Stars shine on the start-up parade

Flush with funds, Big Basket, OLX, Quikr, First Cry and many others are using celebrity endorsers to build their brands

Indian start-ups have had a bountiful 2015 - in the first six months close to Rs 15,600 crore has been channeled into a growing basket of ventures according to financial research company, VC Edge. And flush with funds, these companies have hired a battery of stars to endorse their brands. Some of the most prominent members in the list are Quikr (Ranveer Singh from Bollywood and Suriya from the Tamil film industry) and OLX (Allu Arjun from Telegu films), BigBasket (Shah Rukh Khan), FirstCry and Just Dial (both endorsed by Amitabh Bachchan) and Yatra (Salman Khan). These companies were once upon a time (read about seven-eight years back) fledgling businesses restricted to the confines of their cities and regions. But then the country's start-up economy zoomed off to exponential growth, creating the need and delivering the means by which these companies could build pan-Indian identities for their brands.

BigBasket roped in Shah Rukh Khan for an undisclosed fee a few months back. His endorsement allowed the brand to cut through the clutter of similar companies with similar sounding names in the marketplace. According to Vipul Parekh, co-founder of BigBasket, 'The key thought we had behind using Shah Rukh was to address everybody across the whole spectrum in the mass market. I don't think anybody has the ability or credibility to take the cause across the masses,' he said. A similar logic dictated the use of Amitabh Bachchan by Firstcry.com, a portal that hawks children's wear.

Stars offer an instant connect with consumers across India and across age groups so much so that even a global company such as OLX (owned by Naspers) which is present in 106 countries felt the need to bring in a Telegu superstar for their ads. For BigBasket, Parekh says, Shah Rukh was the natural choice because, 'he's likeable, down to earth and professional.'

Another aggressive marketing campaign that has turned heads is by Quikr, the online classifieds business which recenty went in for a new look and logo. With the refreshed look, came in new verticals and two superstars - Ranveer Singh from Bollywood and Suriya from the Tamil film industry. The new strategy is to focus on the verticals as separate brands. 'Not just in India but even globally, we are the only horizontal player to launch verticals in cars, real estate, jobs and services. Verticalisation is a big shift in our core strategy and our campaign had to communicate this,' said Pranay Chulet, founder and chief executive officer of Quikr.

Keen to woo audiences from the north and south, Quikr focused on these regions individually. 'We cracked this challenge (of diversity) by engaging with a well-established actors like Suriya and Ranveer Singh - innovative and self-made stars, their qualities resonate with Quikr,' Chulet said.

However, not everyone is convinced about using stars as endorsers. Brand consultant Harish Bijoor says, 'They (celebrities) charge a lot of money. Usually such enterprises cannot afford that kind of expenditure. At the end, the venture capitalists are the ones who really bleed.' But the campaigns do get an immediate recall for the company, even Bijoor agrees. He says, 'The value that a celebrity brings to the start-up is brand awareness value. The awareness may or may not transform into desire or action of purchase. Hence, it's too early and ambitious for companies to bring in mega celebrity endorsements.'

The start-ups however appear undaunted by the skepticism. Chulet says, 'We measure the impact in terms of our brand equity and user engagement. On both these fronts, the campaigns have done well.' The relationship between stars and start-ups seems to be here to stay.