Changing Landscapes..

We all know and accepted that Cricket and Films unites India. And no marks in guessing that marketers have exploited stars from both these genres to endorse variety of brands right from soap to cars to even social causes. And cricketers and actors have chipped in brilliantly with their star power and aura around them. We would have seen so many cases, wherein the common man is replaced by a star from either of this genre. Videocon Mobile is the latest example, who roped in Ritesh Deshmukh to promote its mobile services.

But suddenly in this cluttered and stereotypical space of brand endorsers, a estranged phenomenon happened. Flying Machine, an apparel brand from the house of Arvind Mills roped in Ankit Fadia as a new brand ambassador replacing Abhishek Bachchan. Ankit Fadia a very few of us would have heard of, is a new brand ambassador, Hacker by profession.

A professional hacker as a brand ambassador for an apparel brand...It is unusual and unheard of but that's the changing face of today's youth. So many things have been written about today's Indian youth...their lifestyle, approach towards life, their attitude....all these have impacted the way marketer is devising their strategy, but all these forms a cue and do not drive the entire campaign based on this insights....But Flying Machine is sure about its "eclectic state of mind and youth focused positioning".

But I guess its just the start and there is a long way to go before we have youth icons from different walks of life and who do not belong to Cricket and Films will actually take the center stage in brand and marketing space...