Over the years celebrity endorsements have become an essential part of marketing for all the big companies in India. Celebrity endorsements are a form of an advertising campaign or a marketing strategy that uses the celebrities' fame or social status to promote their products, brand, and services and bring them to their target audience.
One of the most popular celebrity endorsers is Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who is also known as the Captain Cool and the second-highest-grossing Indian Sportsman. MS Dhoni is a former Indian international cricketer who was the captain of the Indian national team in limited-overs formats from 2007 to 2017 and in test cricket from 2008 to 2014. Under his guidance as a captain, India went on to win the 2007 ICC World Twenty20, the 2010 and 2016 Asia Cups, the 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup, and the 2013 ICC Champions Trophy. The right-handed middle-order batsman and wicketkeeper has won many awards and accords such as the ICC ODI player of the year award, Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna, Padma Shri, and Padma Bhushan.
MS Dhoni was also the second Indian cricketer to be conferred the honorary rank of Lieutenant Colonel from the Indian Territorial Army. Under his captaincy, the Chennai Super Kings won in 2010, 2011, and 2018 in the Indian Premier League. He is considered to be one of the greatest wicket-keeper batsmen and captains in the history of cricket.
Due to his achievements in cricket MS Dhoni was listed in Times’s 100 Most Influential People in the World in 2011 and ranked 23rd in the Forbes 2015 list of highest-paid athletes in the world. In 2016, a biopic film was made based on his life, cricket career and the team win at the 2011 Cricket World Cup known as M.S Dhoni: The Untold Story.
The cricketer retired from international cricket in august 2020 but continued to be an avid endorser of brands. MS Dhoni's net worth is estimated to be over $111 million, while the brand value of Dhoni is said to be over $1.24 billion. According to celebrity managers, MS Dhoni's advertising income comes from brand endorsement deals that cost over Rs 4 to 6 crore per day. MS Dhoni's retirement from all forms of international cricket was announced on 15th August 2020.
Some of the popular MS Dhoni's brand endorsements would include his contributions to Cars24, Indian Terrain, the State of Jharkhand, RedBus, Pepsico, Colgate, Panerai, LivFast, Indigo Paints, GoDaddy, Bharat Matrimony, Mastercard India, Sumadhura, Snickers India, and more.
Here's diving into some of the most iconic MS Dhoni brand endorsements:
Cars24
redBus
Colgate
Boost
GoDaddy
Dream11
Bharat Matrimony
Snickers
Oppo
Wardwiz
Mastercard India
Garuda Aerospace
LivFast
Indigo Paints
Netmeds
Alan Joseph
Let's look at a list of brands endorsed by MS Dhoni:
Cars24
Cars24 is a Gurgoan-headquartered, online platform for buying and selling used cars in India. The company is known to have revolutionized the way pre-owned cars are sold in the country. It currently sells more than 150,000 cars annually. The company was founded by Vikram Chopra, Mehul Agrawal, Gajendra Jangid, and Ruchit Agarwal in 2015.
The company recently announced that it going to get into a franchise model in order to scale up its presence in 300 plus tier two, three, and four markets in 2021. The company made a strategic partnership with MS Dhoni, where the cricketer will own equity in CARS24 and will act as the company’s brand ambassador to elevate and strengthen the brand as it continues to expand across markets.
In an Interview Vikram Chopra, the Co-founder of and CEO of CARS24 said that, “Dhoni is a role model to most Indians because of his ability to constantly evolve, innovate and find solution to every problems thrown at him over the years making him one of the most celebrated captain in the Indian history. These are the same values that CARS24 live by, which is why this partnership is perfect.”
redBus
redBus is an Indian online platform that provides ticket booking facilities for buses through its website, iOS, and Android mobile apps. The company is headquartered in Bengaluru and is known to have a network of over 2,500 bus operators in countries like India, Singapore, Malaysia, Peru, Indonesia, and Colombia.
