Shah Rukh is new Emami brand ambassador

Bollywood's reigning king Shah Rukh Khan would succeed Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly in endorsing Emami's Chyawanprash brand Sona Chandi, a campaign, which the company expects would trigger its growth by 28 per cent in the next fiscal.

Though current ambassadors Ganguly and film star Sunny Deol would continue to endorse the company's products, Khan would feature in television and print commercials becoming Emami's costliest ambassador at par with Amitabh Bachchan and south Indian star Chiranjeevi, company director Aditya V Agarwal told a press meet in Kolkata on Wednesday.

Not disclosing Khan's endorsement fees, Agarwal said the company would spend over Rs 8 crore (Rs 80 million) on the campaign with the three brand ambassadors and expected to increase its brand turnover from Rs 30 crore (Rs 300 million) to Rs 40 crore (Rs 400 million) by 2005-06.

Emami spends about Rs 25 crore (Rs 250 million) on brand ambassador fees and about Rs 50 crore (Rs 500 million) on advertisements.

Khan was likely to endorse two more brands of the company for which negotiations were on, he said.

"The current Chyavanprash market in India is Rs 130 crore (Rs 1.3 billion), of which Dabur holds 60 per cent and we hold 18 per cent. With star endorsements, we hope to overtake the market leader by targetting the youth," Agarwal said.

The company would also launch a summer variant of its Chyavanprash brand by substituting 'heat producing' ingredients of its winter product with cooling ingredients like khus, chandan and rosewater.

"We want to build a brand that is visible throughout the year," he said.