Salman Khan hitches onto the 'brandwagon' with newfound swag

At 54, Bollywood superstar Salman Khan suddenly seems to be finding newfound swag in the arena of brand endorsement. He is fronting ads of a smartphone brand, a popular cola and more. The actor who has always enjoyed a massive appeal and "resonates with the word 'swag' in a way no one else can", would always seem like a top pick among Bollywood stars for endorsements, but he preferred staying away from the brands game so far.

On Wednesday, Chinese smartphone maker Realme announced that it had roped in Salman as brand ambassador. The actor will be endorsing the brand's upcoming Realme 6 and Realme 6 Pro devices for an undisclosed amount.

"What makes Salman Khan the best choice for us it that he enjoys a massive appeal across various regions and demographic profiles of India. That brings immense value to us as one of the unique selling propositions of our brand lies in making cutting edge technology, fun, stylish, quality-driven products within everyone's reach and across all price segments. Having Salman Khan on board with a mammoth fan following will help us reach and tap into that target audience of ours," said Madhav Sheth, Vice President of Realme and CEO of Realme India.

Owing to the fact that he owns the Being Human brand, Salman has always minimised associating with product endorsement. Rare cases where said yes include Revital health supplements, Dixcy Scott men's innerwear, the fintech company BharatPe, and decor solutions provider Somany Ceramics. He was also associated with the cola brand Thums Up for a long time, but that ended a while back.

On his new positioning as the face of Realme, Salman said he is happy. "I am happy to be the face of the world's fastest growing smartphone brand. The Realme 6 series is stylish and edgy and I am sure it will find favour with consumers," said Salman, who has 39.2 million followers on Twitter.

The former brand ambassador of Thums Up also got his fizz back recently by being the face of Pepsi.

"Salman Khan is known to have a strong connect across generations and genders. He is a youth icon across the nation and his popularity, mass appeal and connect with the Indian audience makes him a perfect choice for us, given we are a youth centric brand. In fact, his effortlessly cool attitude enables today's generation to strongly relate with him and we believe he resonates with the word, SWAG, in a way no one else can," PepsiCo India spokesperson told IANS about Salman, who has been associated with the word "swag" since his song "Swag se swagat" in the 2017 blockbuster "Tiger Zinda Hai" became a dance anthem, thanks to its peppy beats, the cool moves and the chemistry he shares with heroine Katrina Kaif.

Earlier this month, Pepsi launched its Valentine's Day anthem "Swag se solo" featuring the actor. It witnessed massive success, with over 118 million views on YouTube in two weeks. Pepsi's #SwagStepChallenge has created a record of 52.8 billion hits on TikTok and the recent 'Swag Se Solo' challenge saw over 5 billion hits with over 50,000 videos.

In the recent past too, Pepsi worked with Salman for an integration with his movie, "Dabangg 3", and created a challenge to don the ‘Dabangg Pepsi' shades, which was one of the most successful challenges on TikTok in India, with more than one lakh videos.

Of course, the one brand that is truly dear to him, Salman would tell you, will always be Being Human, his charity initiative, which has a clothing line, too. "Being Human is my heart and soul. I have been active and will continue to help around as much I can. Yes, I can says it has changed my life at a certain level," he told IANS earlier.