The company was acquired by Ibibo Group and claims to have registered more than 180 million trips with a customer base of over 20 million so far. The company made MS Dhoni its brand ambassador in 2019 after the cricketer’s strong performance as a player and a captain in the 2019 IPL. The IPL or the Indian Premier League is not only a fantastic cricketing event, the IPL also has a huge effect on the Indian economy. People around the world make an unbelievable amount of money via IPL.
The company is looking towards reaching a larger customer base with Dhoni as its brand ambassador. In the ad, the cricketer appears as a hockey player avatar for his first cameo for the brand. The company with the help of Dhoni also reached its audience across the country through social media platforms.
PV Vyshnavi
Colgate
Colgate Palmolive Limited is an American company that is a leader in India for scientifically proven oral care products. The company is known for its products like toothbrushes, dental floss, tooth powder, mouthwash, and other specialized range of dental therapies. Colgate Palmolive India Ltd was originally incorporated in 1937.
In March 2019, Colgate went on to publish a couple of television commercials that featured not only MS Dhoni but also his wife Sakshi Dhoni. The campaigns are based on keeping our teeth strong from within with the tagline “Andar Se Strong.”
Boost
Boost is one of the leading malt-based or cereal-based beverages that was originally launched in 1975. The brand is known to be clinically proven and it increases stamina by three times more.
The drink is available in chocolate flavor and continues to be a leader in the health food drinks market. The ‘Ready to Sip’ pack of Boost is also available for on-the-go consumption. Boost has over 17 essential vitamins and minerals that help in increasing stamina and energy.
The company has a history of having iconic Indian Cricketers to be its brand ambassadors such as Kapil Dev, Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, to Mahendra Singh Dhoni, and Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant, and Shreyas Iyer in the recent times. It is due to the Boost commercials done by these esteemed sportsmen with the tagline of 'Boost is the secret of my energy, the brand has become a household name.
PV Vyshnavi
GoDaddy
GoDaddy Inc is an American company that is one of the most trusted domain registrar and web hosting companies that is headquartered in Scottsdale, Arizona. GoDaddy has more than 20 million customers and more than 7,000 employees worldwide. The company is known for its advertising on TV, in newspapers, and for the fact that it empowers people with creative ideas to succeed online.
MS Dhoni is its current brand ambassador, with his help the company launched a successful ad campaign in order to get deeper into smaller markets where there is a rapid digital acceleration. In the commercial Dhoni is seen in the role of a business advisor, who is encouraging small business owners and entrepreneurs to get a domain name in order to complete their online business setup.
Dream11
Dream11 is an online platform for Indian fantasy sports, the company allows its users to play fantasy cricket, hockey, football, kabaddi, and basketball. Dream11 became a unicorn Indian company in April 2019.
The company made MS Dhoni its brand ambassador, who so far has appeared in many multichannel marketing campaigns and brand engagement activities. The company aims to grow and strengthen its leadership position in the online sports gaming market.
Speaking about MS Dhoni's association with Dream11 in an interview, the cricketer said that he is delighted to be associated with the company that gives millions of sports fans an opportunity to be the decision-maker, create their own team, and experience the game first-hand. Dream11’s platform perfectly portrays the importance of choosing the right players and building a team as per the playing conditions.
Alan Joseph
Bharat Matrimony
Bharat Matrimony is a popular and leading online matrimony service in India, which is also a part of Matrimony.com. Bharat Matrimony was founded by Murugavel Janakira, who also met his wife through his own matrimony site.
BharatMatrimony has more than 130 offices in the country and international offices in countries like Dubai, Sri Lanka, the United States, and Malaysia in order to cater to its customer needs beyond India. The iconic cricketer MS Dhoni was made the brand ambassador of BharatMatrimony in 2018.
In an Interview, Murugavel Janakiraman, the CEO of Matrimony.com said that they were proud to be associated with an iconic cricketer. He also added that it is a good fit because Dhoni is an inspiration for millions of youth because of what he's achieved for the country through his admirable leadership qualities. Dhoni also inspires people through his happy marriage, his caring dad, and his loving husband's image.
