Does the captain still take it all? The changing dynamics of cricket ads

Over the past four decades, since brands began hiring cricketers for endorsements, the captain of the Indian team has always had a distinct edge and a clear advantage. Brand managers have invariably favoured the captain over any of his team members.

 

Sunil Gavaskar, India captain in most of the Indian cricket team’s outings from 1978 to 1985, was amongst the first to feature in commercials — his Dinesh suitings campaign and his Thums Up ads were trendsetters of the 1970s and ’80s. None of the famous spin quartet — Bishan Singh Bedi, EAS Prasanna,  B S  Chandrashekhar, or Srinivas Venkataraghavan, all Gavaskar's contemporaries — were featured in commercials, despite their equally impressive cricketing achievements.

 

The 1983 World Cup winning India captain, Kapil Dev, first appeared as brand ambassador for Boost in 1986 or 1987. He then featured in the famous “Palmolive da jawaab nahin” shaving cream commercial. His compatriot and vice-captain Mohinder Amarnath, who was Man of the Match in both the semis and the final of the 1983 World Cup, however, got no endorsement contracts. 

 

In later years, captains Dilip Vengsarkar, K Srikkanth, and Azharuddin did not capture the interest of the marketing world, nor did any other cricketers. But then, Captain Sachin Tendulkar arrived and opened the endorsement floodgates. He took the baton from Kapil Dev with the iconic “Boost is the secret of my energy” campaign and went on to appear in ads for MRF, Pepsi, Adidas, and many more. No other cricketer during his reign received as much attention. Tendulkar, despite being retired for almost a decade, continues to be wooed by brands.

 

Captains Sourav Ganguly (starting with Parry’s, Hero Honda and more) and Rahul Dravid (kicking off with Kissan, Palmolive, Pepsi, Castrol …) followed in Tendulkar’s footsteps with blistering knocks on the endorsements front during their innings, and continue to be sought after even today. Much the same happened with captain M S Dhoni. His teammates Yuvraj Singh and Virender Sehwag got a few endorsements, too, but the captain outscored them by miles. And then came Virat Kohli, who nearly hit a century in brand endorsements, dwarfing all his teammates. Rohit Sharma, despite being the team’s hit-man, had a lukewarm run with brands till he donned the mantle of captaincy. After his elevation, his endorsements suddenly more than doubled, in count and in value.

 

Has the axiom that the captain-takes-all started to wane somewhat in the past few years? After the longish reign of captain Kohli (68 Tests + 95 ODIs + 50 T20s) and the continuing innings of captain Rohit Sharma (21 Tests + 48 ODIs + 62 T20s), we suddenly have a number of India captains, across different formats, in our midst: Ajinkya Rahane (6 Tests + 3 ODIs + 2 T20s), K L Rahul (3 Tests + 12 ODIs + 1 T20), Jasprit Bumrah (2 Tests + 2 T20s), Shikhar Dhawan (12 ODIs + 3 T20s), Hardik Pandya (3 ODIs + 16 T20s), Rishabh Pant (5 T20s), Ruturaj Gaikwad (3 T20s), Surya Kumar Yadav (13 T20s) and Shubman Gill (5 T20s). Rohit Sharma may still be the first among equals, but today, half a dozen others are probable claimants to the captain’s crown.

 

This has truly opened up the endorsement market, which has become more fragmented than ever before. However, it is still the captains who dominate brand endorsements. Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma remain hot brand favourites, for sure. But SKY (Surya Kumar Yadav) also endorses over 20 brands — UniScholars, Maxima, Boult, SS Cricket, JioCinema, Royal Stag and Reebok, among others. Pant has at least 15 brands that he sells: Adidas, JSW, Realme, Cadbury, and Zomato being some of them. Pandya, too, has more than 20 ambassadorships — Gatorade, BigMuscles, Hyundai Exter, Souled Store and Fancode Shop being some of them. Gill is a sizzling hot favourite with brands, especially those targeting Gen Z. He is today the face of Coca-Cola, G-Shock, Bajaj Allianz, Tata Capital, Ceat and ITC Fiama, besides others. Bumrah and Rahul are also somewhat in demand.

 

The spoils of the advertising war seem to have got more evenly democratised and distributed amongst the very many captains today — the recognition of being named the top gun seems to automatically attract brands. Broadening the captaincy has obviously benefited the various interim/stand-in/WIP (work-in-progress) captains. It has substantially enhanced their brand value. Non-captains still face resistance.

 

I was reading the proposed contract of one of the younger turks the other day — it said that if the player were to be named captain in any format, his endorsement fees would get boosted by 50 per cent instantly. Obviously, being captain, even today, counts for much more than just leading the India XI on the field. 

 

The author is chairman of Rediffusion