That Mahesh Babu is the most-preferred brand ambassador among all South Indian stars is no secret. He has successfully upstaged practically all the big players who had been having a field day, to become the darling of national and international brands. Why, he had ceremoniously replaced Megastar Chiranjeevi as Thumbs Up's brand ambassador in the State much before he was touted as the next Big Man of Tollywood.

If Chiru's ads reportedly upped the sales of the brand in the State by 3 per cent, the impact of Mahesh was more dramatic. Following his glorious stint with some more brands, he came to rule the endorsement scene in no time.

Come March 7, Mahesh will take you by surprise. Guess what? He has replaced none other than Akshay Kumar as the national brand ambassador for Thumbs Up. The first ad will go on air from the 7th. This is no ordinary achievement for a Telugu star who has not done a single Bollywood movie!