Smriti Mandhana's brand value may surge 30% after RCB's WPL 2024 win: Experts

Sixteen years after its first match, Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), one of the most popular cricket franchises in the country, finally brought home a trophy. But it took RCB's eves to achieve that feat, in just the second edition of the Women's Premier League—the men continue to fall short on that count in the IPL. Needless to say, the WPL 2024 victory has put RCB skipper Smriti Mandhana and her teammates in the spotlight for marketers.

The victory is no small feat, said brand experts, who expect Mandhana's brand value to surge.

"She currently enjoys a brand value in the range of USD 10-12 million, which is expected to go up by about 30 percent with a growing brand portfolio and fee by the end of the year," said Aviral Jain, Managing Director, Valuation Advisory Services, Kroll.

Jain said brands would be looking to rope in Mandhana as a brand ambassador and also leverage RCB’s brand goodwill as a first-time champion. "This achievement has propelled her (Mandhana) into the spotlight, making her a very attractive proposition for marketers given the upcoming men’s IPL and perhaps also explore joint team campaigns with RCB," Jain added.

Mandhana's brand portfolio

The RCB win at WPL 2024 is historic, said Tuhin Mishra, Managing Director of Baseline Ventures, which manages Mandhana's brand portfolio.

"RCB has always been a popular team. However, the men's team never won the (IPL) trophy. But suddenly this girl (Mandhana) came. She had a disastrous season one because it was her first year as a captain. But then she came out with a bang because of her captaincy skills. She is a great leader and a motivator. All players under her say that. And she has also backed it up with her performance and she has been among the top scorers. All this adds up," said Mishra.

Commenting on Mandhana's endorsement portfolio, Mishra said, "It does give an impetus. For example, she is the brand ambassador of Gulf Oil for which (MS) Dhoni also has been a brand ambassador. To such brands it gives confidence that their athlete is doing well and at a consistent level."

Mandhana's brand portfolio consists of 15-16 brands, which is expected to rise by the end of this year. "She is young, dynamic, and speaks well. Her endorsements include SBI, Nike, Red Bull, Herbalife, PNB MetLife," said Mishra .

The cricketer endorses varied industries ranging from healthcare (Herbalife), to auto (Hyundai Motor) to clothing (Wrangler) in her portfolio, noted Jain. "Such a scale is comparable to some emerging  and successful male cricketers, like Rishabh Pant and Surya Kumar Yadav."

Engagement very high

Along with male cricketers, Mandhana is giving female Bollywood stars a run for their money when it comes to social media following and engagement.

One of the biggest female athletes in the country in terms of following and social media engagement, Mandhana has one of the highest engagement rates on social media.

Engagement rate is referred to as the percentage of the audience who like or comment on posts (engage with the content) on an Instagram page.

"No top Bollywood actress comes close to her social media engagement. This morning (March 18) she crossed 10 million followers on Instagram. Within a span of six hours from the time she won the WPL 2024 for RCB, her following increased by a million. Her engagement rate is 12-15 percent," Mishra added.

Mandhana's social media following has increased by more than 50 percent in just six months, said Jain. "With brands increasingly targeting the social-media savvy young generation, celebrities like Mandhana become an obvious choice for brands. She can probably add endorsements for new-age consumer and internet companies, digital platforms and other technology-driven businesses to her portfolio," he added.

Women on top

Mishra noted that WPL is driving brands' interest in female cricketers.

"These girls are getting brands from across categories and there are no two ways about the fact that the WPL is increasing brand attention on women athletes," he said.

Women cricketers have been the flavor of the season for some time now, said Ajimon Francis, managing director at Brand Finance India, a brand valuation and strategy consultancy. "Their world cup matches had good viewership. They are also stars on social media, with a fantastic fan following. Hence, the impact they make is fantastic, like Jemimah (Rodrigues) or Smriti (Mandhana) or Harmanpreet (Kaur). Advertisers know it already. Hence, their fee will go up."

WPL opened a world of opportunity for female cricketers from the first season. Players such as Deepti Sharma and Pooja Vastrakar bagged deals of the same size as their male counterparts, barring the ones playing in the national team, their talent management firm, FairPlay Sports, had revealed in an earlier interview with Moneycontrol.

Many female cricketers bagged bat sponsorships last year, which was uncommon earlier. Talent managers said that the response time by brands for endorsement deals is now shorter for female athletes.

Overall, the space occupied by women athletes in the world of endorsements has broadened, experts said.

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