'Brand Salman' worth $39mn: Will blackbuck verdict hurt Bollywood's bad boy?

MUMBAI | NEW DELHI: As Salman Khan — the quintessential Bollywood superstar with the biggest brand turnaround story — has been sentenced to a five-year jail term in the blackbuck poaching case, his brand value is expected to take a hit.

Brand experts feel that the conviction by the Jodhpur Court on Thursday may not mean an end for brand Salman, who has over the years shed his ‘brash, bad boy’ image and worked hard to turn into a mass-y brand himself. However, it will mean a drop in his already shrinking endorsements’ kitty.

“His brand had already started to wane somewhat in the past couple of years. He was no longer endorsing any major brands. His sure-fire hits on the screen were also becoming iffy. I think his age plus the conviction now mean he is headed into the sunset,” said Sandeep Goyal, brand expert and founder of Mogae Media.


On Thursday, Khan was convicted in the case that dates back to 1998, while his then co-stars, Saif Ali Khan, Neelam, Sonali Bendre, and Tabu, were acquitted.

Varun Gupta, managing director at global valuation and corporate finance advisory firm Duff & Phelps, said that typically, a celebrity brand does get impacted when the subject celebrity gets involved in any controversy.

“When the news of Tiger Woods’s extramarital infidelity broke in 2009, his image got badly tarnished, causing harm to not only his own brand value but also that of his sponsors (there was an overall $12 billion decline in the market value of his sponsors in ten days). However, since knowledge of the blackbuck case has been public for around two decades, the impact on Salman or the brands endorsed by him may not be that severe. Having said that, Brand Salman is likely to experience a negative impact in the short term especially if the conviction does not get a stay in the high court,” Gupta said.

FILMS AND TV COMMITMENTS

Since 2010, Salman has been one of the most bankable stars with highest number of Rs 100 crore plus films at the box office. His last film, Tiger Zinda Hai, collected ?340 crore at the box office and he has recently finished shooting for ‘Race 3’, which is a co-production between Tips Industries and his own film production company, Salman Khan Films. Race 3 is slated to release on Eid. Apart from this, two more films have been announced, but haven’t gone on floor — Bharat and Dabangg 3.

Similarly, he was to shoot for ‘Dus Ka Dum’ for Sony Picturres Networks India (SPN) in May and June this year as the show will be making a comeback after 9 years gap. While SPN officials were unavailable for comment, industry sources said that the show will take only 10-15 days of shooting on Salman’s part, which he can do once he gets bail.

A MASS-Y BRAND
Salman Khan ranked sixth on list of the most valuable celebrity brand for 2017 in the country as per Duff & Phelps report with a brand value of $39 million. However, it is important to note that his brand value declined by about 33% in 2017 (from $58 million in 2016) primarily due to a downward revision of the estimated endorsement fees.