 Indian skipper MS Dhoni has signed a contract of promoting McDowells soda
for Rs. 26 crore (around $ 5.7 million).
The duration of the deal is three years. McDowell's is owned by UB Group which
owns Kingfisher airlines also. Vijay Mallya, the president of UB Group
was thrilled by the deal and said that the offer is very good for the company
and he is excited with deal going through.
Rhiti Sports Management's (RSM) chairperson Arun Panday said that the deal is
seemingly the highest ever signed by a sportsman in the history of India. In 2009,
Forbes magazine branded Dhoni as the world's highest earning cricketer, taking
over Sachin Tendulkar. Dhoni earns $10 million, out of which $8 million
are from endorsements.
Earlier, in July this year, Mahendra Singh Dhoni signed an endorsement
deal of Rs 2.1 billion, which is $42 million with a company that is the joint
venture of RSM and Mindscapes - an advertising agency. This joint venture is responsible
for managing Dhoni's all endorsements including digital rights, brands and social
networking sites. Midscapes was administrating Dhoni's endorsements before the
deal but were not managing his entire properties.
Arun Panday also said that the deal with McDowell's is a part of fulfilling their
duty to Dhoni. A formal statement would probably come in January; they are also
working on some other deals together. Before signing up for McDowell's, MS Dhoni
was Seagram's Royal Stag Mega Cricket Signs' brand ambassador who had also signed
Dhoni's teammates Gautam Gambhir, Harbhajan Singh and Yuvraj Singh. The contract
with Seagram's expired in July and Dhoni was acquired by McDowell's. Dhoni has
endorsements with over twenty brands, which include Pepsi, Aircel, Reebok and
Godrej.
With Dhoni smoothly acquiring McDowell's deal, Air India is maintaining a wait
and watch policy. Sanjay Sharma, Air India's (AI) Manager - Corporate Communications
says that the Indian captain is still under contract with Air India.
Remember UB Group, the owners of McDowell's also own Kingfisher Airlines, a rival
company to Air India. This naturally won't please Air India. Talking to The India
Express, Sharma also expressed that he and his company have not officially been
notified on the McDowell's deal nor they have seen the papers which show terms
and conditions of the contract. Sharma said before that happens, he cannot comment
on the situation. However, he said that if Dhoni has signed the deal, it would
be a conflict of interest between Dhoni's deal with AI and UB Group.
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