Consumer Behaviour Case Study

Shah Rukh Khan Vs Aamir Khan: Who is the Better Marketer?

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Abstract:
This case study, ideally suited for brand management and marketing communication courses, attempts to reason out, between two of the biggest Bollywood celebrities, who is the better marketer? No one doubts the celebrity or endorsement power of Bollywood’s Badshahs – Shah Rukh Khan (Shah Rukh) and Aamir Khan (Aamir). What started as a professional rivalry is also getting played out in the brands endorsed by them, making it a keenly-watched and most-talked about celebrity war. However, the most intriguing question doing rounds, both in Bollywood as well as corporate world, these days is: who is the better marketer – Shah Rukh or Aamir? While some thank them for having set in motion refreshingly new brand of Indian film marketing with their exquisite marketing blitzkrieg, many still wonder who would be a better marketer – both for their home productions’ movies, their respective business ventures as well as for their respective movies.

Do the endorsement values signify the celebrity value? Why do brands commission celebrities to endorse their brands? Celebrities (from sports, movies, social activists or great achievers) serve three important purposes for the brands they endorse: A celebrity can ensure that the ads for the brand get noticed; a celebrity confers trust on a brand, and a celebrity often “lends” the qualities associated with him/her to the brand being endorsed. How can a celebrity’s brand/endorsement value be measured? This, as many argue, is the reflected glory of how well the celebrity is “consumed” by the public? Does a greater consumption of a celebrity improve the marketing capabilities of the brand endorser? A key argument to decide who is a better marketer amongst two of the Khans is: Can celebrities build celebrated brands? Can celebrities make an ordinary brand a celebrated brand using all their star power? How does this work out in the case of Shah Rukh and Aamir?

Pedagogical Objectives:

• To understand the critical factors that propelled Bollywood to adopt new marketing techniques
• To understand the factors that led to the rise of Shah Rukh and Aamir as the Bollywood icons and their individual personality traits that acted as an effective brand building tools
• To compare and contrast the effectiveness of the brand promotional strategies and marketing practices of Shah Rukh and Aamir
• To understand who is a better marketer by analysing their marketing practices in promoting themselves as well as their movies.

Keywords : Celebrity Endorsers, Celebrity Endorsement in India, Indian Celebrity Endorsers, Brand Endorsers, Brand Ambassadors, Brand Marketers, Brands and Celebrities, Best Marketers, Aamir Khan, Shah Rukh Khan, Brand Icons, Indian Film Industry, Bollywood Badshahs

Contents:

• Film Promotion: Scripted by Hollywood, Executed by Bollywood
• Shah Rukh and Aamir: A Profile Comparison
• Swissair's business strategy
• Shah Rukh or Aamir: Who is Better Marketer?
• Questions for Discussion