Amitabh Bachchan most-trusted, Virat Kohli trendy & Dhoni most-innovative: What value celebs bring to the brands

MUMBAI: Amitabh Bachchan is the most trusted, prestigious and respected celebrity brand endorser in the country, as per a first-of-its-kind study by the Indian Institute of Human Brands (IIHB).

The study, called ‘Tiara’ report, rates celebrities on trust, identification, attractiveness, respect and appeal (Tiara) based on responses of more than 60,000 participants from across 23 cities in the country.

So what makes 78-year-old veteran actor such a good fit for so many brands?


“Bachchan is evergreen,” said Sandeep Goyal, chief mentor at IIHB. “He has scored better than actors and sportspersons who are even 50 years younger to him.”

In fact, Bachchan played an important role in popularising celebrities in advertising after the success of game show Kaun Banega Crorepati, he said.

“In the last 10 years, the use of celebrities in communication has increased exponentially, and today almost 500 brands, big and small, national and regional, use celebrities to endorse their offerings," Goyal said.

Tiara report is the first data-driven deconstruction of celebrities, comparing celebrities across industries through various benchmarking that allows differential weightages to be used depending on the attribute.

The report covered 180 celebrities from Bollywood (69), television (67), sports (37), and power couples (7).

As per the report, Indian cricket captain Virat Kohli is the country’s most trendy, handsome, stylish, fearless and charming celebrity brand.

In terms of attractiveness as a brand attribute, Alia Bhatt was the top choice followed closely by Kohli.

Ex-Indian cricket team captain MS Dhoni is considered as the most innovative, down-to-earth, friendly and authentic celebrity.

“Dhoni has scored higher on empathy, he is down-to-earth and friendly,” Goyal said. “His Bollywood counterpart would be Ayushmann Khurrana. Both are getting lots of endorsements, which shows that during these troubled times, empathy is working more than being handsome or stylish.”

Among other celebrities, Akshay Kumar is rated as most appealing, strong and macho while Deepika Padukone is considered most beautiful and glamorous, and Nawazuddin Siddiqui most versatile and distinctive.

Swashbuckling all-rounder Hardik Pandya is most controversial while Radhika Apte is the country’s most-seductive celebrity brand.

Field study for the report was conducted by Japanese research agency Rakuten. The study uses research data across 64 active attributes covering image, personality and human factors; and confirmatory statements to quantify key celebrity dimensions.