With more than 10 brands that he endorses and two upcoming movies (Prem Ratan Dhan Payo and Bajrangi Bhaijan), about Rs 250 crore rides on brand Salman Khan
Just a few months ago Salman Khan made headlines for all the right reasons: He made it to the top of the Forbes India Celebrity 100 List , claiming the throne from two-time list topper Shah Rukh Khan, earned a whopping Rs 244.5 crore last year and topped both the fame and earnings rank (a first ever since we began the Forbes India Celebrity 100 List). Brand Salman was at its peak.
Today, though, there is a twist in the tale. With the Mumbai sessions court verdict sentencing him to five years in prison for the 2002 hit-and-run case when he drove an SUV onto a pavement in Mumbai, killing one person, brand Salman is in grave danger.
With more than 10 brands that he endorses and two upcoming movies (Prem Ratan Dhan Payo and Bajrangi Bhaijan), about Rs 250 crore ride on brand Salman. Although he has received an interim bail for two days before he goes to prison, what remains to be seen is how this court verdict changes his career trajectory. If one goes by what happened with his friend and co-star Sanjay Dutt when he went behind bars, this is certainly not good news. He stands to lose it all.
Harish Bijoor, CEO at Harish Bijoor Consults Inc, says there are three brand entities around Salman Khan: First is brand Salman himself, second is the brand Being Human created and promoted by him, while the third is the series of brands he endorses. According to Bijoor, the verdict will affect each of these brands differently.
“To the first it will mean an erosion of personal equity and integrity quotient. His hero status of being a clean and a straight-forward person gets affected. For the brand Being Human it shouldn’t make any difference at all. It is the only brand that will continue his endorsement, and convey the softer side of Salman Khan. In fact, it will be a revival vehicle for the brand Salman Khan,” says Bijoor. So the brand Khan helped create will, in turn, help resuscitate his own brand equity if he serves the five year sentence, believes Bijoor.
When Khan spoke to us in December, he agreed with this. "Being Human, Khan says, is as big as he is. Actually, if this current dream run of success is being attributed to his work with the foundation, and if, in effect, it was the foundation that lifted him, surely it was even bigger than him? Besides, that’s what all the brand extensions and expansions are for: To ensure that the money keeps coming in, and that Being Human outlives him."
On the commercial brands that Khan endorses, Bijoor says, “Most brands are fickle; they support only positive sentiments. So I suspect they will withdraw. They have already benefited from the upside; soon they will stop airing his endorsements.”