In 2025, a Vogue headline read, ‘Why luxury brands are sliding into the DMs’. Dior had curated a Close Friends list on Instagram and Louis Vuitton was messaging users photos directly from its shows.
As brands get more personal, their representation has to follow suit. For decades, endorsements were structured, transactional and tightly controlled. Contracts ran for years, shoots were scheduled down to the day and celebrities appeared in carefully orchestrated campaigns. As former chief marketing officer at Motorola and former executive vice president of marketing at PepsiCo India, entrepreneur Lloyd Mathias recalls when deals with stars like Sachin Tendulkar and Shah Rukh Khan were long-term commitments, with defined deliverables and annual escalation clauses.
“The stars would commit five days a year to shoot commercials and posters. We would do them with the likes of [photographer] Atul Kasbekar and use those images for campaigns through the year,” he says. Celebrities also made appearances beyond ads. “In 2002, I remember Mr. Bachchan, Preity Zinta and other celebrities came and met PepsiCo employees,” he recalls.
Ambi Parameswaran, brand strategist and author, points to similar activities across sectors. “When ICICI Bank signed Shah Rukh Khan, they did NRI events in Dubai, and he personally met high net worth individuals,” he says. But the relationship between brands and stars goes all the way back to 1941.
Some Strings Attached
In 1941, Leela Chitnis became the first Indian film star to endorse Lux, at a time when being featured in national campaigns was seen as being reward enough.
“In the ’50s, I don’t think Lux even paid the stars for the endorsement. They were told that if they appeared in a Lux ad, their photo would be in all the leading magazines and newspapers,” Parameswaran says. “[Lux] employed someone in Hindustan Unilever whose job was to liaison with Hindi and Tamil film [actors]. Slowly, they realised there’s money in this, and it became the money-making racket [that it is today].”
The titles have multiplied since. Celebrities are no longer just endorsers; they’re ‘global ambassadors’, ‘muses’, ‘campaign ambassadors’ — and increasingly, ‘friends of the house’. In the past month alone, actor Triptii Dimri joined Victoria’s Secret as ambassador, cricketer Smriti Mandhana became a ‘friend’ of Rado and actor Sobhita Dhulipala was named a muse for Charlotte Tilbury.
The language has evolved but the shift runs deeper than semantics.
Celebrity endorsements, not too long ago, were built on exclusivity. As Mathias points out, even after a contract ended, celebrities were often locked into cooling-off periods — sometimes stretching up to a year — where they couldn’t touch a competing brand.
That kind of rigidity feels almost quaint now. Being ‘friendly’ with brands, celebrities move freely across labels, categories and even companies.
“One thing I’ve learned working in Bollywood, is that there’s no friends without money. And why should there be?” asks Dhruv Jha, a consultant who works with celebrities and athletes.
Mathias agrees. Being ‘friends’ with a brand is a project-based relationship which is often social media-focused. “Maybe they have an agreement where [the celebrity] will do a specific number of appearances or posts on Instagram,” he says, a fact evident in actor Janhvi Kapoor’s engagement with Baume & Mercier, as a newly committed Friend of the Maison.
For brands, the upside is obvious. “They can now play with multiple ‘friends’ and aren’t stuck with one person,” Mathias says. They can cast a wider net, tapping into different regions, niches and micro-audiences through a mix of personalities. Not all of them need to be megastars; cultural relevance counts just as much.
It’s Complicated
There’s also a shift in how audiences read these associations. “The traditional ambassadors had a feeling of being a little forced. The commercials were very obvious,” Mathias says. “And in the social media world, people are paying a premium for authenticity. I’d much rather believe someone who’s not paid for a brand but talks highly of it, than someone who’s an obvious plug.” He laughs, bringing up Shah Rukh Khan endorsing the Hyundai Santro in the late ’90s as “a little unbelievable”.
“Younger audiences are also allergic to hard sell,” he adds. “The vibe thing works better and it’s more credible.” Which is really what these new terminologies are trying to capture. The criteria: Brand fit, audience alignment, and a personality that doesn’t feel like it’s trying too hard.
Simply dressing Bollywood actors — or relying only on them — no longer carries the same currency. “Today, there are too many prerequisites to [get people to] even agree to something,” says Kalyani Saha Chawla, founder of Rezon Silverware and former vice president of marketing and communications for Dior when it first came to India. The stars are not really interested unless a film is coming out and even that has lost its sheen.”
Which is why athletes, creators and crossover personalities are stepping in more than ever before.
For Smriti Mandhana, a ‘friend’ of Rado, the relationship feels more intuitive. “For me, it is definitely more about alignment than just an endorsement,” she says.
Adrian Bosshard, Rado’s chief executive officer frames it as a structural shift from the brand’s perspective. “While an ambassador typically represents the brand on a broader, more global scale, a friend of the brand is rooted in a more local, organic, and evolving relationship — one built on shared values, authenticity, and a natural affinity with Rado’s philosophy,” he says. “With Smriti, the connection was immediate… this collaboration enables us to deepen our connection with a younger, progressive audience.”
The same logic applies at the ground level. Vivek Sahni, founder and chairman of Kama Ayurveda, announced model Mahieka Sharma as campaign ambassador for Sandanya, their new anti-blemish collection. “The campaign ambassador format allows us to collaborate with individuals who are deeply aligned with a specific moment, story, and conversation we want to bring to our consumers,” he says. Sharma’s personal experience with hormonal acne and her daily practice of Ayurveda made her a natural fit.
