‘Genelia is a symbol of youth’
Take it lightly, goes the punchline of a chocolate ad featuring Genelia D’Souza. And yet the ad world isn’t taking the bubbly Genelia lightly at all. This ebullient actress, who recently bagged the coveted title of Brand Ambassador of the Year 2010, is now widely acknowledged as the undisputed queen of endorsements.
According to advertising guru Prahlad Kakkar, Genelia’s winning point has been her early success coupled with her vivacious image. He says, “Genelia has a very real and fresh image. She is not overtly sexy nor is she extremely beautiful, she doesn’t intimidate the viewers with too much of anything — whether it’s looks or physical attributes. She is the girl-next-door, easy to identify with, who is acceptable to audiences all over the country. Another big plus point is that she never looks forced on screen, her appeal is natural and that’s what does the trick.”
Film director Rajat Nagpal, who has worked with the actress in several TV commercials, feels that Genelia is a rare species — a star who never appears larger than the brand. He analyses, “Her USP is that she steps down from a star to being a person, who is open to experimentation. Unlike many other celebrities, including Abhishek Bachchan, Amitabh Bachchan and others, who are not able to break their stardom while shooting ads. And the fact that she has worked in different languages helps her get a pan-India appeal. For instance, when we do Tamil or Kannada translations of her ads, she does a great lip-sync since she has done films in those languages — this doesn’t work with other actresses like Priyanka Chopra who look fake when dubbed.”
Rajat adds that by bagging this title the actress has broken the gender barrier too. “I’m glad that Genelia is the first woman to bag this award. It only proves that women are great product ambassadors, in sharp contrast to the common notion that selling products is a male monopoly,” he says.
The brands that Genelia has plugged, rely heavily on her youth appeal. Vineet Trakroo, vice-president of marketing of a group of personal care products says, “We signed Genelia in February last year, after the success of her film Jaane Tu... We must admit that after signing her, our brand scores have increased tremendously, since we consider Genelia a symbol of youth. She is bubbly and since she has worked in both South films and Bollywood, she can cut across different film industries.”
Jayashri V.R., who has worked with Genelia on a few ads, feels it is her choice of products which have made her a brand name overnight. “Last year, Shah Rukh Khan bagged this title. But this year we saw him becoming too commercial, as he has been endorsing anything and everything. Genelia has been smart enough to choose the right products.”
And in the ultimate analysis, that’s what makes all the difference in the ad world!
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