Snickers
Snickers is an extremely popular chocolate brand that is made by the American company Mars, Incorporated. The famous chocolate is made of three layers which are Nougat, caramel and Peanuts enrobed with milk chocolate. Snickers chocolate was considered a leader in 2004 in that segment, when the annual global sales of Snickers was $2 million.
Dhoni became the company’s brand ambassador in 2018 and has also been featured in many of its television commercials to promote chocolate in India.
The company mentioned in a statement that the brand is loved across the world for its cool quotient and there is no one who personifies that better than our very own captain cool. Dhoni also mentioned that this association for him was a natural fit as nothing can satiate the angry hunger as well as snickers.
Alan Joseph
Oppo
Oppo is a well-known Chinese consumer electronics and mobile communications company whose parent company is BBK Electronics. The company's headquarters is based in Dongguan, Guangdong. Its portfolio of products are smartphones, audio devices, power banks, blu ray players, and other electronic products.
Oppo was first launched in 2004 and has so far expanded to over 40 countries selling phones at over 200,000 retail stores.
Dhoni became the company brand ambassador in 2020 continuing the trend of sponsorship deals before the IPL season. The campaign #BeTheInfinite has featured Dhoni promoting Oppo’s upcoming smartphones as well as the IPL. This Oppo campaign has been designed to motivate people to keep their passion alive even amidst a world full of hurdles. The popular phone manufacturing company had also launched a new variant of Reno 4 Pro, which came in Galactic Blue colour and was signed by the former captain of the Indian cricket team.
Wardwiz
Wardwiz is a German company that provides IT security solutions firm. The company is now one of the top IT security brands in India as it provides a system essential package for personal and professional use of computer systems. Wardwiz is known for its antivirus packages that are sold at affordable prices.
In 2019, the company signed MS Dhoni as its brand ambassador, the cricketer was reportedly paid over Rs 15 crore on the multi-year advertisement contract. The cricketer was featured in many multimedia ad commercials and showcases the uses of the antivirus.
Pratyusha Srivastava
Mastercard India
Mastercard Inc. is a multinational financial service corporation that has its headquarters in New York City. Mastercard Worldwide is a cooperative that is owned by more than 25,000 financial institutions that issue its branded debit, credit, and prepaid cards. In 2018, the company signed MS Dhoni as the brand ambassador for India.
The company launched a nationwide initiative called Team Cashless India with the cricketer in order to accelerate the acceptance and adoption of digital payments. This campaign also aims in encouraging merchants who currently do not accept digital payments to start using them.
Garuda Aerospace
MS Dhoni has invested an undisclosed amount and became the brand ambassador of Garuda Aerospace on July 6, 2022. Garuda is a Chennai-based drone startup that was founded in 2015 by Jayaprakash, and operates as a drone-as-a-service (DaaS) startup. Garuda designs, customises, and manufactures drones for a range of use cases including deliveries, agriculture, disaster management, and other services. With an undisclosed investment in the drone startup, Dhoni became a part of the company's captable along with being the brand ambassador of Garuda.
“Mahi Bhai is the epitome of Dedication & I firmly believe that having Captain Cool on our Cap table adds tremendous value which will motivate our team to perform better", said Agnishwar Jayaprakash, the Founder and CEO of Garuda. Drones are quite in demand now and have turned into one of the latest gadgets and technology to fuel growth for startups. The Indian government has already been empowering drones and drone startups via numerous Indian government schemes for startups in India, including "kisan drones" and "Drone Shakti".
LivFast
LivFast is an upcoming power specialist in India and the subsidiary of SAR Group which is a conglomerate. The company is also known for its products such as Automotive Batteries, Inverters, Inverter Batteries, and Solar Applications. The company is a power specialist as it provides many power backup solutions.
Livfast signed MS Dhoni as its brand ambassador in 2018. MS Dhoni was a part of the multimedia ad campaign called “Faster hai to hai”. With the help of the campaign, the company aims to establish the company as the fastest inverter in the market.
