Bollywood and brands: Killing two birds with one stone

The marketing strategies of big retail companies does not seem to think beyond associating Bollywood glitterati with the brand in their wild chase for recognition and publicity. While the brand effortlessly gets a recognition as soon as a celeb is tuned in, the celebs do not return empty handed either. It is a give-and-take relationship that the brands share with the illustrious cream of the crop. No! We are not talking about money that the celebrities make with this association. Rather, they get a favourable opportunity to promote their upcoming ventures. One such hot topic which was in the news was Shah Rukh Khan being accused of using cricket as a platform to promote his new venture 'Om Shanti Om'. Another instance that can be cited is Deepika Padukone's recent visit to the capital to inaugurate a store where she couldn't stop gushing about her debut venture 'Om Shanti Om'. These are just two from a pool of innumerable examples. The nation's Capital - an impregnable target of all the incoming brands - recently saw another such afternoon of mushy brand-celeb relationship.
Pushing up the tempo of its retail foray, the 'Gitanjali Group' has initiated a flurry of activities to boost consumer interest in its sparkling silverware collection at their exclusive Gruppo Greggio store. Following its credo of raising shopping experience to a higher plane, Bollywood landed at the store on Sunday afternoon. Jimmy Shergill, Dia Mirza, Mausumi Udeshi along with producer/director Sanjay Gupta visited the Greggio showroom located in Gurgaon - satellite town of Delhi, undoubtedly for a lucrative reason.
The Bollywood stars came to the city, probably unfamiliar with the intricacies of the silverware at the Greggio store. But they sure were acquainted with their soon to be released film 'Dus Kahaniyan'. It cant be a co - incidence that all three are a part of the film and were present at the same time at the same do. They came. Delhiites witnessed. And they left with a mark of their upcoming film. But just how much leverage are they going to get out if this visit, only time and the audience can tell.
"It is always a special occasion and a pleasure for us when celebrities lend their aura to our products and stores," said Mehul Choksi, Chairman, Gitanjali Gems. Tell us something we do not know!
Source:- http://www.headlinesindia.com/archive_html/04December2007_64882.html