In a country that breathes in Bollywood and breathes out cricket, the quickest way to script a prominent brand campaign is believed to be an actor's or a cricketer's signature.
However, the survey suggests that celebrity-endorsed campaigns may improve brand recall, but hardly influence purchase decisions.
Cadbury India, when it was reeling under the worms' controversy, roped in Amitabh Bachchan to endorse its claim of quality. That is believed to have helped.
However, Bachchan's endorsing Dabur's Chyawanprash seems to have an impact that does not match up to his impact on Cadbury's fortunes. In fact, Bachchan is endorsing so many products that consumers have begun to make incorrect brand associations.
"Initially, advertisers would get celebrities to make their campaign stand out and break the clutter. However, the growth in the number of celebrity-endorsed advertisements has created a clutter of celebrities themselves. People do not remember who endorsed what. Our study shows that 15 per cent made incorrect brand associations with Amitabh Bachchan and 9 per cent with Shah Rukh Khan," says Sanjay Pal, group business director, IMRB International.
Image: Amitabh Bachchan endorsing Cadbury's Dairy Milk chocolates.
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