NEW DELHI: Former Indian cricket team captain, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, announced his retirement from international cricket last week via an emotional video on Instagram.  

As soon as the news broke out, social media was abuzz with his name trending on top, not only netizens but brands also paid tribute to the iconic cricketers in their style. 

Brands bid farewell to MS Dhoni for making India proud

The ‘Captain Cool’ has always been a darling of brands and been able to attract audiences. He has endorsed brands across all categories. These include soap, insurance, two-wheeler, engine oil, used cars, and others. However, his brand value has taken a slight dip in the last few years. The announcement of Dhoni’s retirement brings us to the next big question - What will be the impact on the equity of brand Dhoni? Will this be the end of an era, or brands will continue to invest in Dhoni? 

As per reports, between January 2019 to November 2019, Dhoni associated with 44 brands. If going by this year trend from January to March, Virat Kohli regained the top spot, while Mahi bagged the second spot in the list.

Several experts believe that his brand value might not be affected as he will continue to play IPL. The former captain also has plans to associate himself with the international leagues, which may increase the brand value, depending on the situation.

Dhoni was excluded from the Board of Control for Cricket in India’s (BCCI’s) annual contract list for October 2019 to September 2020.

Even though he retired from Test cricket in 2014, but it never impacted his brand value.

Let us closely look at how brand Dhoni has fared in the advertising world. In 2010, he topped the chart for celebrity endorsements on television during the first six months. According to the Adex survey of TAM Media Research, during the January to June period of 2010, Dhoni endorsed 24 brands on TV. As per Forbes data, Dhoni made $26.5 million (about Rs 200 crore) in 2010, and only a small portion of that payout, about $3.5 million (about Rs 26.4 crore), came directly from Dhoni's on-field play.

In 2016, his net worth was at $31 million, and brand endorsements comprised a large part of this value. His total annual earnings from brand endorsements were between Rs 120 crore to Rs 150 crore at that time. 

In 2018, the Duff & Phelps’ Celebrity brand value ranking valued Dhoni at $26.9 million placing him at 12th spot in terms of celebrity brand value.

According to the same report, Dhoni was at the 9th spot with a brand value of $41.2 million in 2019. In the same year, he managed to retain the 5th spot on the Forbes India celebrity 100 lists.

TRA Research CEO N. Chandramouli feels that whenever a sportsperson retires, their brand equity does fall as they have a limited shelf-life, both on and off the field. “This will not be very different for MS Dhoni also, but he still has a successful IPL career, which will give him a continued presence on the sporting field. His endorsement value started seeing a dip about six months ago, but he will still command a strong value till his IPL days.”

Dhoni, earlier reportedly used to charge between Rs 8 - 12 crore for each endorsement. However, now experts feel this may come down to Rs 3.5 - 4 crore. 

Chandramouli states, “As his visibility reduces on the field, with lesser engagements, a brand will calculate the ROI of his field presence, and associate if the ROI is justified. It is a cut-throat business and a difficult market. The endorsement value of a player is correlated to his success and presence.”

There will be brands that would want to associate with the cricketer because of the trust he has built on and off the field, and this will pay off with more extended brand associations. 

According to a report by ESP Properties, sports sponsorship in India grew a healthy 17 percent to Rs 9,000 crore in 2019. As per the last year's report, there were 70 new brand endorsement deals, of which cricketers clinched 50 deals. Dhoni pulled 63 per cent of the total brand endorsements. 

On the other hand, Samsika Marketing Consultants chairman and managing director Jagdeep Kapoor has a distinct view as he believes Dhoni as a brand goes beyond cricket. His core values reflect life. “He is a unique brand property. The attributes, the passion, the zest for life are traits that good brands would like to associate with,” adds Kapoor.

However, the audiences will miss the long-haired cricketer on the ground who can hit helicopter sixes and entertain them.