CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION
Objective
The project is to study and analyze the impact of celebrity endorsement on banks. It is a
sincere effort to understand the consumer perception for celebrity endorsement, to learn
and understand its effectiveness and to know the benefits and drawbacks associated with
celebrity endorsement
Promotion
Promotion refers to raising customer awareness of a product or brand, generating sales,
and creating brand loyalty. These elements are personal selling, advertising , sales
promotion, direct marketing, and publicity A promotional plan can have a wide range of
objectives, including: sales increases, new product acceptance, creation of brand equity,
positioning, competitive retaliations, or creation of a corporate image.
Celebrity Endorsement
A form of brand or advertising campaign that involves a well known person using their
fame to help promote a product or service is known as celebrity endorsement. The
celebrities market the product through television or radio ads, large event appearances,
and so on. Most organizations use celebrities in their marketing in hopes that it will drive
up sales and have a positive impact on profits.
Celebrity endorsements pull in hundreds of crores every year, and are widely preferred by
marketers to promote their products. Using celebrities for endorsing brands has become a
trend for building the brands as well as the company's image. Who are these celebrities?
And what does celebrity endorsement mean? A celebrity is a person who is well
recognized by the public, and has a reputation for his/her expertise in his/her chosen silos.
Sports persons and film stars fit the bill perfectly. Promotion of a company's products
through these celebrities is termed as celebrity endorsement. The company makes use of
the celebrity's characteristics and qualities to establish an analogy with the products
specialties with an aim to position them in the minds of the target consumers. Celebrity
endorsement, thus, is one of the powerful tools adopted by companies/marketers to

consolidate their brand(s) in the crowded marketplace. Consumers prefer to own a brand
that has a good reputation, and when someone like a famous film star or a sport star is
associated with that particular brand, it is obvious that the consumers will get attracted to
it, because the consumer wants to maintain some status, and feels that using a brand
promoted by a star can satisfy that longing
McCracken (1989) provides a clear definition describing celebrity endorser as any
individual who enjoys public recognition and who uses this recognition on behalf of a
consumer good by appearing with it in an advertisement.He further explained celebrity
endorsement as a ubiquitous feature of modern marketing.
Friedman and Friedman (1979) describe celebrity endorser as an individual who is
known to public for his or her achievements in areas other than that of product class
endorsed. The use of celebrities in advertisements is not a recent phenomenon. Celebrities
have been endorsing products since the mid nineteenth century. For instance one of the
early examples involves Queen Victoria associating with Cadbury Cocoa.
Brand ambassador (celebrity spokesman) is a marketing term for a person employed
by an organization or company to promote its products or services within the activity
known as branding. The brand ambassador is meant to embody the corporate identity in
appearance, demeanour, values and ethics.[1] The key element of brand ambassadors lies
in their ability to use promotional strategies that will strengthen the customerproduct/service relationship and influence a large audience to buy and consume more.
Predominantly, a brand ambassador is known as a positive spokesperson appointed as an
internal or external agent to boost product/service sales and create brand awareness..
Importance of celebrity endorsement
The different models applied by brands to achieve the full potential of such endorsements,
highlight the need for a convergence between the theoretical and pragmatic approaches of
brand building and effective advertising. The importance of a celebrity-brand match and
the various roles played by them as brand-associates show the momentum this strategy
has gained in the last decade or so. We put forward certain ideas like 'positioning by
association', 'diminishing celebrity utility' and the Multiplier Effect which show the
triangular relationship between the brand, the consumer and the celebrity.

