He’s certainly the hottest property in endorsements today—Brand Equity burnt its fingers on the brand that is John Abraham.

Becoming a style icon for the country’s youth is no mean achievement for a suburban Mumbai boy. John Abraham today is a brand in his own right. It’s not just his good looks but a capacity for hard work—right from the first day of his career as a media planner—that’s got him there. Abraham’s popularity rocketed following his return as a stylish biker gang burglar in Dhoom, Which led the marketing world to seek him out. And the few brands he’ worked with no longer debate the effectiveness of celebrity endorsement. Some of them—Fastrack, Yamaha and Wrangler--had earlier never depended on celebrity endorsements, but decided to make a gamble on Abraham, which as it turns out, paid off. Besides with the Big 3 of Sachin, Shah Rukh and Amitabh Bachchan being prohibitively expensive (their rates are estimated to hover around Rs 5 crores on an average, reaching twice that amount of some of Bachchan’s recent projects), the decision perhaps made economic sense too.

It was a serious strategy for us. There was a true brand connects with John and what Yamaha stands for – stylish, sporty and innovative, "says a senior marketing executive at Yamaha. It was a fit at yet another level – Abraham has been a bike enthusiast for a long time. Research gives him a green signal too, as he frequently shows up on listings of youth icons. "Both genders look up to him for his looks, style. Intelligent and a certain irreverence." says Asim Warsi AGM - Telecom, Samsung. Which recently signed on Abraham?