Blog: Brand Dhoni - what are the best positioning opportunities?

Ever since MS Dhoni bowed out of international cricket on Independence Day, the one question everyone has been asking is where will brand Dhoni be headed now that Dhoni, the cricketer, is starting to fade out.

 

Dhoni last year endorsed a mind-numbing 44 brands, in fact one more than the 43 endorsed by Captain Kohli. These endorsements would easily be earning Mahi atleast Rs.100-120 crore annually, and the number could well be more. The moot question is that once Dhoni stops playing, his visibility is bound to diminish. In the business of brands, visibility equals saleability. Additionally, when a player is still in harness, his performances define his brand, and irrigate his goodness. Once the centuries seize to happen no more and the cheers on the lofted sixes are no more heard, clever thinking is required to position the brand, and to ensure relevance and longevity.

 

The Indian Institute of Human Brands (IIHB) conducted a 23-cities research covering 60,000 respondents at the beginning of this year. The launch of the research report got stymied by the outbreak of the pandemic. But in this exclusive piece for Campaign, I have extracted some unreleased data on MS Dhoni.

 

The most telling opportunity areas for Brand Dhoni for the future are the green boxes in the diagram below: 

 

 

The following positionings are by far Dhoni’s best opportunities where his human brand can be most leveraged.

 

1. Leader – Loved-by-all

2. Honest – Trustworthy

3. Down-to-earth – Honest

4. Ethical  – Trustworthy

5. Down-to-earth – Successful 

6. Intelligent – Honest 

 

Dhoni’d brand handlers would do well to ensure that all brands who use him, have creatives that utilise these above, his best ‘batting’ positions. 

 

Now to Dhoni’s plusses amongst his attributes. Trustworthy is Dhoni’s biggest strength. Whatever he does in the next few years, needs to continue to feed his brand’s biggest asset which is trust. He has had ‘accidents’ in the past with the Amrapali fiasco, the CSK betting scandal and then got himself negative publicity when he made a measly contribution to a charity recently at the start of the pandemic, despite his known riches. Dhoni will have to watch out for such trust diminishing disasters.

 

 

Reliable kind of goes hand-in-hand with trustworthy. So does straightforward. So we won’t dwell more on them. 

 

The interesting attributes that Dhoni can build on are progressive and innovative. For a lot of ‘new’ products or new launches, these facets of Dhoni can be beautifully leveraged to write a good script.

And ofcourse the cool dimension of Captain Cool is his very own. But the interpretation of ‘cool’ during his playing days was about his unflappable calm. Now cool will have to signify flamboyance. So some more smiling, a little less stiff, a bit more outgoing could do the trick. 

 

Dhoni is seen to be high quality compared to competition. That should open up endorsements in the area of luxury products, including cars, watches, hotels, travel and more. He is seen to be a leader, that too successful and strong. Makes him a good choice for a bank, insurance and more such. The only thing Dhoni will have to watch out for is that he chooses endorsements that are age appropriate.

 

 

Original and authentic are also very important differentiators for Brand Dhoni. Amongst cricketers, Kapil Dev was seen to be original and authentic. Which is why his endorsements for Boost and Palmolive were so very successful, and are even today etched in public memory. Dhoni has the same very qualities. Brands love these attributes as they give communication a much stronger anchoring. Sample this: if Dhoni is endorsing a 4WD vehicle versus say a Kartik Aaryan, his originality and authenticity would give him the edge for sure, by far.

 

Dhoni, the brand, has still a lot of catching up to do, however, on charming and fun. If Dhoni sheds some of his natural reserve, it will ‘youngify’ his brand. We have already seen that happening with Sachin Tendulkar who is today far more relaxed, accessible and smiling than he ever was during his playing days.

 

 

Dhoni also lags on sophisticated, distinctive, upper-class and prestigious. Despite his huge success on and off the field, Dhoni despite his riches, still cannot compete with the likes of Ranbir Kapoor or the Khans who are better for products that are deemed classier or luxurious. Out of his portfolio of the hundred odd brands he has endorsed so far, no wonder there are no real top end aspirational brands, except Panerai watches. If Dhoni has to move upwards in the class of brands, his attributes will need to revv up.

 

How long will Dhoni be around as a serious endorser? Sachin Tendulkar had a slow fade out over 7-8 years. He is still visible. But only. Sehwag and Yuvraj lost franchise much quicker. Methinks, Dhoni is a fighter. Will stretch for longer. 2025 surely. Possibly even 2030. 

 

View the full report here.

 

Dr. Sandeep Goyal is the chief mentor of the Indian Institute of Human Brands (IIHB).