Ahmedabad, 30 January 2014

Gujarat Tourism has been running the campaign “Khushboo Gujarat Ki” campaign with Amitabh Bachchan as the brand ambassador for the past Professors Abraham Koshy and Arvind Sahay of the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad have been commissioned to write a case on the branding campaign that is being carried out by Gujarat Tourism and its impact on tourist arrivals in Gujarat.

The purpose is to look at the broader phenomenon of celebrity endorsements as a marketing tool and their effectiveness – where does it work and where does it not? Clearly, domestic tourist arrivals in Gujarat have ramped up considerably, with an almost 33 % rise in the numbers from within the state, a 50% rise from other parts of India and from NRIs, and an almost 100% increase from foreign tourists as can be seen from the figures below.

As a part of the case writing project, IIMA has organized a panel discussion on the topic of “A Destination Branding Strategy Using Celebrity Endorsement” with the brand Ambassador, Mr. Amitabh Bachchan, the creative designer of the campaign, Mr. Piyush Pandey and the Principal Secretary, Gujarat Tourism, Mr. Vipul Mittra to share with the IIMA community and other guests from Ahmedabad, some highlights of the campaign and the thinking behind the campaign. The panel discussion looked at issues relating to the genesis of the idea, the reasons for using a celebrity for the first time in a campaign like this, the creative approach behind the campaign and its implementation.