India is a country where people are star-struck by film stars, cricketers, politicians, and
even criminals. Why? Populations of 1 billion and ticking, everyday people need
something or someone to look up to. A sense of security, admiration, comfort, familiarity,
and above all, someone they aspire to be at some hidden level in their lives. And clever
marketers leverage this very celebrity appeal and are successfully carrying out their jobs
by giving the bottom lines of all the brands what they want - profit, market share and
even recall. Now, despite the potential benefits derived from celebrity endorsements, they
increase a marketer's risk manifolds and should be treated with full attention and aptitude.
A brand should be cautious when employing celebrities to ensure promise believability
and delivery of the intended effect. The growing importance of mythical characters as
celebrities and their sway over the target segments are ample proof of public demand for
icons to look up to. As the celebrities traverse from a mere commercial presence to public
welfare message endorsements, a whole new dimension is added to this process and helps
us in achieving a holistic view of the impact which celebrities generate in every sphere
and segment through their well-versed endorsements.
There are a number of reasons why celebrity endorsements in advertising are so common.
A celebrity endorsement can help build trust with current and potential customers,
increase the chances of the brand being remembered, and attract a new type of audience.
Endorsements also may increase the consumer's desire for a product. This is often
achieved by implying that the particular celebrity is successful, talented, or attractive at
least partly because of the product.
Endorsements are a common tool among manufacturers of retail products. There are a
number of reasons for this, but one of the most important is credibility and trust. Many
people hold certain celebrities in high regard, so an endorsement of a product instantly
increases the amount of trust the consumer has in the brand. This can sometimes work
against the brand, however, if the celebrity starts to receive negative press.
Another important reason why celebrity endorsements are so common in advertising is
brand recall. There are a huge number of products being marketed to consumers all the
time, so its essential for a brand to find a way to stand out in the crowd and be
remembered. If a customer sees an advertisement involving his or her favorite celebrity
endorsing a particular product, then his or her chances of remembering that product are
greatly increased.

CHAPTER II
CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK
Why celebrities?

There is a myth that celebrity endorsement is used to give a brand advantage over its
competitors. However, choosing a celebrity for this purpose requires considerable amount
of calculations. There should be something common between the brand and the celebrity
promoting it. Let us come to the main question as to why marketers use celebrities to
promote their brands. Is there a real need to associate a celebrity with the product? Yes
seems to be the resounding answer. This is because a company needs to create awareness
and interest in the consumers mind when it unveils a new brand or product. To be
successful, brands need to convince consumers that they carry a different image and value
from other competing products. In other words, brands have to show their true personality
to the potential consumer(s).

An effective way to do this is through celebrity endorsements. As MG Parmeswaran,

executive director of FCB Ulka says, "As advertising professionals, we recommend
celebrity endorsements when the case is justified. There are many cases where you need
to use the celebrity to break out of a category clutter. At times, celebrity endorsement is
used to build credibility to the brand offer." People always wish to see their favorite stars
and marketers, and advertisers are quick to capitalize on such ideas. Endorsement of a
product/service by a celebrity gives out the message that it is as authentic and credible as
the celebrity is. The urge that people have of enjoying the same recognition and status
like their favorite stars is often the main reason for the increasing use of celebrities for
products/services endorsement.

Currently, in every category in any given market, be it urban, semi-literate or non-urban,

there's a very high proliferation of local, regional and international brands, who are
jostling for space, fighting to get one-up over its competitors. At such times, celebritybrand association provides the brand to:
1.

Break the clutter, stand out visually and create a distinct differentiation

2.

Enhance or change a brand's existing positioning

3.

Gain fresh equity, credibility or generate sudden interest in the market.

4.

Help consumers remember ads.

Especially in a country like India, where celebrities are an obsession and every man,
woman and child tries to emulate and aspire to be like one of their idols, celebrity
endorsement can ensure a huge upswing in the sales performance of a brand.
Impact of celebrity endorsement
Awareness
Advertising that features a celebrity creates attention and generates awareness of the
product. Your company can gain new customers from the celebrity's fan base. For
instance, a well-loved local guitarist could draw attention to your musical instruments
shop. Fans who have faith in the personality are most likely to purchase your products or,
at least, have a greater intention to buy. The advertising also gains the attention of
consumers with a casual interest in the celebrity.
Credibility
A celebrity who appears sincere can lend credibility to a product. Consumers are more
likely to believe the statements the personality makes in the ad and view the product and
the brand positively. Conversely, regard for the brand becomes negative if it is obvious
that the celebrity does not share the companys values
Reputation
A celebritys reputation is tied to that of the company after appearing in the companys
advertising. If a respected celebrity appears in advertising for an imperfect brand, the
views of the brand could improve or the celebritys reputation could worsen. Also, if the
celebritys reputation suffers, the formerly positive views of the brand could suffer too.
Brand Recall

The market provides an array of competing choices for a product. The consumer is more
likely to choose a product that is memorable. Advertising that features celebrities can
ensure this brand recall. It helps a manufacturer stand out and be more noticeable.

