Where is Virat Kohli & Rohit Sharma’s brand value headed post T20I retirement?
As India relished its T20 World Cup win after 13 long years, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli announced their retirement from the format (international). On one hand, fans celebrated the trophy coming home, they also felt a bittersweet sadness as they bid farewell to two shining stars of the Indian cricket team. While the retirement will surely not change the love that the two cricket superstars get from their fans, will their departure from T20 Internationals impact their brand value? Experts are divided. Sharing their opinion, some industry watchers say the brand value of the two players would only amplify. Some others believe it would be quite the opposite going forward.
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Aviral Jain, Managing Director, Kroll said, “This shall lead to double digit percentage increase in their brand portfolios, and the endorsement fee levels may also get a push. Overall, a 15-20% jump can be easily expected.”
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As per the recent celebrity brand valuation report, Virat Kohli regained first rank to become India’s most valued celebrity with a brand value of US Dollar 227.9 million. Sharma stood at rank 18 with a valuation of US Dollar 41 million. Brand endorsements set to multiply Chandramouli, CEO, TRA Research feels after such a wonderful achievement, the two will only increase their brand value and therefore they're going to see many more companies coming to them. “This event will stand as a legacy for eons to come, especially for Rohit Sharma captain and Virat Kohli, who had been under fire for their performance. But they have been successful in squashing all the criticism against them so, this is a very good position to be,” according to him. He further stressed upon the fact that the fandom of such players only increases because they are great personalities who one can look up to. “Even those who were perhaps sitting on the fence, or perhaps a little bit on this side, will also join the bandwagon of the fandom now. We will only see the popularity increase because of not just their performance, but the attitude to life which they both carry,” he added. T20 wouldn’t impact Lloyd Mathias, business strategist and investor, however, brings in a different opinion. “Sport stars usually have a shorter shelf life as brand ambassadors than movie stars. Most of them experience a drop in their brand value after retirement. But there are exceptions like Sachin Tendulkar and Mahendra Singh Dhoni who continue to enjoy high brand values years after leaving professional cricket,” he shared. He explained, “In the case of Rohit Sharma and Virat, it is premature to say anything as they have retired only from the T20 international format. They will both continue to play the ODIs, test cricket and IPL. I don’t see any immediate fall in either of their brand values. If anything, it might rise in the wake of the euphoric win in the T20 World Cup.” Brand value set for downhill Looking at the situation from a different perspective, Sandeep Goyal, Managing Director, Rediffusion Brand Solutions, believes when cricketers are on the verge of retirement, two things happen. One, a lot of clients will say, ‘We think it is good enough to invest for the next one or two years and then retire.’ Two, the type of brands that want to advertise with cricketers will change over time. “While they may have won the World Cup, it doesn't necessarily mean that Kohli and Sharma may positively get impacted by the victory,” he added. He also highlighted that while the World Cup has its own benefits, both Kohli and Sharma are already very close to the saturation point; they are already endorsing 20-30 brands. So, making more ads is not improbable. The downside is that because they have both declared that they are getting out of the most in-vogue format, their brand value is likely to be impacted. For more updates, be socially connected with us on
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