MUMBAI: Percept Talent Management (PTM) and Hansa Research have joined hands to launch a new celebrity study called CelebTrack that will give insights to brands who extensively use celebrities in the fields of films, sports and television.
Speaking to Businessofcinema.com, PTM CEO Manish Porwal says that the joint research tool will track 150 top celebrities in each field and have over 10,800 respondents across two all-India waves annually excluding the North-East and Kashmir region. The respondents’ profile will be Urban, All Adults, SEC ABCD, 15-50 years. The first set of findings are expected to be released in February.
"We are looking at clients in the brands space, celebrities and also the common man to use our data. Brands can benefit from this by finding out what’s missing in their communications or the attributes that need to be addressed while choosing a brand ambassador. On the other hand, celebrities can find out what their image perception is in the market and what they need to do to change or better it. Moreover, as Indians, we are very rank – driven and this research will also help in churing out a lot of countdowns of Top 10 for various celebs across categories," Porwal explains.
Being an interested party, since PTM is directly involved in the celebrity management space, how credible is the research going to be and aren’t there chances of facing some flak from the industry if research shows their own clients topping the charts? Porwal retorts, "Keeping this very fact in mind, PTM has been working on CelebTrack for the last 26 months. Hansa has been involved for the last two – three months and the entire onus of the research lies on Hansa only. We are helping in marketing the property. Our aim is to make this as a currency for celebrity endorsements and create knowledge. At the end of the day, we are also very open to sharing the tool with other companies in the space so that maximum benefit is derived out of it."
CelebTrack will be released twice a year and will measure star power on four parameters namely Popularity of a Star, Power of Persuasion, Image Attributes and Media Presence across 24 attributes. The celebs that will be tracked amongst the film industry are actors, child actors, producer, directors and singers; sports stars celebs will comprise cricketers and non-cricket celebs; whereas TV artists will comprise actors and show hosts.
Porwal says that CelebTrack will be beneficial to those who have used celebrities in the past or use them currently for their brands; have competition that uses celebrities; have a multi-brand portfolio; use local activation and promotions and for whom image-building, perception creation is key.
When queried as to which companies have been presented with the research, Porwal informs that as of now about 30 – 35 potential clients have been approached. "The response from Delhi has been huge, whereas from Mumbai it has been good," he says.
The research will be made available for Rs 8.6 lakhs per annum for annual subscription with two rider questions. As per information available with Businessofcinema.com, a little less than Rs 10 million has been invested in developing this.