Sales
Celebrity endorsements can affect sales positively or negatively. Consumers are likely to
purchase the product if they feel that the celebrity is likable, sincere and appropriate for
the item. However, the reverse is also true. Sales could diminish if the celebrity does not
appeal to the target market, is not credible or gains negative publicity. In some cases,
consumers are indifferent and there is no noticeable change in sales. A local football
player endorsing your veterinary practice might not draw much interest, unless he is
known for loving animals.
Benefits Of Using Celebrity Endorsements
There are a number of advantages to using celebrities in advertising. Celebrities often
work best because they naturally generate lots of attention and are known nationally.
Below are a few of the common reasons why an organization would use a celebrity to
help market its products or services:

Attract New Users: Finding and keeping new customers is hard for some
organizations. Using a celebrity to endorse an organization's product or service can
entice new customers.

Breathe Life Into A Failing Brand: Celebrity endorsements can help revive a
product or service that is losing market share. Celebrities can tout the benefits of the
brand and help create new interest from consumers.

Build Awareness: Brand awareness is an indicator that measures how familiar

people are with a particular product or service. Celebrities advertising can build
brand awareness, according to Supermarket News, a publication covering the food
distribution industry.

Influence Consumer Purchases: Celebrities who are well respected can instantly
add credibility to a product or service. Consumers may have the attitude, 'If this

celebrity is backing the product or service, it must be good.' Consumers might also
think 'If the product is good enough for him or her, it is good enough for me.'

Position a Brand: Celebrities can be used to position a brand. Product positioning

is a process of convincing the consumers that the product being advertised is the
best on the market and all other products are inferior.

Quick shorthand for brand values: The right star can actually telegraph a brand
message fast without elaborate story telling.

Establishment of Credibility
: Approval of a brand by a star fosters a sense of trust for that brand among the
target audience- this is especially true in case of new products. We had the Shah
Rukh-Santro campaign. At launch, Shah Rukh Khan endorsed Santro and this
ensured that brand awareness was created in a market, which did not even know
the brand.

Ensured Attention
Celebrities ensure attention of the target group by breaking the clutter of
advertisements and making the ad and the brand more noticeable.

PR coverage
: is another reason for using celebrities. Managers perceive celebrities as topical,
which create high PR coverage. A good example of integrated celebrity campaigns
is one of the Worlds leading pop groups, the Spice Girls, who have not only
appeared in advertisements for Pepsi, but also in product launching and PR
events.

Time saving
Celebrity is able to build brand credibility in a short period of time.

Higher degree of recall

People tend to commensurate the personalities of the celebrity with the brand
thereby increasing the recall value. Golf champion Tiger Woods has endorsed
American Express, Rolex, and Nike. Actress Catherine Zeta-Jones is used by TMobile and Elizabeth Arden. 007 Pierce Brosnan promotes Omega, BMW, and

Noreico.
Mitigating a tarnished image: Cadbury India wanted to restore the
consumer'sconfidence in its chocolate brands following the high-pitch worms
controversy; sothe company appointed Amitabh Bachchan for the job. Last year,

when the even more controversial pesticide issue shook up Coca-Cola and
PepsiCo and resultedin much negative press, both soft drink majors put out highprofile damage control ad films featuring their best and most
expensive celebrities. While Aamir Khan led the Coke fightback as an ingenious
and fastidious Bengali who finally gets convinced of the product's `purity,'
PepsiCo brought Shah Rukh Khan and Sachin Tendulkar together once again in a
television commercial which drew references to the `safety' of the product

indirectly.
Psychographic Connect: Celebrities are loved and adored by their fans and
advertisers use stars to capitalise on these feelings to sway the fans towards

their brand.
Demographic Connect: Different stars appeal differently to various demographic

segments (age, gender, class, geography etc.).

Mass Appeal: Some stars have a universal appeal and therefore prove to be a

good bet to generate interest among the masses.

Providing testimony Another benefit of using celebrity endorsers is that s/he
can provide testimony for a product or service, particularly when the product has
contributed to their celebrity. The more familiar an endorser, the more likely

consumers are to buy the endorsed product.

Rejuvenating a stagnant brand: With the objective of infusing fresh life into the
stagnant chyawanprash category and staving off competition from various brands,

Dabur India roped in Bachchan for an estimated Rs 8 crore.

Celebrity endorsement can sometimes compensate for lack of innovative
ideas.

