MAM
Virat Kohli becomes most valuable celebrity for third consecutive year
Mumbai: Indian cricket team skipper Virat Kohli has scored a hat-trick of being India’s most valuable celebrity. His brand value rose by 39 per cent to $237.5 million in 2019.
Duff & Phelps released key findings from the fifth edition of its Celebrity Brand Valuation Study 2019: New is Gold.
Bollywood actor Akshay Kumar has out thrown Deepika Padukone to claim the second spot in the list with a rise in brand value by 55 per cent to $104.5 million.
Meanwhile, the dynamic power couple, Ranveer and Deepika, claimed the third spot with a brand value of $93.5 million each. Deepika retained her most-valuable female celebrity status for the second consecutive year, whereas Singh moved up a spot, to now occupy the same position as Padukone.
The total value of the top 20 celebrity brands stands at $1.1 billion, with the top 10 contributing about 75 per cent of the total value, the report says.
“This year we saw the new generation celebrities make it to the top 20. Apart from the celebrities who were featured in last year’s study, this year, we have Ayushmann Khurrana (rank 10), Tiger Shroff (rank 17) and Rohit Sharma (rank 20) with a cumulative brand value of $87.5 million,” said Duff & Phelps mnaging director Aviral Jain.
The list being majorly dominated by Bollywood celebrities, sportspersons such as Virat Kohli, Mahindra Singh Dhoni, Sachin Tendulkar, and Rohit Sharma have also been featured.
Jain further added, “Even though brands changed their approach of sticking to established actors by roping in new faces, overall the industry managed to stay on course with the perfect blend of traditional and new.”
Duff & Phelps managing director and Asia Pacific leader for valuation services Varun Gupta said: “This is the dawn of a new era for the media and entertainment sector. The industry has seen experimentation, be it celebrities moving from traditional mainstream endorsements towards investments in brands, the rise of digital format advertising campaigns, or the onset of over-the-top (OTT) stars who are breaking new ground in endorsements.”
“Brands and celebrities have parallelly adopted the path of conscious advertising and filmmaking by choosing uplifting topics and making the narrative fewer windows dressed, an important facet for today’s Gen Y and Gen Z,” Gupta added.
MAM
Birla Opus unveils IPL campaign with 10 cricketers
3 films in 4 languages showcase 16-year warranty and 99 plus stain protection as stars echo “Main Bhi…”
MUMBAI: Birla Opus has just painted the perfect IPL boundary and this time the whole team is on the same canvas. The forward-looking paint brand has launched a high-impact, multi-language campaign for IPL 2026 that cleverly taps into India’s cricket fever. In a first-of-its-kind execution, it brings together 10 prominent IPL cricketers across three films in four languages, turning everyday tournament rituals into relatable moments that celebrate belief and optimism.
The cricketers Shivam Dube, Varun Chakravarthy, Axar Patel, Rajat Patidar, Washington Sundar, Nitesh Kumar Reddy, Ashutosh Sharma, Dhruv Jurel, Avesh Khan and Nehal Wadhera feature in light-hearted stories built around net practice, photoshoots and travel. Each film playfully captures a moment of scepticism about paint performance, followed by a collective, unscripted “Main Bhi…” from the players, hands raised in agreement. The narrative seamlessly highlights Birla Opus’s key innovations: 16-year warranty for exterior emulsion paints, scratch-resistant wood paints, and 99 plus stain protection for interior paints.
Birla Opus Paints head of marketing Inderpreet Singh said the campaign reflects the passion of cricket fans across regions and languages. “IPL is one of India’s biggest cultural unifiers. This year we wanted to bring our best-in-class features to life in a contextually relevant manner,” he noted.
Leo South Asia, chief creative officer, Sachin Kamble added, “‘Main Bhi’ is a simple but powerful expression of belief. By bringing together some of the biggest voices from this year’s IPL, we have turned an individual endorsement into a collective voice of validation.”
With its fresh, engaging storytelling and star power, Birla Opus has turned a paint campaign into a nationwide conversation. As the IPL season heats up, the brand is proving that the best way to stand out is to paint a picture everyone can relate to, one where trust, performance and a shared “Main Bhi…” moment come together in perfect harmony.
