SRK rides Knight Riders wave

Industry sources say, Khan’s popularity has soared after his association with Kolkata Knight Riders, with many Kolkata-based brands looking beyond Sourav Ganguly, tagged ‘maharaja’ of Bengal, and pursuing the ‘baadshah’ Khan’s endorsements instead.

Shahrukh Khan has emerged a brand that is selling not only through Bollywood movies but also through new endorsements.

Industry sources say, Khan’s popularity has soared after his association with Kolkata Knight Riders, with many Kolkata-based brands looking beyond Sourav Ganguly, tagged ‘maharaja’ of Bengal, and pursuing the ‘baadshah’ Khan’s endorsements instead.

Moreover, Shahrukh Khan, who gave two hit movies in the year - Om Shanti Om and Chak De India - reportedly earned more from the advertisements and endorsements.

Khan’s most recent endorsement after Indian Premier League (IPL) was with Linc Pen, one of the largest players in the branded pen industry, which appointed Shahrukh Khan as its brand ambassador.

This is also the first time that Linc Pen has opted for a celebrity brand ambassador to endorse its products.

According to Deepak Jalan, Managing Director, Linc Pen, “Shahrukh Khan is someone who personifies style, entertainment and popularity and these values resonate perfectly with our brand attributes. Moreover, Shahrukh cuts across age groups and demographics and appeals to a universal audience just like our products and was therefore a natural fit for the brand.”

In hand phones, Shahrukh Khan endorses Nokia.

According to Nokia India managing director D Shivakumar, “We are planning to bundle exclusive content featuring our brand ambassador Shah Rukh Khan for handsets sold in India.”

Nokia recently bundled the full length ‘Om Shanti Om’ movie in Nokia N96. It will look at bundling video clips and music of Shah Rukh Khan movies in the handsets.

Shahrukh Khan, on his part, would extend collaboration with Nokia for such possibilities through his production house Red Chillies Entertainment.

Khan also has Kolkata-based Emami to add to his long list of endorsements.

Khan is reportedly paid Rs 5 crore every year for his association with Emami.

Emami is known for having the maximum number of celebrity endorsers including Madhuri Dixit, Raveena Tandon, Sunny Deol, cricket captain Sourav Ganguly and also Amitabh Bachchan.

Shahrukh’s ad campaigns for Emami include ads for Chyawanprash and few other herbal healthcare products of Emami. The Kolkata-based Emami gets more than half of its revenues from their personal healthcare range.

Emami’s prime catch, however, has been Amitabh Bachchan, who is its umbrella brand ambassador, though he was signed on for Emami Fast Relief and Emami Navrattan Oil. Bachchan reportedly is paid a remuneration of Rs 10 crore - Rs 12 crore per annum, for this endorsement.

This year, Shahrukh Khan, who gave two hit movies in the year - Om Shanti Om and Chak De India - reportedly earned more from the advertisements and endorsements.

Also, Shahrukh Khan gets Rs 1 crore for being present in a function arranged in India.

Shahrukh Khan currently endorses more than 30 brands, including Pepsi, Hyundai, Airtel, Videocon, Sun Feast, Tag Heuer, Dish TV and Mayur Suitings.

According to TAM Media Research, Shahrukh has logged 4.25 million TV seconds in 2007 and has endorsed 39 brands. He was followed closely by Amitabh Bachchan, who logged 3.16 million seconds, having endorsed 36 brands.

However in 2008, Aamir Khan has been the highest paid star-endorser having bagged a fee between Rs 12-Rs 15 crore per annum for his last three commercials, including Tata Sky, Samsung Mobiles and Parle Monaco biscuits. Khan’s competition?

Till a year ago, the gap between Shahrukh Khan, the No 1 player in Bollywood, and Akshay Kumar and Aamir Khan was big.

However, now, Akshay is the highest-paid actor currently getting Rs 17 crore for a film, and Aamir having produced two super hits in Taare Zameen Par and Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na which have grossed Rs 220 crore, has pushed up Aamir Khan’s market value in sync with Shahrukh Khan.