The Risks of Celebrity Endorsement

Yet even if a celebrity is a good fit for the brand, using one for endorsements has its own
set of possible risks:

Images change. Celebrities make mistakes. And when they do, they can affect the
brands they endorse. In 2009, Tiger Woods public image crumbled after his infidelity
with a number of women, including pornography actresses, hit the news. General
Motors and Gatorade dropped Tiger to avoid negative perception. Nike stuck around and
lost customers. And the golf industry as a whole saw a major revenue slow-down with no
Tiger on the course.

Celebrities become overexposed. At the height of Tiger Woods popularity, he

endorsed over ten companies at once. When a celebrity works with so many companies,
the celebritys credibility may suffer. People may feel that the celebrity will endorse
anything to make a buck.

Celebrities can overshadow brands. Consumers may focus on the celebrity, not
the product. This is a particular danger when celebrities endorse multiple products at a
time. David Beckham endorses a number of companies, which feature him prominently in
print advertising. However, his image as the focal point of advertising devalues many
products.
What are the risks of celebrity endorsers?
Even though a celebrity is a good fit for the brand, an association always comes with it
set of risks.
If a celebrity makes a mistake and is in the news for all the wrong reasons, the image and
credibility of the endorser in the minds of the consumer starts dropping, along with the
sales of the brand. For instance, when Tiger Woods' infidelity with numerous women
became 'breaking news' all over the world, brands like Gillette and Accenture dropped
him immediately. Nike decided to stick around and saw a major drop in revenues.
One of the risks involved with celebrity endorsement is also when the celebrity
overshadows the brand. Advertisers usually tend to feature the celebrity more
prominently than the brand on all their brand messages. In such an instance it confuses
the mind of the consumer whether to remember the brand or the celebrity.
With celebrities endorsing multiple brands at a time, they run the risk of being
overexposed. When celebrities are associated with too many brands, consumers start
doubting the credibility of the endorser as they feel, he/she will endorse any brand on the
face of the earth to make a quick buck.
When it comes to youth targeted brands, celebritys age is a big consideration. Since the
young consumers, no longer consider these celebrities as youth icons. Due to which they
in turn, fail to connect with the brand. Also a youth targeted brand having an aged
celebrity endorser would send confusing signals to the consumers. For example, PepsiCo,
discontinued the contracts with Sachin Tendulkar and Shah Rukh Khan, once they
realised that they had aged and were no longer considered as youth icons.

Sometimes, though rarely, brand-celebrity collaboration is so successful that, it continues

for a prolonged period of time. But as they say, all good things come to an end. So when
the new endorser is hired, the consumers find it difficult to accept as the brand
communication as easily as before.
Endorsement: Risk vs. Returns
The basic assumption underlying celebrity endorsement is that the value associated with
the celebrity is transferred to the brand and therefore help create an image that can be
easily referred by consumers. Consequently by association the brand can very quickly
establish the creditability get immediate recognition and improve sales. However, there
are many risks associated with such endorsers. The brand could slide down just as quickly
as it moved up the consumers mind. There are many cases of brands failing in the market
place despite famous celebrities endorsing them.
Risks
a) Celebrity overshadows the brand: In certain cases where the celebrity values
category benefit and brand values are not closely linked. There are chances that the
celebrity is remembered more than a brand. Cyber media research study reveals that 80%
of the respondents approached for research remembered the celebrity but could not recall
the brand being endorsed.
b) Necessary Evil: Marketing have felt that once the brand rides the back of celebrity it
becomes difficult to promote it without the star as it becomes difficult to separate the role
of message and the role of the celebrity in selling the brand. The celebrity activity
becomes an addiction and the task to find substitute becomes more and more difficult.
c) Celebrity creditability a question mark for the competent customer: Todays
marketing endorsement has to deal with a competitive and knowledgeable customer who
has begun to voice his opinion about their perception about endorsing a brand. Celebrity
is said to befool the public as he is paid to sell and communicate good things about the
brand. Hence the question of creditability of the celebrity being chosen to protect the
brand is becoming pertinent.
d) Conflicting Image: A mix match between the image of the credibility and the product
can damage both. Celebrity Endorsement: A Strategic Promotion Perspective celebrities
own image and that of product category the strategy of endorsement is rendered futile.

e) Multiple Endorsements: The poly endorsement has lead to a celebrity clutter.

