Celebrity brand valuation to grow by 8-10% in 2022
Ace cricketer Virat Kohli has retained his spot as the celebrity with the highest brand value at $185.7 million, as per the Duff & Phelps Celebrity Brand Valuation Report, 2021. Bollywood actors Ranveer Singh, Akshay Kumar and Alia Bhatt follow Kohli in the top five list for 2021. MS Dhoni, who announced his retirement from international cricket in 2020 and very recently, stepped down from the captaincy of IPL team Chennai Super Kings, moved up six ranks in 2021, from rank 11 to rank five. The total brand value of the top 20 celebrities was $1.2 billion, in 2021.
Interestingly, of the celebrities in the top five list, even though Kohli has retained his leadership position, his overall brand value has dropped by $88 million, from a total of $237.7 million in 2020. Singh and Kumar, who have swapped positions this year compared to 2020, have gained in valuation. “Kohli still endorses the same number of brands as he did in 2020 — more than 30. His decision to step down as the captain in the T20 and test cricket formats, and BCCI’s decision to replace him with Rohit Sharma as the ODI captain, have significantly increased the risk associated with Brand Kohli,” says Aviral Jain, managing director, Duff & Phelps, a Kroll business. Despite the risk, Kohli commands twice the brand endorsement fee as that of Alia Bhatt or MS Dhoni.
The star of Gangubai Kathiawadi, Alia Bhatt has moved up two ranks and her brand value has grown from $48 million to $68.1 million. In 2021, Bhatt’s endorsement kitty expanded to about 25 brands. “Her endorsement fee has increased by 20-30% in 2021. Her controversy free-image, connection with millennials, and social media following have all helped her brand value grow,” says Jain. Deepika Padukone, who ranked at number five in 2020 and had a brand value of $50.4 million, has dropped a couple of ranks but maintains her brand value at $51.6 million.
According to the report, the total number of endorsements by the top 20 celebrities increased marginally from 357 brands in 2020 to 376 in 2021. In comparison, the product brand endorsements by top 20 celebrities in 2019 stood at 370.
Jain observes that brands are continuing to sign up A-list celebrities in 2022. “If all things go well, we can expect a y-o-y increase of 8-10% in the total brand valuation of celebrities and the number of brands with which they associate,” he says.
In 2020, brands and celebrities froze contracts and worked on ways to extend contracts by a few months on account of the pandemic-induced lockdowns. “In 2021, celebrities were able to charge a premium and we observed that on average there was a 6% increase in endorsement fees,” says Jain.
Product categories like personal care and hygiene, food and beverages and clothing leverage brand endorsers the most. For instance, Harpic, Colgate, Horlicks, Pepsi, Lux and Relaxo are among the brands that have partnerships with celebrities. Over the last few years, several new age, digital-first brands have been roping in celebrities to improve awareness of their brands. These include brands like Cred, Mamaearth, MyGlamm, Licious, boAt, CoinDCX, etc.
The growth in 2021 was driven by endorsements in new-age companies. The share of digital brands and start-ups stood at about 12% of total endorsements in 2021. The share of brand endorsements for these companies has increased by more than 50% y-o-y from 2020 among the top 20 celebrity list. “Companies funded by private equities or those that are growing very fast have big budgets and have been able to engage established celebrities in their advertising campaigns,” says Jain.
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