Sonu Sood named ‘best celebrity’

Akshay Kumar, Amitabh Bachchan and Ayushmann Khurrana are next in the line, reveals a survey

The Indian Institute of Human Brands (IIHB) interviewed 110 corporate customers and reached out to 550 consumers to rate the performance of celebrities during the lockdowns, and after, without prescribing any fixed parameters for evaluation, but to rate them on whatever they deemed important from top-of-the-mind recall.

Both amongst corporates, as well as with consumers, Bollywood actor Sonu Sood topped the list. Sood was rated best with a 78.5% positive rating by corporates and 86.4% positive rating by consumers. Sood’s selfless work with migrants in the past few months seems to have been noticed and appreciated by corporate India and the public

at large.

A large number of corporates were of the opinion that Sonu Sood would be surely on their consideration list as a potential brand ambassador, especially with products targeted at nonmetro markets. The good news for Sonu Sood also is that 34% of respondents gave him a Perfect 10 score on his humanitarian work, and his scores are uniformly high across both genders, and all age groups.

Akshay Kumar with a positive rating of 68.4% amongst corporates and a score of 78.7% amongst consumers was rated at No. 2. Kumar made headlines a couple of months ago for a whopping Rs 25 crore cheque he wrote for the PM Cares Fund. Khiladi Kumar has continued to be visible in public service communication and is seen to be warm, compassionate and supportive by all his constituencies.

Amitabh Bachchan (59.1% rating by Corporates, 65% by consumers) ranked 3rd in the survey, Ayushmann Khurrana (45.2% rating by Corporates, 58.8% by consumers) ranked 4th, Taapsee Pannu (39% rating by Corporates and 50.7% by consumers) was at No.5, Virat Kohli trailed heavily with a score of 46.7% by corporates and only 49% by consumers for 6th place.

Other celebrities, in order of rankings were Salman Khan, Shah Rukh Khan, Vicky Kaushal, MS Dhoni, Deepika Padukone, Ranveer Singh, Rohit Sharma, PV Sindhu, Alia Bhatt, Ranbir Kapoor and Anushka Sharma.

“The performance or the perceived value of celebrities during the pandemic is actually a ‘naked’ assessment of celebrity standing because this is one period when the celebrities were visible sans cosmetic make up and as hired mercenaries. Sonu Sood & Akshay Kumar have towered over their peers because of their selfless contribution to society at a time when most other celebrities kind of went into a cocoon. The public at large notices and registers everything about their beloved stars. His work in recent weeks has taken Sonu Sood to a much higher pedestal than everyone else around. He has been lauded and lionised in both media & social media. This could be the beginning for him to be seen as the endorser for many more brands in the future. Also, Taapsee Pannu who is at the top of the rankings amongst women,” says Dr. Sandeep Goyal, Chief Mentor of IIHB.