Celebrities endorsing multiple products and multi brands in a category have left the
customer confused and have lead to dilution in the celebritys value.
f) Influence of Celebrity scandals and moral violation on brands: a number of
entertainers and athletes have been involved in activities that could embarrass the
companies whose products the endorsed. When the endorsers image is finished. It
actually leads to a greater fall in image for the brand. For instance Azharuddin was charge
with betting and match fixing, which created negative feeling and repulsive thoughts
among people for the products he was endorsing.
Returns
a) Build Awareness: A new brand can benefit greatly if a celebrity endorses it. It can
attract the customers attention and inquisitiveness to see what product is being endorsed.
Research has shown consumers have a higher level of message recall for products that are
endorsed by celebrities.
b) Connects emotionally: some celebrities like Shahrukh Khan, Amitabh Bachan
command great adoration among people. Such celebrities can positively influence their
fans etc. a great extents and hence tend to even connect with the brand emotionally
because of their star enduring it.
c) Quick Connect: The communication process tends to hasten up due to the more
presence of a celebrity. This is because the star carrying the message tends to click with
the customer more. Because of likeability, recall attractiveness and creditability thereby
helping the company to clearly and quickly pass on the message to the target customers.
d) Means of Brand different ion: using a celebrity is a source of brand differentiation. In
a category where a brand is suing a celebrity the first that picks one up could use it
differently itself in the market the same was done by Boost in the malted beverage
category.
e) Source of Imitation and hence inducing increased product usage: celebrities
actually tend to become models or idols for the target audience who tend to start using the
product just because the celebrity name is attached with it. For instance, Lux has been
used by many as it is a beauty soap recommended by the beauty queen, Aishwarya Rai.
f) Better Brand Image: the use of celebrities could also bring in positive image among
the masses for brand. The credibility and authenticity attached with Amitabh Bachan has
inculcated trust for ICICI, Nerolac Paints and many others.
Conclusion

An assessment of current market situation indicated that celebrity endorsement and

advertising strategies if correctly blended in terms of marrying the strengths of the brands
with the celebritys quality indeed justify the high cost associated with this form of
advertising. However, advertising needs to be aware of the complex processing
underlying celebrity processing endorsement by gaining clarity on described concepts of
celebrity source creditability and attractiveness, match-up hypothesis, multiple product
endorsement etc. Marketer has to decide how far the benefits outweigh the risks
associated. Advertisers agree that celebrity endorsement does not itself guarantee sales. It
can create a buzz and make a consumer feel better about the product, which in turn has to
come to expectation of customers as a real star by delivering the promise. There have
been instances where the endorsement or real consumers have started working better than
celebrity endorsers. In fact much research needs to be done on customer testimonials,
which tend to induce better creditability and helps in carving the competent, rational,
knowledgeable customer of today who is said to be the real hero.
Which is a better option? Famous personalities or Category specific celebrity?
To be very honest, there's no exact answer to this above question. The choice between a a
famous personality with mass appeal or a category specific celebrity boils down to two
main criteria:

The marketing budget set aside for investing in a celebrity endorser

the target audience for the brand

Usually brands that are present in nearly all markets, with a high proliferation of
competitive brands prefer choosing a celebrity with mass appeal and high credibility, who
can help increase the brand's value and reach. For example, soft drink companies in India,
such as PepsiCo and Coca Cola prefer using actors and cricketers, such as MS Dhoni and
Unmukt Chand, and Salman Khan and Sachin Tendulkar respectively for their aerated
brands. Since these well known celebrities command such high mass appeal, they also
demand a huge sum for lending their names and faces to the brands. Also, collaboration
with such celebrities will definitely help the brand break the clutter and guarantee an
addition of certain amount of brand value. But not necessarily lead to a successful
collaboration between the two, if the brand is positioned to engage with a specific
category/segment of society. In such a case, it is better to find a celebrity who is more
category specific and are known to have common interest in that specific category. These
celebrity endorsers are perceived to have specialized skills and are considered experts in

that specific category. Also, these celebrities don't create a huge dent in the marketing
budgets of the brand, as compared to celebrities with mass appeal. For example, Sanjeev
Kapoor, a well known chef, is the brand endorser for various kitchen related brands.
Taking a category specific celebrity like him helps when the brand promise is very
sharply defined.
What is Surrogate rub-off effect?
This is an excellent approach for brand which has a serious budget constraint, but still
would like to create and image of the brand being associated with a famous celebrity.
Through this technique, brands enjoy the benefits of celebrities endorsing their products
without actually spending big bucks and associating with the celebrity. In other words, it's
like 'endorsement by proxy'. For example, Axis bank benefited hugely when Amitabh
Bachchan prominently displayed their cheques on 'Kaun Banega Crorepati', even without
actually associating with Amitabh Bachchan.

