Feb 2017 saw Virat Kohli, captain of Team India, making a big announcement on his Twitter, “A new era begins now. With @PUMA. #Forever #ForeverFaster”, heralding the start of an 8-year period for which he shall endorse Puma.
The endorsement deal is worth INR 110 crores, broken up into –
- Fixed payments of roughly INR 12 crore per annum
- Royalty payments depending on the brand's business performance
The Puma contract is path-breaking if you consider the fact that no Indian sportsperson has ever signed a deal of this magnitude. In the past, Sachin Tendulkar and MS Dhoni have been in the Rs 100-crore club through multi-year contract with sports and talent management agencies, but neither crossed the mark via a single deal.
Puma would work with Kohli in markets like UK, Australia, South Africa and the Middle East and "wherever Cricket is relevant.” The deal helps Virat fill the gap for a sports brand in his portfolio, which had appeared since December, when he decided not to renew his 3-year contract with Adidas.
Currently, the stalwart endorses the following 17 brands apart from Puma –
- Audi
- Boost
- Colgate
- Gionee
- Herbalife
- Manyavar
- MRF
- Nitesh Estates
- Pepsi
- Punjab National Bank
- Samsonite
- Shyam Steel
- Smaaash
- Tissot
- USL
- Valvoline
- Vicks
The journey
Kohli’s brand endorsement journey started soon after he captained India U-19 team to victory in the 2008 U-19 World Cup. He was signed up by sports agent Bunty Sajdeh of Cornerstone Sport and Entertainment after the 2008 Under-19 World Cup. (Sajdeh also manages endorsements for Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma and Murali Vijay.)
His first endorsement was in 2010 when he joined actor Genelia D’Souza for Titan’s Fastrack. The deal lasted 2 years and was worth INR 25 lakhs, a miniscule amount as compared to his current earnings.
The ascent
The years since 2010 witnessed Kohli coming into his own, rising exponentially on the back of some brilliant innings to emerge as India’s leading and one of the world’s best batsmen. He went on to assume captaincy of India in all three formats of the game and of the IPL franchise Royal Challengers Bangalore. His brand value has increased in sync throughout.
One of his biggest endorsement deals was signed in 2014, INR 10 crore per annum deal with German sports goods giant Adidas, for a 3-year period. The same year, he signed up for a INR 6.5 crore-per-year deal with MRF.
In 2015, the charismatic batsman entered into an 18-month deal with carmaker Audi India (INR 5 crores). Audi thus replaced Japanese automaker ToyotaKirloskar in his brand portfolio.
The enigma that keeps growing
All the different brands have the option of either hiring the endorser on a yearly basis or a day basis. For the day based contracts, Kohli charges INR 2 crores per day (equivalent to the amount Sachin used to charge and higher than MS Dhoni’s INR 1.5 crores per day).
Kohli signs contracts for about 3 days with per day charge of Rs 2 crores. Brands utilizes those three days in photo shoots, press briefings along with other appearances
A notable thing is that Virat is quite selective about which brands he wants to associate his name with. “The brands which he thinks match his personality or he will use, are the ones he opts for,” says Sajdeh. According to industry sources, Tata Motors had approached Kohli but the cricketer chose to endorse Audi over it, even though it offered him lesser money, as the luxury automobile brand “suited” him more.
Apart from endorsements, he also has a plethora of investments in fashion brands, gyms and sports franchises, discussed in detail here.
‘Cheeku’ as he is fondly known in Delhi’s cricket circles, has certainly come a long way from a INR 25 lakh start with Titan to a INR 110 cr contract with Puma. In terms of cricket, he has Sachin’s records to chase down, but in terms of endorsements, he clearly leads the pack and only sky seems to be the limit!
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