LOCKDOWN EFFECT: WILL TOP STARS TAKE PAY CUT?

With an uncertain future and sluggish economy, the pandemic has put every sphere in disarray, and that includes star endorsers. A report by the Indian Institute of Human Brands (IIHB) — based on a survey of 110 companies — shows that at least 64% marketers/clients feel that celebrity endorsement fees should come down. While 65% of marketers/clients expect that celeb endorsers should reduce fee by a significant amount in their ongoing contracts, 64% of them feel celebrities should offer to extend the tenure of current contracts.

CORRECT ASSESSMENT

As ad guru Prahlad Kakkar puts it: “Jo dikhta hai woh bikta hai. Since none of the stars have been seen on screen or field during the lockdown, it’s fair if they are expected to take a pay cut. Plus, no one else did anything like Sonu Sood, that could turn them into a ‘real’ hero even if they weren’t seen otherwise.”

As for the top 10 celebrities, such as cricketer Virat Kohli, actors Deepika Padukone, Akshay Kumar, Ranveer Singh and Alia Bhatt, the survey showed 22% of marketers feel endorsement fee should lessen by 20-30%, 15% felt it should reduce by 30-40%, and 12% felt it should be cut by 40-50%.

Earlier this year, Kohli retained his top position as the most valuable celebrity brand in the Duff & Phelps’ report, for the third consecutive year. His brand value went up to $237.5 million in 2019. Kumar was at second spot with $104.5 million, Singh and Padukone claimed the third spot with a brand value of $93.5 million each.

MARKET REALITY

Ad maker-filmmaker R Balki weighs in, “If market reality demands that, and if a brand can’t afford someone, then the call has to be taken by both the parties about whether to continue the association.”

Interestingly though, star power still seems to be on solid ground as 54% of the marketers surveyed feel that they’d want a cricketer endorser even if the Indian Premier League (IPL) does not happen this year. And 51% would want to rope in a cricketer even if India does not play internationally in 2020. Also, 54% of them said that movies going on OTT don’t impact a film star’s selection.

Not just endorsement, trade analyst Taran Adarsh feels stars may have to take pay cuts even in films. “Stars should look at sharing the burden in ads as well as film space. If they don’t agree, it will be difficult for producers,” he says. However, a top producer — not willing to be named — says, “Knowing the top stars, it wouldn’t be easy to get them to agree to a pay cut.”