Indigo Paints
Indigo Paints is one of the top paint companies in India. The company has its headquarters in Pune, Maharashtra, with manufacturing facilities in Jodhpur, Pudukkottai, and Kochi. The company is also known for its wide range of decorative paints, emulsions, enamels, wood coatings, primers, putties, cement paint, etc.
MS Dhoni was signed as the brand ambassador of the company in 2018 for three years. The ace cricketer was featured in all the marketing and promotional campaigns of Indigo Paints. The company has kept a budget of Rs 200 crore on advertising for the three-year period.
Netmeds
Netmeds is an online pharmacy and a subsidiary of Dadha & Company which is one of India's most trusted pharmacies, with over 100 years plus experience in manufacturing medicines. Netmeds currently has a huge inventory of over 35,000 stock-keeping units of prescription drugs and 5,000 OTC products.
The cricketer was signed as the brand ambassador of Netmeds in 2018. Commenting on the association MS Dhoni said that, Netmeds is making important medicine more available and affordable, which is a great thing for India. MS Dhoni has appeared in many Netmed ads and has spoken about the benefits of buying medicine from Netmeds.
Ipsita Acharya
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is Mahendra Singh Dhoni?
MS Dhoni is a former Indian International cricketer who was the captain for the Indian national team in limited-overs formats from 2007 to 2017 and in test cricket from 2008 to 2014.
What is the brand value of MS Dhoni?
The brand value of MS Dhoni is estimated to be $1.24 billion.
What is the MS Dhoni brand ambassador list 2021?
The main brands endorsed by MS Dhoni are Cars24, RedBus, Colgate, GoDaddy, Bharat Matrimony, Netmeds.com, WardWiz, Snickers India, Oppo, Indigo Paints, Mastercard India, LivFast, Boost, Gulf Oil India, Dream11.
What is the MS Dhoni advertisement list 2020?
The other brands endorsed by MS Dhoni are Indian Terrain, Panerai, Sumadhura, Orient, Sound Logic, SRMB Steel, Lava, Oreo, SportsFit by MS Dhoni, Seven, Zed Black Agarbattis, Reebok, Exide Life Insurance, Pepsico, State of Jharkhand, Amity University, Spartan Sports, Revital H, Aircel, TVS, Videocon D2h, Sonata, Cello, Siyarams and India Cements.
How much is MS Dhoni endorsement fees?
MS Dhoni charges over ₹ 3-10 crore per brand endorsement deal.
What is the MS Dhoni net worth?
The net worth of MS Dhoni is estimated to be over $111 million.
How many brands does Dhoni endorse?
MS Dhoni has so far endorsed over 35 brands.
How much does MS Dhoni earn per ad?
MS Dhoni is known to charge over 40 to 50 lakh rupees for a TV ad.
Who is richer Virat or Dhoni?
MS Dhoni is the second richest person in the world as he has a net worth of Rs 767 crore. While Virat Kohli is the third richest cricketer in the world with a net worth of Rs 638 crore.
Which is the MS Dhoni movie?
The MS Dhoni untold story is a biopic based on the cricketer's life.
Who is MS Dhoni wife?
MS Dhoni wife is Sakshi Dhoni.
Who are MS Dhoni Parents?
MS Dhoni parents are Pan Singh and Devaki Devi.
Who is MS Dhoni daughter?
MS Dhoni daughter name is Ziva Dhoni.
Conclusion
The former Indian captain MS Dhoni is the Second highest-grossing Indian cricketer and sportsman in the country. The captain cool might have retired but in terms of brand endorsements are before Virat Kohli and after Sachin Tendulkar, both who whom are iconic cricket players.
This shows that MS Dhoni continues to be most loved cricketer of our generation as his fans adore and worship him. Dhoni's insight, humbleness, positive energy, and dependability alongside his engaged leadership attributes are what makes him a favorite of the advertising world too. All in all, Dhoni is known to have all the ideal properties that coordinate with many brands' images.
