[Editor’s Note] Celebrity Brands: When social media redefined stardom & endorsements

Hello there! Presenting to you Celebrity Brands - our series on personal social media brand of celebrities, capturing various emulatable tactics that make celeb social media profiles a virtual launchpad.

Kareena Kapoor Khan’s secret Instagram account has been a peg for gossip columns and curiosity for years now. How does an actor as social and opinionated as her have no Instagram account? While the absence of an official Instagram account might have helped her sanity, it certainly left a gaping hole in the marketing plans of the many brands that sign her on for her swag and sass. Unsurprisingly, this was rectified in March 2020, when Khan joined Instagram as a part of her association with Puma and since then has been consistently active on the platform.  

The arrival of social media has made celebrities a lot more than their screen presence. Instagram is now a virtual airport, where every outfit in which they appear will be snapped, snatched, and spoken about; and this applies to almost every social media platform out there. 

Celebrities too understand this well and have managed to construct a social media brand that adds value to their goodwill, personality, and of course monetary brand value. 

Social media has added commercial value to celebrities’ real life. Right from depicting their humane side to sharing the brands, they endorse and even own - social media gives them the power to advocate it all and among an audience that is genuinely interested in them. With the lockdown giving celebrity endorsement through social media more momentum, it seemed like the right time to take a look at the nuances of these human brands. 

Celebrity Brands was created to understand the nuances of creating a personal brand that many celebrities have applied. Be it the largely visible content themes, posting times, or the aesthetics - most celebrities have created a visual framework that gives them a lot of scope to promote themselves and the fleet of brands that are associated with.  

As a part of the first season of Celebrity Brands, we attempt to understand the basics of personal branding that celebrities have personalized through various social media platforms. Cruising through the social media profiles of a range of celebrities including Sachin Tendulkar, Amitabh Bachchan, Shilpa Shetty, Shraddha Kapoor, and Kartik Aryan - we chalked out various trends that have helped them create a distinct image that serves on various levels. 

For instance, a picture of a fancy dish is no longer just that, but a gastronomic experience in Shilpa’s Sunday Binge. Or the many Mommy moments from Soha Ali Khan Khemu’s life that give an understanding of her day to day life and peg her as a reliable source for mommies and associated brands. 

As we gear up to bring to you another season of Celebrity brands, you can read some of the best social media strategies and presence of the top celebrities from the first season, given below...

In the second season, we shall be exploring digital personalities that have conquered the world of OTT and content, evolving as celebrities in their own right. While these digital celebs fundamentally appeal to a different and wide audience, the crux of their digital footprint resonates with the larger definition of personal brand.

Stay tuned, as Celebrity Brands Season 2, understands the social media personality of individuals such as Mithila Palkar, Vikrant Massey, Masaba Gupta, and many more.