“I feel proud because Indian models have not gotten this kind of positioning in many years,” says Sharma. “I’ve always thought, ‘Why me? What do I bring that’s unique to the brand?’ If there is a disconnect in how or what they sell, or how they campaign, then I won’t take it up.”
It’s a strategy both Mathias and Parameswaran see gaining ground: multiple faces, multiple markets, multiple micro-conversations happening all at once.
Beyond the Brief
Brand muses move away from endorsement into something more interpretive. “These are cases where the ambassador celebrity has got a creative role to play,” notes Mathias, pointing to categories like perfumes and even luxury housing. It’s less about visibility, more about translating personality into a brand world.
Parameswaran also points to Air (2023), the film tracing how Nike partnered with Michael Jordan, as a kind of north star. “That is much more than being an ambassador or being an endorser,” he says. “It’s like being almost like a partner for the brand.”
“I think it’s incredible,” says actor Sobhita Dhulipala, reflecting on her association as a ‘friend’ of Charlotte Tilbury. “I am honoured and I love their products so it’s been a great, great association so far.”
Sahni adds, “Ultimately, what a consumer remembers isn’t the length of a partnership, but the clarity and authenticity of the story being told.” Over time, some friends of the brand evolve into longer-term ambassadors as well.
At the global level, a handful of Indian names have broken through. Priyanka Chopra Jonas for Bvlgari, Deepika Padukone for Louis Vuitton, Alia Bhatt for Gucci. But Chawla argues the field remains narrow.
“They’ve done so well for the image of the brands in India, but it’s come down to two, three of these girls,” she says.
She points to a newer kind of global ambassador emerging outside the film industry. “There’s something so organic about Bhavitha (Mandava) and the whole story that [Chanel has] created,” she says. The Hyderabad-born model, recently appointed as a house ambassador for the brand was spotted on a New York subway. “It is a PR machine on overdrive,” Chawla adds. “But she’s the phenomenon now. A non-Bollywood 22–23-year-old girl spotted on a subway in New York — I mean, what a story.”
The Cost of Friendship
But every good story comes at a price. Longevity is no longer the default setting. As Jha puts it, brands are increasingly moving away from long-term commitments. “There are too many new flavours of the day,” he says. “Entertainment and advertising are very representative of what society is doing. If the consumer doesn't have loyalties, why should the brand?”
Parameswaran breaks down how the process works. To sign Shah Rukh Khan or Amitabh Bachchan, their team first runs a hygiene check — if it is a genuine company, and they can pay — and then allocates a day or two a year to shoot. “I know someone who signed Amitabh about five, six years ago, and I think he was charging ₹9 crores per day for three years. Shah Rukh may be similar,” he says. Industry sources note that big names charge about ₹5 to ₹10 crores per day in 2026.
Mathias also recalls the PepsiCo deal with Bachchan. “This is donkey’s years ago in 1999, when Bachchan was going through a low phase. Pepsi signed him [for Mirinda Lemon] with a contract that no one would believe today,” he says. “Six months later, Kaun Banega Crorepati (2000) happened, and everything changed.”
While superstar deals remain lucrative, they are no longer the centre of gravity. Brands are increasingly turning to smaller, more relatable voices — micro-influencers who carry authenticity. A creator such as Geetha Mami, for instance, can weave a product seamlessly into her content, making the endorsement feel less like advertising and more like lived experience. “These deals range from ₹50,000 to even ₹15 lakh, depending on scale. They’re usually short-term, six months to a year,” says Mathias.
And yes, almost everything is paid. “120 per cent,” Jha says bluntly. For those outside the top tier, compensation can even come in kind — holidays, hotel stays, or travel perks in exchange for posts.
And for the ‘friends’? “At the very outset, the brand is looking for a damn good deal, a throwaway price,” Jha says. “Some celebrities don’t like this friend thing because they get attached to the brand, labelled, so others won’t touch them, at least for a while… I’ve seen the sensible ones are declining friendships.” The pricing, he adds, can drop to “20 or 25 per cent of their real value”.
At the global level, numbers escalate dramatically. Jha recalls brokering a deal with footballer Lionel Messi around 2015–16, noting that the footballer commanded “almost four to five times” what Bollywood stars did — unsurprising, given football and Messi's global reach. Even a star as influential as Virat Kohli faces limits because “cricket is not as global a sport as football or tennis.
What’s also changing is the structure of campaigns themselves. “Earlier, Pepsi did three big campaigns a year, all over television, cinema, radio. Now, there are 40–50 smaller campaigns targeting micro-segments,” says Mathias. Data and AI have enabled brands to slice audiences into ever-finer categories — and clear agreements around how both are used will only become more important. The result is a surge in niche brands thriving on precision rather than mass appeal.
There are cultural differences, too. Parameswaran observes that Hollywood celebrities tend to guard their image more fiercely, endorsing selectively and charging a premium. Indian stars, in contrast, are far more open. “They endorse underwear and soda, just anything and everything,” he says.
Yet for all the churn, one principle remains the same. As Chawla puts it, “India is definitely a big market. It’s also a very discerning clientele.” In the end, success isn’t just about scale or celebrity — it’s about fit. It’s all a matter of sales and engaging with the right person to represent you, which goes with the ethos of your brand as well.