The second season of WPL 2024 was a super success. Royal Challengers Bangalore team led by Smriti Mandhana won the title. Fans are celebrating that the RCB team has finally won a trophy. But the success of WPL 2024 has boosted the craze of RCB Women's captain Smriti Mandhana and other players. Brand experts predict that Mandhana's brand value will increase massively with this success.
Aviral Jain, MD of valuation advisory services company Kroll told 'Money Control'.. Mandhana is currently getting a brand value in the range of USD 10-12 million (roughly Rs. 9.03). But she said that the brand portfolio could increase by around 30 percent.
Many companies are waiting to choose Mandhana as their brand ambassador. RCB Women will look to capitalize on the goodwill of their title win. Aviral mentioned that marketers can do joint campaigns with Mandhana in Men's IPL as well.
RCB's win in WPL 2024 is historic, said Tuhin Mishra, Managing Director, Baseline Ventures, which manages Mandhana's brand portfolio. Talking about Mandhana's endorsement portfolio..'IPL success will bring momentum to Mandhana's portfolio. For example, she is the brand ambassador of Gulf Oil. It also has (MS) Dhoni as its brand ambassador. Such brands feel confident that their brand is performing well and consistently excelling.'
Currently Mandhana has 15-16 brands in its brand portfolio. This number is likely to increase by the end of the year. She is young, dynamic, very well spoken. Mishra said that her endorsements include SBI, Nike, Red Bull, Herbalife, PNB and MetLife.
She has accepted brand promotions across industries ranging from healthcare (Herbalife), auto (Hyundai Motor) to apparel (Wrangler). This makes her level comparable to male cricketers like Rishabh Pant and Surya Kumar Yadav.
Hawa on social media
Smriti Mandhana's popularity is increasing exponentially on social media. It is competing with top Bollywood heroines in terms of following and engagement. Engagement rate refers to the audience interacting with the content through likes and comments. The average engagement rate is 12-15 percent. This is more than most Bollywood heroines.
Recently Mandhana achieved the milestone of 10 million followers on Instagram. Within six hours of winning WPL 2024, her following grew by one million. Also, the social media following has increased by more than 50 percent in the last six months. She is the best option for brands targeting the social media savvy young generation.
The phase of women cricketers has changed
Ajimon Francis, managing director of brand valuation and strategy consultancy Brand Finance India, said women cricketers have been prioritizing the IPL for some time. Advertisers are realizing the popularity of Jemima Rodrigues, Smriti Mandhana and Harmanpreet.
WPL has opened up new opportunities for women cricketers. The likes of Deepti Sharma and Pooja Vastrakar got agreements comparable to their male counterparts. Women cricketers are also getting bat sponsorships. Overall the endorsement landscape for female athletes is expanding.🏏✨
