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Exercise and Endorsement in India
On Tuesday DRNO looked at the Indian obsession with cricket and with batting genius Sachin Tendulkar in particular. Today we look at the Synovate / Blackstone Market Facts survey's other findings, which concern Indians' views of other sports, their membership of fitness clubs and use of exercise regimes, and the effect of brand endorsement by cricketers and film stars.
Games other than cricket see much lower rates of participation but some can still count players / ex-players in the hundreds of millions. 23% of those surveyed had played badminton at some stage in their life and 23% had played football / soccer. Ten per cent of male respondents currently play football / soccer and 7% of the women surveyed currently play badminton.
Only fifteen per cent of those surveyed belong to a club or sporting club, and despite all the cricket-playing, only 15% claim to have a regular health and exercise regime. This varies considerably across age groups - percentages with an exercise regime are:- 24% of 15-25 year olds
- 15% of 26-35 year olds
- 10% of 36-45 year olds
- 12% of 46-55 year olds.
Women are far less likely to have a regular exercise plan - 7% versus 21% of men. However, this is matched by a willingness among Indians to watch women's sports - 62% of respondents say they are happy to watch women's sports on television. Tennis is far and away the most popular of these, watched by 64% (of the 62%), while 19% watch Badminton, 18% other Indian sports and 6% women's cricket. This high level of interest in women's sport represents an opportunity for marketers to 'tap into a more niched audience', according to Synovate.
More generally, celebrity endorsement seems to work in India. 'As a research company, we work with marketers who often pay huge money for sportspeople and other celebrities to endorse their brands' says Synovate CEO Adrian Chedore. 'In this survey nearly half the respondents (47%) replied that they would be more likely to buy a brand endorsed by their favourite celebrity. That's a great deal of influence'.
According to Blackstone Market Facts MD Alok Shanker, 'The passion for watching cricket cuts across all ages and genders so the company that can credibly establish itself as a cricketing partner - via sponsorship, advertising or other promotional activities - goes a long way towards reaching the bulk of the Indian populace'.
However, Shanker points out that beyond this basic strength, things get more complicated - marketers need to know which celebrities to choose for a brand's target audience, as well as the demographics this strategy works with, in order to use this information with greatest effect. 'Marketers in India face quite a challenge. There are only two clear areas for celebrity brand endorsement - cricket and Bollywood. In addition, this kind of endorsement or sponsorship marketing is still developing in India and brand managers are just beginning to understand how to associate products and services with the right spokespeople'.
The survey found that the following celebrities were associated with particular brand names in the minds of Indian consumers. Respondents were shown 'flash cards' with celebrity faces and a list of brands (both in random order), and were asked to match one with the other. They were able to identify more than one celebrity per brand where they chose:- Sachin Tendulkar - 90% recall of association with Pepsi
- Aamir Khan 78% Coke
- Kapil Dev 75% Kinetic
- Madhuri Dixit - 74% Emami
- Karina Kapoor - 67% Pepsi
- Aishwarya Rai - 66% Nakshatra, 21% Coke
- Saif Ali Khan - 61% Pepsi
- Amitabh Bachchan - 52% Nerolac, 42% Pepsi
- Fardeen Khan - 47% Pepsi, 17% Provogue
- Shahrukh Khan - 43% Santro
- Preity Zinta - 41% Pepsi.
.Celebrity endorsement is most likely to work with teenagers and students, and more effective in the West zone of India, according to the survey - the latter is perhaps a reflection of the strong 'Bollywood' presence in Mumbai.
Synovate's Web site is at www.synovate.com
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