Dhoni, SRK rank top in Celebtrack Wave II results

Who’s the biggest brand of them all? Big B or SRK? Or is it Sachin? The answer: None of the above. It’s Mahendra Singh Dhoni, captain of the Indian cricket team. Or, at least, that is what Percept Talent Management, which handles celebrity contracts, believes, based on a survey of 12,000 respondents by Hansa Research.

The top-10 list now reads: Dhoni, Shah Rukh Khan, Aishwarya Rai, Amitabh Bachchan, Sachin Tendulkar, Hrithik Roshan, Yuvraj Singh, Katrina Kaif, Akshay Kumar and Salman Khan.

Percept’s ranking is based on several parameters, the main ones being the celebrity’s media presence, his or her popularity, image attributes, power of persuasion and exposure. If someone is seen as overexposed, his market value comes down even if he scores high on the other four.

On the overexposure front — where respondents say ‘I don’t want to see or read more about these stars’ — the survey puts Rakhi Sawant on top, followed by Mallika Sherawat and Narain Karthikeyan.

The research measured more than 400 celebrities across the country to generate a celebrity power score (CPS) by ranking them on the above five parameters. A high score makes the celeb more valuable as a brand endorser.

“Almost 80% of any brand’s dilemma — to hire a celeb or not, or which celeb to hire — revolves around these criteria. The CPS presents a real value of celebs depending on their market value,” says  Manish Porwal, CEO, Percept Talent Management.

The business of brand endorsements, including star appearances and events, is worth more than Rs1,000 crore annually. The big stars — like SRK and Amitabh — can earn from Rs5-12 crore in annual contracts. Dhoni rakes in anywhere between Rs40 and Rs50 crore by endorsing nearly two dozen brands.

The Celebtrack shows that Aishwarya Rai has a higher CPS than her father-in-law Amitabh Bachchan, while cricket’s demi-god Sachin Tendulkar has seen his popularity dip from No 1 in the last leg of the survey to No 5 in the latest.

“Each parameter has been further declassified. A celeb’s popularity will depend on recognition and likeability. There are celebs who are high on ‘I know you’, while others have performed better on the ‘I like you’ parameter. But in the popularity charts, both recognition and likeability matter,” says Porwal.

Anand Halve, brand consultant, Chlorophyll, is a bit of a skeptic on celeb scoring. “I don’t know what the arithmetic of the survey is, but it seems like a snapshot of this moment. There may be celebrities who may not be on the list, but who may be paid exorbitant sums by advertisers because they bring value to their brands,” says Halve.

That, in fact, is true for Akshay Kumar, who is lower down the pecking order, but is one of the highest paid actors in the country. Last year, his take was believed to be around Rs 15-17 crore per movie.

Halve, for one, would rank brands on the basis of the money they fetch. “If not on money, how else could I rank these celebs? Each parameter would give a different result. If a brand is hiring these celebs on the basis of the celeb index, I’d rather ask them to throw the budgeted money in air. That might get them more publicity.”

The Percept survey measures celebs on various attributes. On persuasion power, Amitabh Bachchan is the most persuasive male actor in the country while Aishwarya Rai is the most persuasive female actor. In image attributes, the study rates Akshay Kumar as the most ‘handsome, tough, macho and energetic’ actor while SRK is rated as the ‘cutest’. Hrithik is most ‘stylish and fit’ actor in the country.

“We derived the final CPS figure by adding the scores in media presence, popularity, image attributes and power of persuasion while deducting the overexposure score,” adds Porwal.

“For measuring the value of any brand ambassador, I think the most important attribute is what the celeb has brought to the table. I’d advice them (people who seek celeb endorsements) to measure the worth of the brand before the celeb was hired and a year later. That’s the real value brought to table by the celeb,” remarks Halve.

The Percept survey, which polled 12,000 people across India (barring the north-east and Kashmir), measured the celebrities’ worth in two waves, the latest one ending last month.