Advertising budget
TABLE: 2 Expenditure on Advertisements by Private Banks
BANK/
YEAR ICICI HDFC AXIS YES BANK INDUSIND TOTAL
2011 1,487,541,000 1,589,462,000 804,167,000 206, 374,000 164,826,000 4,252,370,000

2010

1,108,010,000

860,190,000

472,694,00

107,931,000

62,639,000

2,611,464,000

1,402,840,000

1,118,992,000

0
463,177,00

14,844,000

156,116,000

3,155,969,000

2,078,608,000

1,147,300,000

0
744,067,00

16,651,000

21,068,000

4,007,694,000

748,800,000

0
296,166,00

26,776,000

5,546,368,000

3,066,259,000

818,300,000

170,549,00
0

2009
2008
2007 23,256,000 6,641,366,000
2006 17,709,000 81,527,000 4,154,344,000
Source: Respective Balance Sheets published by banks, Values mentioned above are
in Indian National Rupees (INR)
According to media monitoring company Adex India, banks were also the third largest
among advertisers in the first half of 2008. In the past three years, HDFC Bank, Citibank
and ICICI Bank, in that order, spent the most on advertising. HDFC Bank topped the list
with an advertising spend of Rs 307 crore in financial year 2007-08. Citibank and ICICI
Bank spent Rs 258 crore and Rs 208 crore, respectively, during the same period. Such
huge ad spends till recently were the preserve of large FMCG companies such as ColgatePalmolive and Marico, which spent Rs 256 crore and Rs 181 crore, respectively, on
advertising last fiscal.
Advertising Blitzkrieg
So, what is driving banks towards such aggressive branding initiatives? The latest report
of Brand Finance Banking 500, an annual survey of global banking brands, answers that
question to a large extent. It says, The world economy has a significant over-supply of
products and services in all sectors.
As a result, differentiation through strong branding is becoming more and more
important. The report goes on to explain that there is increasing onus on each brand to
communicate how it is unique in satisfying customer needs. A bank, the report
emphasizes, also needs to provide a consistent brand experience to prevent customers
from switching to rival banks.
It is not just branding, some public-sector banks have decided to shed their old-

fashioned image to appeal to the younger generation which constitutes close to threefourths of India today.
After Bank of Baroda and Canara bank, it is Union Bank of India that is reportedly
spending Rs 75 crore this fiscal on its re-branding initiatives. Many public sector banks
are also stepping up re-branding initiatives to gear up for the anticipated onslaught of
competition from foreign banks with RBI considering a level-playing field for Indian and
foreign banks.
The challenge, however, lies in delivering the brand promise Public sector banks claim to
be more modern, foreign banks claim to be more Indian and private sector Indian banks
claim world-class efficiency. The bank brand tries to become exactly what it is not.

CHAPTER III
CASE STUDIES

Canara Bank on Wednesday named cricketer Shikhar Dhawan as its brand

ambassador."...announced Shikhar Dhawan as the Bank's brand ambassador.
Canara Bank is gearing up for the next phase of banking with a focus on the youth
- the future of India," the public sector lender said in a release.
Canara Bank and Dhawan have a lot in common and the lender is constantly
innovating, chairman and managing director R K Dubey said in New Delhi.

"He represents the dreams of today's youth and their aspiration, confidence and
energy. Shikhar, as a youth icon, cements the partnership between the Bank and
the youth," he added. Canara Bank had also revamped its brand a couple of years
ago with a new logo. In the second quarter, the lender reported a 5.3 per cent drop
in net profit to Rs 626 crore due to muted loan growth but reported lower nonperforming asset ratio sequentially, which was cheered by the investors. The
banks gross non-performing assets (NPAs) stood at Rs 7475 crore while net NPA
was Rs 6,459 crore as on September 30, 2013 and a provision coverage ratio of
57.77 per cent.

