Track2Realty studies the role of brand ambassadors in the Indian real estate as the advertisements are often blamed to be not just aspirational but misleading as well. How far celebrity endorsement helps the company and to what extent their celebrity status gets affected by a sector where trust deficit is pretty high.
Does celebrity endorsement lead to strategic shift from poor perception and projection or is it just a cosmetic experiment by the sector? Here we start a debate…..
Will you pay a premium for having a film star as your next door neighbour? Are you fan enough to buy expensive apartment endorsed by your favourite cricketer? On the contrary, does the thought of a celebrity in the same apartment scare you for unnecessary security hassles and resultant lack of your privacy and space?
Well, unfortunately there is no clear answer and in the absence of any scientific research over the role of brand ambassadors in taking the business or the brand forward, the realty companies are in a rat race to overuse concept which at best can be described as being nascent stage in the Indian real estate context.
Advertising professional Suhel Seth recently said during FICCI’s “Brand Talk” that marketers who resort to celebrity endorsement of their products are the laziest people in the business. How prophetic is the statement in the context of real estate sector which is banking heavily on ambassadors to carry the brand forward and pay them a premium at the same time.
Facts speak for themselves. Film stars like Twinkle Khanna, Kangna Ranaut, Rajeev Khandelwal, Prachi Desai, Sushmita Sen; cricketers like Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Yuvraj Singh, Virender Sehwag , Suresh Raina, Praveen Kumar, to name a few, are the faces of different realty companies.
It is believed in the analysis of advertising circle that these names have their pan-India appeal, and the realty firms want to encash upon their familiarity and popularity across the country.
This also speaks about the ambitions of these firms, which want to spread their wings to the pan-India level and be seen as national player in the eyes of the investors. Realtors hope that the well-known stars as their brand ambassadors would provide a connecting channel with the people not yet familiar with their name.
Not only the Indian celebrities but some of the realty companies have got one step ahead to rope in international celebrities and even co-brand their projects to create an aura of really global. For instance, Homestead has tied up with the tennis star Maria Sharapova and Formula 1 star Michael Schumacher.
Even Supertech has got obsessed with this international tag to collaborate with Italian luxury brand Georgia Armani for its 50 floor residential project ‘Supernova’ in Noida. In Mumbai, Nirmal Lifestyle is convening US Open Tennis Event for its luxury brand lifestyle apartments.
R.K.Arora, CMD, Supertech says, “The two companies have joined forces to capitalize on the experience and skill they possess as leaders in their respective areas of expertise, and have pledged to create an elegant and beyond luxury concept in India. The coming together of Supertech and Armani/Casa will create an epitome of unmatched super luxury and unforgettable living experience that the country has not seen so far”.
…to be continued
