Ten brands making diapers & juices welcome Virat Kohli’s baby, hoping to get him to endorse their products!

BY S VENKAT NARAYAN

Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, January 16:

Last Monday afternoon, Indian cricket team’s Captain Virat Kohli announced on Twitter that he and his Bollywood actress-wife Anushka Sharma had been blessed with a baby girl.

Moments thereafter, at least 10 consumer companies producing diapers and juices made a dash to be associated with India’s highest paid celebrity, who is possibly the richest cricketer on the planet. His current brand value is $237.5 million, or INR 1,734 million.

Proctoer & Gamble’s Pampers, Tropicana fruit-juice-maker, Pepsi, food delivery platform Zomato, deliversy services company Dunzo, and Liberty Shoes were among those who released advertisements across social media platforms like Twitter, Instagram and Facebook to celebrate the occasion.

Kohli does not endorse any products made by these companies. They are said to be considering signing him on.

A senior executive aware of the development said: Kohli’s management firm has been getting feelers from brands with child-centric products for endorsements even before the birth of the baby.”

While brands he endorses are naturally leveraging the birth of the baby, at least eight to ten other brands want to sign him now, he added.

“Here’s to new roles and a new innings,” P&G’s Pampers said on its social media handles with a short video congratulating the new parents.

“GoodnessComesHome, #ItsAGirl,” PepsiCo’s Tropicana posted on its Instagram handle, with visuals of the “goodness of fruits.”

Dunzo posted a picture of a stork carrying a bundled baby captioned “Just Delivered” on its Instagram and Twitter handles.

Liberty Shoes posted a diagram of baby feet cradled by a pair of hands captioned “Beginning of the Much Awaited Innings” with the Virushka hashtag. (Virushka is a name coined by the media here for Virat (Kohli) and Anushka (Sharma).

Pepsi, which Kohli endorsed until 2017, made a direct reference to its Swag tagline in its social media message “A Swagstar is Born” blended with its logo.

A PepsiCo India spokesman said in an email: Leveraging topicality via fixed and fluid moments is very important to consumers. Moment-marketing fulfils these requirements and helps brands to further create impactful connect and engagement with consumers.”

Prasoon Joshi, chief executive officer of McCann Worldgroup India and chairman Asia-Pacific at McCann, said: For brands, associating with big moments of celebration such as this is aimed to create positive rub-offs on themselves.”

Kohli is India’s most expensive celebrity as far as endorsements go. He charges INR 50 million to INR55 million for a day’s work—much more than what MS Dhoni, Shah Rukh Khan and Aamir Khan charge in India, and more than what football icon Lionel Messi, golf superstar Rory McIlroy and Golden State Warriors’ Stephen Curry abroad.

The 32-year-old’s 17 endorsement deals include Puma, Audi, Manyavar ethnic clothing, Blue Star airconditioning, Himalaya personal care, e-commerce fashion portal Myntra, e-sports platform Mobile Premier League, edtech company Great Learning, Wrogn clothing line, Uber, Boost Energy, MuveAcoustics, and MRF Tyres.