Stepping down as Test captain, is it the last straw for brand Virat Kohli?

Under Kohli's leadership, India advanced to the finals of the World Test Championship (WTC) in 2020, but lost a keenly contested game to New Zealand.

Virat Kohli's decision to quit the Test cricket captaincy is not going down well with brand experts.

The cricketer, last year had announced stepping down as India T20 Captain, a decision which came after team India's early exit from the T20 World Cup. This was followed by The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) replacing Kohli as One Day International (ODI) captain with Rohit Sharma.

"With his controversial resignation from the ODI and T20 captaincy and associated exchanges with BCCI, and the recent on-field outcomes, brand Kohli has fallen in a concerning zone for marketers," said Aviral Jain, MD, Duff & Phelps--- A Kroll Business.

He said that new endorsement deals are likely to get affected due to Kohli quitting Test captaincy.

"With a sudden step down from Test captaincy, there could be a material impact on signing up new endorsements in the near term. Brands which have portrayed Kohli as a successful leader would also have to revisit their marketing strategies and campaigns," Jain added.

Whether Kohli is losing his sheen in the brand world remains debatable, a poll conducted last year by Indian Institute of Human Brands (IIHB) noted that 42 percent respondents said yes on being asked if Kohli deserved to be removed as ODI captain and 38 percent said no. When asked if the BCCI should have been more patient about its decision regarding ODI captaincy, as many as 71 percent said no.

Based on the poll, Sandeep Goyal, Chief mentor of the Indian Institute of Human Brands (IIHB) and managing director of ad agency Rediffusion thinks that brand Kohli is losing popularity.

He also noted in an earlier interview to Moneycontrol that in the past, cricket stars did lose out on brands when they walked away from captaincy.

He had pointed out that when ex-cricketer Sachin Tendulkar was eased out of the captaincy, his endorsements did not see a cliff-fall but he did start losing out gradually to Rahul Dravid.

While it may be a tough road ahead for brand Kohli, Jain said that the cricketer continues to enjoy the strongest social media following with around 265 million followers in 2021, an increase of 60 percent over 2020.

"With the reduced workload after stepping down from captaincy, Virat Kohli can focus on what he is known for, his batting. And with positive on-field outcomes, brand Kohli might be able to maneuver through these speculative and difficult times ahead," he added.

In the poll mentioned above, when asked if Kohli will do better sans the burden of captaincy, as many as 82 percent respondents had said yes. This shows that people are still betting on the cricketer.

Even in the brand world, Kohli remained on the top undisputed as the most valued celebrity for four years and his brand value was estimated at USD 237.7 million in 2020.

He endorses over 40 brands including MRF Tyres, Mobile Premier League (MPL), Myntra, Puma, among others.

According to brand experts, in sports, performance is a key attribute that the brand looks for and that captaincy is an added advantage.

Hence, they believe that Kohli may not lose endorsement deals as long his personal performance on the field is consistent and that way his brand value will not be impacted significantly.