Mumbai, April 2: Gone are the days, when Bollywood celebrities and cricketers only got a chance to endorse brands. These days, brands are preferring un-common faces and people from different backgrounds to endorse their products. In the last few years, singers, and rappers are gaining a lot of prominence, and because of their unique style, brands have been using them to break the clutter through their campaigns.

Bisleri has recently launched a mango-based carbonated soft drink - Fonzo. Featuring singer Mika, the brand has launched their new marketing campaign, and according to a report on afaqs, Bisleri has spent Rs 60 crore on Fonzo's launch campaign. The brand will start its second phase of the campaign in September. Who would have thought that a person like Mika, who comes with a controversial image, will be used by a brand to launch their new product in the market?

Watch Fonzo's new ad, featuring Mika:

In another campaign,  launched recently by Reliance Fresh on social media, features popular rapper Baba Sehgal who talks about the 'The Big Jackpot Sale'. This sale will happen across popular grocery items from April 28 to May 2.

Watch the Reliance Fresh video:

However, this is not the first time, the popular rapper of the 90's is endorsing a brand on social media. Infact, he has worked with several brands KFC, Tata Cliq, Del Monte, Perfetti Van Melle and Amazon, who have deployed musical styling of Baba in their campaigns.

Hope you remember one of Sehgal's most famous Jumpin ads from 90s.

Punjabi rappers like Badshah, Raftaar and Diljit Dosanjh have also worked with several brands before to create music videos. Badshah has endorsed Yamaha, Hitachi, Badshah, Titan and Tuborg in the past. Coca-Cola roped in Punjabi singer and actor Diljit Dosanjh in 2015 for the Punjab market.

So why are brands going after musicians and rappers?

These rappers are extremely popular among today's youth and have an immense following on social media channels. E.g. Baba Sehgal writes songs like 'Aloo Paratha', 'Jalebi aur samosa' ,and each of these videos have clocked thousands of views. His YouTube channel has got more than 54,000 subscribers. Therefore, brands are looking to latch on to this immense fan following to grab eyeballs. Also, without a doubt, the cost of making these videos or endorsing rappers and singers is much less than roping in a big Bollywood celebrity. Finally, these un-common endorsers also help to break the clutter and create an instant recall.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on May 02, 2018 04:58 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).