A deadly accident. A remarkable recovery. And a much-awaited victory. That is the life of cricketer Rishabh Pant over the last one year when he met with a life threatening road mishap. Pant padding up for IPL and then the 2024 T20 World Cup which India won, is now being called the greatest comeback, catching the attention of more brands, strengthening his endorsement portfolio further.
In 2022, Pant met with a harrowing accident where there was even the fear of losing a leg. While he survived the near fatal road accident, the injuries kept him out of competitive cricket action for over a year. However, along with friends, family and fans, he also had brands by his side during his adversity.
As many as eight brands had joined the 26-year old wicket-keeper's recovery journey with his endorsement portfolio increasing from 14 to 16 currently.
"We found close to eight partnerships during his recovery period. Prior to that he had 14 brand endorsements but then again there was a lot of overlap in terms of deals expiring and new brands coming in. His current portfolio has 16 brand endorsements. We added quite a few brands when he was going through his recovery. That is reflective of what a great athlete he is to marketers and brands. He is the people's champion and brands recognise this," Ritesh Nath, Business Head, Sports at Collective Artists Network, the company that manages the brand portfolio of Pant.
Nath shared the example of brands such as sports nutrition company Optimum Nutrition which had integrated videos of his training sessions in their brand messaging.
"It was a unique situation for us to tackle. The conversation with the existing partners was to give confidence about his recovery and how the future was looking. We kept the brand partners in the loop and as his recovery kept progressing we started integrating that in the brand communications. We looked at doing tactical things with brands that were part of his recovery," Nath said.
Maggi, Zomato, Sun Pharma, WhatsApp were some of the brands that integrated his recovery phase in their brand messaging. These brands were added during his over one year hiatus due to the road accident.
The wait ended for Pant with the Indian Premier League (IPL) this year when he made a comeback as the captain of team Delhi Capitals. Nath said his IPL captaincy and performance landed him a spot in the Indian team which helped keep the momentum going in the endorsement world.
Then came one of the greatest victories of all time for Indian cricket, its fans and the men in blue. Team India brought home the T20 World Cup trophy after years.
"Wins like the T20 World Cup 2024 are spike moments in sports. There is a lot of interest from brands. After all, there is a trophy we got home after 13 years. The incoming leads went up by 30 percent. We will announce brand partnerships in the coming months. We expect a 30-40 percent increase over the next 12 months in terms of brand partnerships and we will announce long term deals," Nath said.
As a young talent, the cricketer's deals are structured as multi-year partnerships which are for 2 to 3 years.
Moreover, the comeback led to a spike in his endorsement fees.
"We saw an escalation just before he made a comeback in IPL which was also successful as a player and as a captain and then based on those performances to get picked up in team India for the T20 2024 World Cup was a big moment for him and the market took note of it as well. Pant playing a pivotal role in the World Cup. We have seen an increase in endorsement fees between 30-50 percent," Nath said.
Among the younger crop of players, Hardik Pandya currently has 20 brands in his portfolio whereas Jasprit Bumrah until last year was endorsing 13 brands. The leading celebrity across entertainment and sports stars is Virat Kohli with as many as 40 brands in his portfolio while Rohit Sharma endorses 30 brands.
What brands see in Pant
Brands are spending more on Pant and more marketers are getting interested in him. So, what is it that brands see in the wicket-keeper batter?
It's the various formats he plays that's keeping brands hooked on to Pant, remarked Nath.
"In cricket, the primary thing people look at is a cross format player. Brands see how many times in a year they can have those impact moments. There are high profile retirements in the team, the baton has been handed over to the next generation. People are cognisant that the next generation is ready to take over and Rishabh Pant is right at the top from the younger lot. He has maintained his game as a cross format player be it red ball or white ball cricket and Pant is in most teams because he is an impact player," he said.
Also the story of going though adversaries and to battle those odds and come back stronger is resonating well with the industry, Nath said.
Social media love
Fans were eager to know every detail about Pant's recovery and flooded his social media accounts with queries. More people joined in to know more about one of their favourite cricketers.
"Over the past eight to nine months, we have seen close to 35 percent increase in his Instagram following," Nath said. Pant currently has 13 million followers on Instagram. The cricketer in May this year launched his own YouTube channel.
"Within the first couple of weeks, we have crossed 1,50,000 subscribers. We are looking to build some exclusive content on YouTube. The content will be a mix of moments in his life, interaction with ex-cricketers, Q&A (question and answer) sessions and interactions with fan groups. He had one interaction session with his fan club just before he left for the T20 World Cup 2024," Nath said.
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