Star’bucks’: The celebrity engagement story with the world of ecommerce

A celebrity brings in authenticity and trust to a brand. Perhaps, that’s the reason we get to see celebrities, from a movie star to a cricketer to endorse different products. But the new trend has shown a different perk altogether. The present economic scenario has seen a boom of eCommerce companies all over around. The celebrities’ ‘C’ factor has taken this boom to an all new level of a trend, where celebs of B-town, and not only actors but people from behind the camera as well, are getting associated with the eCommerce companies/brands, as Brand Ambassador!

These startup companies, ranging from fashion to travel, from tech to talk, willing to draw the attention of Indian consumers, are roping in stardust engagements ranging from branding to innovative alliance to investments. The celebrity association with all these ecommerce companies works in two levels. The endorsements by celebrities send out a positive message through a credible face value and voice whereas a partnership talks about what a celebrity actually stands for; the latter being the much more deeper association.

Amitabh Bachchan

 

JustDial.com, a one stop solution for all your search queries under the sun, launched its online service during 2007. And during the fag-end of 2010, the face of Indian film industry, Mr. Amitabh Bachchan became the face of JustDial. That must have been a proud moment for VSS Mani!

Salman Khan

Salman Khan, who has flair of striking crores from all his films, also has a 5% stake in Yatra.com, the very famous travel operator. Yatra.com is not a startup per se, but roping in a face like Salman Khan for an ad-for-equity deal to promote and market the brand name is quite interesting. And nevertheless, who doesn’t know about Being Human with all the trendy t-shirts and watches? All hail to Salman!

Ajay Devgn

You must have known about portals from where you can buy tickets for movies or plays! But one portal named Ticketplease.com stands apart with the fact that this startup is a collaborated venture between the CEO Jimmy Mistry and none other than Ajay Devgn.

Malaika Arora Khan, Suzzane Khan, Biapsha Basu

Malaika Arora Khan is THE undisputed fashion diva. And when she endorses a brand; it is bound to take the consumers swipe off their feet. India’s first ever editorial e-commerce brand, The Label Corp, founded by Preeta Sukhtankar, has Malaika Arora Khan as the Brand Ambassador for the brand The Closet Label which gives you the range of everyday leisure wear. And the glamour quotient doesn’t end here. The brain behind the company Preeta, who thinks content is the disguised form of marketing, has two more brands under the shed of the mother brand The Label Corp. The Home Label, endorsed by the ultimate interior design expert Suzanne Khan and The Trunk Label endorsed by the stunning Bipasha Basu where you can have your personal stylist advising you on your wardrobe collection. So, gone are the days when women were home makers, it’s time to be taste-makers!

 Farhan Akhtar, Esha Gupta, Sonu Sood

YEPME.com, an online fashion destination for the youngsters, has multiple celeb aura associated with it. The Jannat 2 fame, Esha Gupta has been roped in as the Brand Ambassador for the women section of clothes under the name Eshe Gupta Collection while the multi-talented Farhan Akhtar has been the one for the men section of clothes named as Farhan Akhtar Collection. The association with Farhan Akhtar has been more than just endorsing the brand where Farhan has written, directed and acted in a music video called Tension kyun lete ho yaar…with Ehsaan and Loy being the composers. And it doesn’t end here. The brand also has Sonu Sood as the Brand Ambassador for its sports section apparels and accessories for the label PlayCool.

Ranveer Singh, Hrithik Roshan, Kangna Ranaut

[masterslider id=25]

Very famous online fashion brand Myntra.com has Ranveer Singh endorsing its in-house casual wear label Roadster. On the other hand Myntra has partnered with Hrithik Roshan to launch active casual wear under the label of HRX. And the most recent association has been with Kangna Ranaut, she being the Brand Ambassador of Myntra’s inhouse brand DressBerry!

Shekhar Kapur, A.R.Rahman

Today’s world around us is ruled by the various social media platforms. One more feather has been added to that crown when two of the most creative minds, Shekhar Kapur and A.R. Rahman in collaboration with CISCO, have launched their social media platform Qyuki.com, a platform which grabs the opportunity of blending technology with social expression to take it to a new level and to provide the youth new media contents.

Karisma Kapoor

Now let’s shift to some other sectors altogether. Did you know that all your baby products queries end at Babyoye.com. And even more interestingly the gorgeous Karisma Kapoor is the largest individual stakeholder in this ecommerce company. Yes, the journey started when Karisma Kapoor for the first visited babyoye.com as a customer and understood its potential as an ensemble storehouse for baby care, mother care products!

Madhuri Dixit

All of us, we look at Madhuri Dixit with an awe whenever she dances on screen. Now imagine, what if you can get an opportunity to dance like her? Dance with Madhuri, an online dance academy portal where a-one-of-a-kind opportunity is provided for people to stay healthy with dance and exercise on board. Considering there are numerous aspirant youngsters who watch YouTube videos to learn dancing, this venture is indeed a great deal.

Shilpa Shetty

Many people don’t know that the multi-brand endorser Shilpa Shetty and her husband Raj Kundra, are the co-founder of an ecommerce website called GroupHomeBuyers.com, India’s first unique address to help the home buyers to make the right decision in buying cost effective dream properties.

Dino Morea

The ‘raaz’ behind the Raaz guy Dino Morea is he has been incorporated in an ecommerce website named coolmaal.net which has been launched with the concept of celebrity merchandizing, by offering the consumers products or memorabilia associated with their favourite celebrities. Films like Bodyguard, Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara have been on board with their merchandises being enlisted on this website.

Sunny Leone

And last but not at all the least, the queen of sensuality, Sunny Leone is the face of India’s first ever adult lifestyle store imbesharam.com. It is a one stop solution for bold and beautiful lifestyle, a one-of-a-kind concept for the Indian webspace. And when we talk about sensuality and oomph factor, none can sit on the throne except for Sunny Leone!

Collaborating with the ecommerce websites and online startups, either as a Brand Ambassador or as a partner has been a new kind of initiative among the celebrities and it’s worth it!