bollywood actors, the engagement model for endorsement for them is way different than what it is for mainstream celebrities. 

“Most of these influencer campaigns are one time campaigns for them, with a limited outcome, for example, doing just one social media post or doing some specific parts of the campaign and not driving the campaign per se,” he mentioned. Whereas if one compares it with an endorsement structure for a mainstream celebrity, it's one with a much larger duration which typically goes on for a couple of years, they have number of days allocated, number of hours, and in general is a much larger value contract. 

Jain noted that from a brand value perspective, an influencer to break into the top 25, will have to have a much bigger portfolio of brands. “When I said bigger portfolio, maybe 80, 90, 100 brands, and not 20, 30 brands. Or they will also need to get into the position where their endorsement packages or endorsement structures are not just linked to a one-time campaign or a certain part of the campaign, but become a mainstream campaign which goes on for,” he added. 

How are brands choosing their endorsers?

With the advent of technology, the process of choosing who to associate with and which celebrity reflects the brand ethos, has also shifted to an AI-based approach. 

Jain shared that lately, brands and marketers are using AI and other technologies to see which celebrities might do better than the others, given their social media followership. “It's not just got to do with demographics or geographical reach but also the interest of the audience. There are many tools available where brands can run their own simulations and see, given the followership of a certain celebrity, which ones are likely to be more effective,” he said. 

Eventually, Jain added, the budget also matters because one can't hire a Virat or a Ranveer every time. “Depending on the budget you may want to choose the next level or the level after that. So, it's a little complex, but yes, we are seeing more use of statistics and technology in decision-making,” he mentioned. 

TV vs Digital Endorsements

The endorsement contracts and structures differ from celebrity to celebrity and brand to brand. There are terms where the celebrity only has to do TV led endorsements, some contracts say ‘only digital’ while some might have a mix of both, apart from contracts that include making physical appearances at events etc. 

Jain shared that during Covid, there was a big jump in the digital led endorsements for these celebrities. “Digital endorsements went up significantly only during that period, but if we were to talk about 2023, the total number of brands which use the top 20 celebs increased from 424 to 484, that was about a 14% jump. Now, if I were to break that 14% jump, the television led endorsements was about 7-7.5% and digital led was only about 4.5-5%,” he said. 

Speaking of the difference in endorsement fee of celebrities basis the mediums, Jain said that when it comes to A-listers like Virat Kohli, Ranveer Singh or Shahrukh Khan, the fee doesn’t really change whatever may be the medium. The stars basically block for instance, 2 days out of 365 days for the brand, and whatever may be the medium that wouldn’t affect the fee. 

“However, if you come down the ladder, especially the Gen Z celebrities, that's where the fee starts dropping a lot especially if it's digital only because it's more scalable, they are more open for experimentation,” Jain said.