The 27-year-old Indian test captain, Virat Kohli has not only been consistently delivering for his team on the pitch but his latest inclusion in the Rs. 100 crore club has proved that he is the new poster boy of Indian cricket when it comes to the commercialisation front of the sport.
The right-handed batsman who has already racked up over 10,000 runs for his country in all three formats of the game is on course to become the biggest sports celebrity in India with a total of thirteen brands in his kitty.
Even before he joined the Indian cricket team, Virat Kohli had been managed by Cornerstone Sport and Entertainment which has claimed to be ‘India's leading talent management agency in the spectrum of sport and entertainment alike.’
Bunty Sajdeh, the founder and the CEO of the organisation has told the press, “Virat has, for a while, been (a) darling of the advertisers. Now I think he is just driving the point home. Today, he is very much on par, if not higher, with Mahendra Singh Dhoni.”
According to ESP Properties SportzPower Report, the Royal Challengers Bengaluru captain had created quite a stir in the brand endorsement world back in 2014 when he signed a contract with the German sports goods manufacturing company, Adidas which was reportedly worth Rs. 10 crores per annum.
Right now, the 27-year-old Indian cricketer has brands like MRF, Pepsi, Audi, Vicks, Boost, USL, TVS, Smaaash, Nitesh Estates, Tissot, Herbalife and Colgate under his belt. Also, his deal with MRF reportedly fetches Virat Kohli an amount of Rs. 6.5 crores every year.
In the same interview given to ET, Sajdeh said, “He is physically and mentally very strong and comes across as fearless. He ticks out the top five boxes that any advertiser will look for while engaging with a celebrity. He is giving advertisers a reason to look outside Bollywood, which is a very cluttered space. That is why he is so successful at such a young age.”
Vinit Karnik who is the business head of ESP Properties, a Group M company, also had something to contribute on this topic.
“He has confidence, persona and personality to face the world. He is not shy of taking positions. In a way, he has qualities of Young India, so all the brands that would want to target young Indians would definitely want to get him on board. In terms of (an) absolute number of brands, he may take a bit longer, but it will be soon,” he said.
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