The Siyaram Celebrity Endorsement Experience

THE J.HAMPSTEAD STORY

J.Hampstead was a very popular suiting brand in Europe, renowned for its premium 100% wool suitings woven from rich natural fibers like merino wool, cashmere and woolsilk. In 1995, Siyaram tied up with J.Hampstead for marketing its suitings in India. The company imported the fabric from Italy. It was priced in the range of Rs 1,500-1,600 per meter. In September 1997, Siyaram decided to begin manufacturing the brand at its plants with technical assistance from J.Hampstead. The product was slightly different from the imported version and was priced in the range of Rs 275-1000 per meter. Explaining the reason for the decision, Gangadhar said, “The imported J Hampstead faced two problems: that of maintenance and price. The imported product had to be dry-cleaned and steam-ironed. The Indian fabric can be hand washed.”

Siyaram earmarked around Rs 50 million for the marketing, sales and promotion of J Hampstead. The first phase of this promotion was in the form of commercials featuring Indian tennis superstars Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupati. These commercials with the positioning line, ‘The finest fabric in the world,'were aimed at positioning the brand in the premium segment.

And this will enable the brand to be globally focused. The idea of such a campaign is also to send the message that the product is of international quality. In India where cricket is almost a religion, these models can be easily identified by both the masses as well the classes.”

Siyaram had decided to use the South African team on the recommendation of Percept. Gangadhar said, “All along, the South African team had a clean image. So we had signed up the entire team and not just one individual. When they were coming to Bombay (for the match), we thought it was a very good opportunity and so decided to shoot with them for the ads.” Shailendra Singh, Joint Managing Director, Percept, said, “Our brief is to project J Hampstead as a global fashion brand. It is a high fashion brand that is successful and sincere. Consciously, we thought that Hansie Cronje has a 82% success rate and nine years'experience as a captain.” The advertisements featured the entire South African team wearing the J Hampstead premium suitings.
Within a month of the campaign being released in the national media, the Cronje controversy surfaced. Siyaram continued to run the advertisements in newspapers for a few days after the scandal broke. However, the company decided to withdraw the campaign completely soon after. Gangadhar denied that the Hampstead brand image had been affected. He said, “I have had calls from well-wishers who say that no one could have anticipated this. We do things right and in the right spirit. And if something goes wrong all we can do is make amends for it. The brand is bigger than any individual.”

A Percept official said, “Thankfully, the campaign was not centered on one single player but the entire team. Hence it is not so bad after all. We are also recovering from the incident.” He added, “We have used multiple personalities for the ad. We have not focussed just on Cronje. It is the entire 14-member South African team that we have signed up. So, we never let the personality become the brand itself.”

2005, Case Studies and Management Resources. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, used in a spreadsheet, or transmitted in any form or by any means - electronic or mechanical, without permission.

To order copies, call +91- 8417- 236667or write to Case Studies and Management Resources, Survey No. 156/157, Dontanapalli Village, Shankerpalli Mandal,
Ranga Reddy District,
Hyderabad-501504. Andhra Pradesh, INDIA.or email info@icmrindia.org. Website: www.icmrindia.org