The Socialite Host

Call it celebrity endorsement with a twist in the age of Page 3. You don8217;t need to get yourself an officially designated brand ambassador. You don8217;t need to have him/her modelling your product. But since parties now get covered in newspapers and on television, and since the extent of coverage depends on how upmarket your guest list is, savvy entrepreneurs are waking up to a new promotional tool: get a socialite to host your launch party, invite a bunch of A-list friends who would not come if you were the one calling and garner media space that you could not otherwise dream of.

When Capitol, the new nightclub in Hotel Ashok, was being introduced to Delhiites earlier this year, business partners Parveen Nayyar and Siddharth Singh Chaudhry realised it needed that little extra push. Ashok, with its staid sarkari image, is hardly a place you8217;d associate with a hip clientele. Was there a Pied Piper who could lure the city8217;s cool crowd to Capitol? Chaudhry8212;incidentally, actress Mahima Chaudhry8217;s brother8212;zeroed in on perennial party presence Ramona Vadera then Garware neacute;e Narang. 8216;8216;Ramona is Page 3,8217;8217; says Nayyar. 8216;8216;She moves in the kind of social circles we were hoping to attract to Capitol. So we asked her to host the launch party.8217;8217; Adds Chaudhry, 8216;8216;I wouldn8217;t call her a socialite socialite. She8217;s a trendsetter and knows other people who are trendsetters. It8217;s not like we set out saying, 8216;Who8217;s the best socialite in the city? Okay, let8217;s get Ramona.8217; I was new to Delhi at the time whereas it had been some months since she moved here from Mumbai, so we were asking her to help us out the way we8217;d ask any friend.8217;8217;

Why quibble over the nitty-gritty? Fact is, everyone has something to gain here. As Ramona puts it: 8216;8216;When I invite my friends, they would come for the launch, get a feel of the place and once introduced to it, might become frequent visitors. That8217;s what Capitol8217;s owners were hoping for.8217;8217; The party ended up attracting impressive numbers from Delhi and Mumbai, and by that we mean designer Tarun Tahiliani, hotelier Shashank Bhagat, Shah Rukh Khan8217;s wife Gauri, Chunkey Pandey8217;s wife Bhavna, John Abraham, Mahesh Bhatt, Mukesh Bhatt and Sushma Reddy among others.

Big question: Ramona was not being paid, so what did she gain? Answer: the chance to throw yet another party for her friends, this one at someone else8217;s expense. Wonder if Philip Kotler and other marketing gurus had this in mind when they wrote about lofty concepts like 8216;8216;symbiotic marketing8217;8217;? Read: when two or more parties join hands to exploit an emerging marketing opportunity, where each party sees substantial gains from teaming up instead of going it alone.

Or as brand consultant Arjun Sawhney puts it simply, 8216;8216;The new product needs publicity. The star in this case a socialite needs exposure to maintain that star power. So the star gets to throw a party for her guest list without paying a thing, and the product gets a certain image because of those guests.8217;8217;

The trend is still taking infant steps. At Mumbai8217;s barely-three-month-old Provogue Lounge Bar, every Wednesday part of the space is given over to a group of socialites to throw a party for their friends. In a crowded marketplace, Provogue hopes to sustain interest with these evening dos. The society press is unlikely to bother with just another party, but when it8217;s hosted by the likes of actress Kitu Gidwani, model Namrata Baruwa or designer Shaina NC, then ears perk up. Plus it helps the place attract patrons who want to be seen at a hangout frequented by such celebs.

Who would have thought that socialite-ism would one day transform itself from a frivolous ideology to a handy marketing device? The 8216;8216;socialite host8217;8217; is a step ahead of the stage quite passeacute; now! when every second product launch was accompanied by a fashion show. Now, you spare the designers the trouble of throwing together a clothing line for a show that no one will take seriously anyway. You simply ask them to throw a party for their friends.

That8217;s what the owners of Ozone did. One of the hottest fitness centres in Delhi now, Ozone created a stir late last year when it opened with a party hosted by designers Manish Arora, Malini Ramani and Aparna Chandra. The three were wisely chosen: they8217;re relatively young, physically fit and have a funky image. They are also popular. Seven hundred guests turned up, among them hotelier Priya Paul, businessman Sunjay Kapur, designers, veejays, models, in short, everyone. Which means, Ozone was exposed in that single evening to 700 potential clients. 8216;8216;Today, we have about 30 Page 3 type people like Ravi Bajaj and Rohit Bal, who are our clients,8217;8217; says FJ Singh, president of Ozone. 8216;8216;Whenever model Rahul Dev comes to Delhi, he works out at Ozone. We are not targeting only celebrities, but ours is certainly an upmarket clientele. Having celebs helps.8217;8217; Ozone has not advertised till date, but has already touched a membership of 600 which is considerable considering that charges stand at Rs 50,000 per year per person.

Not every socialite is willing to jump on to the bandwagon. Mumbai society queen bee Queenie Dhody, for instance, says she8217;s turned down an offer to host a party 8216;8216;for someone8217;8217;. Does she consider it infra dig? 8216;8216;Not that there8217;s anything wrong with it. It serves a purpose for everyone involved,8217;8217; she says politely. 8216;8216;But I8217;ve always believed in throwing my own parties at my own venue and paying for it myself. I8217;d rather entertain with my own food and wine.8217;8217;

Those who8217;ve tried their hand at it, admit that the advantages come with a catch. 8216;8216;I did Ozone for a lark,8217;8217; says Chandra. 8216;8216;But I realised later that people see you as a brand ambassador. I wouldn8217;t do this often, and unless it8217;s a brand I want my name to be associated with.8217;8217; Looking back at the Capitol experience, Ramona Vadera says: 8216;8216;I was supposed to invite my friends to the launch, but I didn8217;t realise that the owners would also invite their friends. The guests were all from different backgrounds, my people did not know their people, and it became a big mess.8217;8217; Still, she8217;s not shying away from doing it again. Ambassadress Ramona is going strong.

with inputs from Namrata Sharma Zakaria in Mumbai