MAM
GUEST COLUMN: How talent agencies bridge gaps between brands and celebrities
Mumbai: Celebrity endorsements saw a 44 per cent rise in 2021 as opposed to 2020, according to the data released by AdEx India, a division of TAM Media Research. As per the report, 27 per cent of the overall ad volume share on TV were celebrity endorsements last year while the remaining 73 per cent were non-celebrities ads. Of this, film stars together added more than 80 per cent share of advertising during 2021 followed by sports persons and TV stars that added 13 per cent and three per cent share respectively.
Balancing the interests of a brand and a celebrity can be challenging to such a large extent that sometimes a collaboration that may on paper look most organic would not necessarily materialise. This is where the expertise of the agencies comes into play to bridge the gap between the brand and the celebrity. Whilst there is no right answer to this or not even a straight answer to this question, the right approach is to break down the questions: what is the brand looking for, and which celebrity is currently best aligned with this ideology? In simple words how do they both benefit from this association?
There are various factors to consider in a proposition like this that lead to a successful collaboration ranging from price points to organic compatibility to rebranding and both the brand and the celebrity need to be dealt with sensitively on each point.
The biggest advantage today is that brands have understood that there is no standardised price point in today’s dynamic entertainment landscape. Each deal has different deliverables and hence standard prices will never work. The biggest reason why standard prices will not work is the ever-changing brand equity of an artist. The artist should have the liberty to change their price points as and when they want. And honestly, brands understand this aspect as for them also it’s all about ROI – so they know before investing what is the worth of the celebrity they are signing.
Endorsements are also becoming extremely dynamic, it is not only limited to ambassadors or large advertising campaigns but are changing their landscape with the influx of time spend on social media. Ecom-media/ent/social media as a category saw the maximum celebrity from different profession endorsed brands under it. The category ran ads featuring over 44 celebrities. This was followed by ecom-gaming with 40 celebrities. Edible oil and building materials/systems category tied at the third place with 25 celebrities while aerated soft drink claimed the fifth spot with 20 celebrities under its belt as per the TAM report.
The process will always remain the same, the core concept behind any deal will usually never differ. The only difference would be turnaround times between the ranges of celebrities when we close our campaigns and the price points that would depend on the brand equity that they bring to the table; the higher the brand equity of the celebrity, the higher the price point. This is in no way a reflection of their importance for the deal or the brand but simply to find the perfect fit for the brief. They all have a role to play – it’s just the reach and popularity that play a huge role in determining prices.
Having said this, every endorsement deal starts with the basics, there is no set formula or standard brief to attach the right celebrity to the brand and its message and ethos. Transparency on all fronts is key in making sure that neither the brand nor the celebrity gets the shorter end of the stick, be it from what each party needs and wants and trying not to compromise but understanding the brief so well that everyone wins. An honest conversation with both parties will always get the job done.
(About Author: Sonya V Kapoor and Amrita Mendonza are M5 Entertainment founders)
AD Agencies
Abhay Duggal joins JioStar as director of Hindi GEC ad sales
The streaming giant brings in a seasoned revenue hand as the battle for Hindi television advertising heats up
MUMBAI: Abhay Duggal has a new desk, and JioStar has a new weapon. The media and entertainment veteran has joined JioStar as director of entertainment ad sales for Hindi general entertainment channels, adding 17 years of hard-won revenue experience to one of India’s most powerful broadcasting operations.
Duggal is no stranger to big portfolios or bruising markets. Before joining JioStar, he spent a brief stint at Republic World as deputy general manager and north regional head for ad sales. Before that, he put in three years at Enterr10 Television, where he ran the north region for Dangal TV and Dangal 2, two of India’s leading free-to-air Hindi channels. The north alone accounted for more than 50 per cent of total channel revenue on his watch, a number that tends to get attention in any sales meeting.
His longest stint was at Zee Entertainment Enterprises, where he spent over six years rising to associate director of sales. There he commanded the Hindi movies cluster across seven channels, owned more than half of north India’s revenue across flagship properties including Zee TV and &TV, and closed marquee sponsorships across the Indian Premier League, Zee Rishtey Awards and Dance India Dance. He also handled monetisation for the English movies and entertainment cluster and the global news channel WION, a portfolio that would stretch most sales teams twice his size.
Earlier in his career Duggal closed what was then a Rs 3 crore single deal at Reliance Broadcast Network, one of the largest in Indian radio at the time, before that he helped launch and monetise JAINHITS, India’s first HITS-based cable and satellite platform.
His edge, by his own account, lies in marrying data and instinct: translating audience trends, inventory signals and client demands into long-term partnerships built on cost-per-rating-point discipline rather than short-term deal chasing. In a media landscape being reshaped by streaming, fragmented attention and AI-driven advertising, that kind of rigour is increasingly rare and increasingly valuable.
JioStar, which blends the scale of Reliance’s Jio platform with the content firepower of Star, is doubling down on its advertising business at precisely the moment the Hindi GEC market is getting more competitive. Bringing in someone who has spent nearly two decades doing exactly this, across some of India’s most watched channels, is a pointed statement of intent. Duggal has spent his career turning audiences into revenue. JioStar is clearly betting he can do it again, and bigger.