Axis Bank, one of India's largest private sector bank has announced launch of the
third phase of its advertising campaign around its brand philosophy of 'Badhti ka
naam zindagi'or 'Progress On'. With a new cut on the philosophy articulated as
'Badhne ke kai naam hai...',the bank for the first time is also getting associated
with a celebrity 'Deepika Padukone' announced as its ambassador to take its brand
philosophy ahead.
The campaign designed by Lowe Lintas lies in the space that progress has many
dimensions and talks about the 'holistic' nature of progress and highlights Axis
Bank's journey as a customer centric bank. The new campaign featuring leading
Bollywood actress Deepika Padukone is directed by the renowned movie and ad
film director Gauri Shinde.
Speaking on the launch of the campaign, Rajiv Anand, president retail
banking, Axis Bank said, "The new film takes our brand positioning of Badhti ka
naam zindagi or Progress On ahead. The campaign is based on the insight that
progress means different things to different people and can also be defined
differently for the same individual at different times. This insight is captured in
our new communication which brings to life the ubiquitous and multidimensional
nature of progress."
"A bank plays a very important role in the progress of so many individuals and
I`m proud to be a part of the Axis Bank team," Deepika said in a statement.

She is happy that being a woman, she has been chosen to represent the brand as
she sees "no reason why any industry should be dominated by either gender in
today`s day and age".
"Like I mentioned earlier, a bank plays such an important role in the progress of
so many individuals, and that`s what has excited me the most about this
association," she added.
Deepika, who grew from being a badminton player to a model and then actress,
says she believes in the brand`s philosophy - `Badhti Ka Naam Zindagi`.
"I`ve always believed that if you stop growing, you stop being. Moreover,
progress is a very individual thing. What it means to you might be very different
from what it means to me. But yet for both of us, it`s the most vital part of our
lives. In a way it`s a common thread that binds us," she said. This is the first
association of the bank with a celebrity, and the idea behind zeroing in on Deepika
is because "her journey of progress represents the new India which is young,
hardworking, in-tune and aware of the world around them", said Rajiv Anand,
president - Retail Banking, Axis Bank.
In 2005, Bank of Baroda had signed former Indian cricketer Rahul Dravid for Rs 4 crore
for three years. Anil Khandelwal was the chairman and managing director of the bank
then, asked why Rahul Dravid was zeroed on to be the brand ambassador, Khandelwal
said, Just like Rahul Dravid is Mr. Dependable, Bank of Baroda is a dependable bank.
Like Rahul Dravid plays well in both forms of the game, Bank of Baroda maintains
consistency across traditional and modern banking. Like Rahul Dravid is an international
icon, Bank of Baroda is also an international star.. Dravid was roped in as a brand
ambassador at a time when the bank was restructuring its brand to a new generation bank
with thrust on retail lending. The deal, which was signed when Dravid took over as
captain of the Indian cricket team, had raised eyebrows among law makers. Khandelwals
successor M D Mallya did not extend the deal once the three-year agreement expired.
ICICI bank has roped in Amitabh bacchan for their ad on opening savings account. It is
obvious that the ad is targeted towards gaining more customers for the bank especially for
their core banking services which is savings accounts. Nowadays people are busy and

they hardly have time to go to the bank and get in a line to open savings account. Thus
ICICI bank brings you tab banking in which a personalised relationship officer will visit
your home and open your savings account in minutes via the tab that they carry. Storyline
Amitabh bacchan is shown flying kites on a rooftop. The setting and the clothes look
like he is in Gujarat. He is having fun with his colleagues. The ICICI relationship officer
is shown as present and he is filling up the form online via tab. Amitabhs colleagues ask
him that Doesnt Amitabh have to go to the bank to open a savings account Amitabh
answers that if he had to go to the bank, then who would cut the yellow kite? He then
goes down to the relationship officer who takes his photo on the tab as well as takes the
identity proof in person thereby completing the banking norm. Amitabh again goes back
happily for his kite flying and in the end shows his colleagues that this is how people
should be taken care of.
The ad touches several points effortlessly. First Amitabh bacchan is shown as a normal
door to door person and he can be anybody who enjoys the small things in life. Thus it is
targeted towards people who have more important work than getting in a line for opening
bank accounts. Second, ICICI may be losing customers to other banks who think walking
into ICICI is a hassle. By opening bank account on their doorstep, and providing fantastic
services online, ICICI is ensuring that the customer does not have to enter the bank at all.
Third, If at all there are some people who have not opened a bank account or want to
open another bank account, then they are likely to call ICICI as they would like to use
this facility wherein the executive visits you to directly start your savings account
Thus, although the concept of tab banking is not new, ICICI promotes it very well with
an excellent brand ambassador such as Amitabh bacchan thereby ensuring that the ad
sticks to audiences mind and they ask for the tab banking service from ICICI to open a
bank account.