Mr. Perfectionist.. Rajeev K FC New MGT team pg 89 - Page 24

Brand ambassadors are the new-found marketing mixfor real estate sector. Last year had many celebrities from Bollywood , sports and glamour world enter the realty sector as brand ambassadors of prominent developers. The brand name, no doubt, matters; but the developers are now associating celebrities (some of whom have national and international presence) with advertisement campaigns.

The concept was at a nascent stage in the NCR, but once it was tried, it took the sector by storm. Popular cine stars like Twinkle Khanna, Kangna Ranaut , Rajeev Khandelwal, Prachi Desai, Sushmita Sen; cricketers like Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Yuvraj Singh, Virender Sehwag , Suresh Raina, Praveen Kumar, to name a few, are the faces of different realty firms today.

One thing common to all the names is their pan-Indian appeal, and the realty firms, no doubt, want to encash upon their familiarity and popularity across the country. This is also a hint about the ambitions of these firms, which want to spread their wings to the four corners of the country, hoping that the well-known stars as their brand ambassadors would provide a connect with the people not yet familiar with their name. Assotech has signed with former Miss Universe and film starSushmita Sen.

"New USPs and marketing concepts are fast evolving and some of the recent entrants are indeed focussing on their advertising and marketing campaigns," Roopak Jain, the vice-president of JM Housing Ltd, said.

Amrapali Group, another major realty player, has signed on Mahendra Singh Dhoni as their brand ambassador. Anil Sharma, the chairman and managing director of Amrapali Group, says: "The group has been closely associated with the Indian Cricket team by gifting them flats after the team won the World Cup last year."

Supertech has signed on filmstar daughter of noted superstar Rajesh Khanna, Twinkle Khanna.

"As a brand ambassador, Twinkle Khanna is exclusively promoting ORB in Delhi and the NCR. ORB is a first-of-itskind circular-shaped 40-storeyed luxury homes project at Sector 74, Noida," R K Arora, the chairman ofSupertech group, said.

Ajnara India Ltd, a major realty player with projects in Raj Nagar Extension, Crossings Republik, Noida andGreater Noida, has recently roped in the famous bollywood actress Kangna Ranaut to endorse its projects.

Ashok Gupta, the managing director of Ajnara India Ltd, says: "Ajnara is a brand which offers affordable to luxury housing options with quality and bring high levels of professionalism to the trade. Kangna is one of the very few actresses who have achieved stardom in Bollywood in a very short span, though coming from an ordinary family. She is today the epitome of style and fashion, yet so humble. We believe that this would help our brand connect with our buyers well."

Prashant Tiwari, the managing director of Prateek Group, says: "The basic idea is to make a person feel comfortable when buying an apartment. This is a onetime purchase and having a brand ambassador does help in people connecting with the developer."

Prateek Group has not one but two brand ambassadors, Rajeev Khandelwal and Prachi Desai. Both are well-known faces from Bollywood, who have been associated with the Group for nearly two years now. "People have started associating them with Prateek Group whenever they see these celebs anywhere. This kind of connection with the endorsers and the recognition among people was what we expected and we have achieved it," Tiwari says.