Dhoni’s brand value may go down almost 50%!

When the cricketer Dhoni is in distress, the brand Dhoni can’t escape the impact. Recently, Justice Lodha committee banned two teams–Rajasthan Royals and Chennai Super Kings (CSK), the Indian ODI skipper, MS Dhoni being a part of CSK was close to the team owner.

But would this banning affect the image of Dhoni?

Dhoni has retired from Test cricket and his latest performance as ODI captain was poor, as per a news report by The Economic Times.

Yet, Dhoni endorses 18 brands, many of them major like Pepsi, Reebok, TVS, Boost and Star Sports. His reported endorsement fees, say industry observers, is between Rs 10 crore and Rs 12 crore per brand, higher than that commanded by India test captain Virat Kohli.

Forbes had listed him as the world's fifth most valuable sportsperson brand in 2014 as the world's fifth most valuable sportsperson brand, valued at $ 20 million. And only last week, he was named as the world's ninth most marketable in a study by London School of Marketing, the ET report confirms.

Corporate executives (CXOs) and experts ET spoke to said although the lack of marketeable cricketers means Dhoni's brand will retain some pull, endorsement rates can get lower when contracts are renewed. Rates may come down by as much as 25% to 30%.

ET spoke to a dozen major brands endorsed by Dhoni. PepsiCo, Reebok and Glaxo SmithKline, the manufacturers of Boost, did not comment on the matter. Questions sent to Orient Electric, Ashok Leyland, Gulf Oil and Star Sports were not answered. But off record, some CXOs closely involved with marketing Dhoni for their companies were of the view that the once shining brand is starting to lose its sheen.

The chief executive of a major brand Dhoni endorses said the cricketer is certainly losing his brand value. "He's not playing Tests and that impacts his valuation.

The fact that he's closely associated with N Srinivasan is cause for discomfort as well," a CEO told a financial daily. "The lack of marketeable criketers means that our contract will continue", the top executive said, "but we will negotiate lower endorsement terms".

"Dhoni's brand value will go down by 50% after this (the CSK team suspension). The fact that he's associated with India Cements is a huge setback. His continued silence hasn't helped either," Shailendra Singh, joint managing director of sports and media entertainment firm Percept told the ET.

He added that Dhoni's cricket career has been on the decline. "The fact that he resigned from Test cricket in the middle of a series too hasn't gone down well with brands he's associated with," he said.

(Image: Business Insider)