Dubai: More than three months after India regained the ICC World Cup, the phones haven't stopped ringing at the office of Rhiti Sports Management company in New Delhi.
Little wonder, for it's this low-profile celebrity management firm which looks after the portfolio of the richest cricketer in the world — Mahendra Singh Dhoni.
It's not that ‘Mahi', as the Indian skipper is known among his teammates and friends, has achieved this status overnight.
It has been close to two years now since Forbes magazine rated him as the world's highest paid cricketer, overtaking one Mr Sachin Tendulkar in terms of price tag per endorsement.
His story is the most fascinating rags-to-riches tale in the game's history.
More than a coup
Still, when the unheralded Rhiti Sports signed him a year back with a guarantee of Rs2 billion (Dh165.1 million) over three years — overtaking Tendulkar's Rs1.8 billion deal signed in 2006 — it was more than just a coup.
For industry watchers — it was an attempt by the Indian skipper to inflate his market value.
But for those familiar with the courage of Dhoni's conviction it was by no means an impossible target. Rhiti president Arun Pandey, a long-time friend of Dhoni since his struggling days, had faith in his man.
"We are definitely in the right direction and have already clinched business worth over the Rs2 billion mark within his second year of association with us," Pandey told Gulf News in an exclusive interview from India. "Many new brands have come aboard and older brands have renewed their contracts with Mahi."
For somebody who has on board the hottest property in cricket — not to mention Suresh Raina, another member of the World Cup winning squad — Pandey sounds disarmingly rooted.
How does he cope with the pressure of handling a superstar like Dhoni, especially after all the brouhaha raised by the big guns desperate to take the Indian skipper on board?
"The pressure is what keeps us motivated," said Pandey.
"Looking at the way the cricketers handle the pressure gives us the inspiration to be on our toes.
"Dhoni, as our most prized client, is as calm off the field as he is on the field and this trait of his eases a lot of pressure on us."
New endorsements
Even before the World Cup, Dhoni was endorsing more than 20 brands — a figure that will soon touch the quarter-century mark. "You will see him in at least three to four new endorsements very soon, while we also have something in the pipeline for Raina," Pandey said on the eve of England tour.
Asked how much of a premium Rhiti commanded for each contract in view of the World Cup triumph, a candid Pandey said: "No doubt the World cup triumph has raised the bar.
"All the members of the winning squad have been getting better offers in terms of endorsements post the victory.
Rates on the up
"A rough estimate suggests that the endorsement rates have gone up by 15-20 per cent. Such has been the case with all the players, including Dhoni."
Rhiti is just a three-member operation made up of Pandey, his marketing brain Sangeet Shirodkar and Pratik Sen, head of Mindscapes One who handle the logistics of the man voted by Time magazine as one of 100 most influential people in the world.
Did Pandey's marketing team really ever have to work hard for Dhoni?
"To be very honest, we believe that Dhoni as a brand has a pull effect rather than a push effect," he said.
"In such a case, the brands themselves come forward to get associated with the captain of Team India.
"Many brands have come on board since last year and these are the leading brands in their respective categories such as UB Group, Sony, Amrapali Group and so on.
"What has also been more important is the quality of the brands coming on board.
"The brands are approaching for endorsements with a long-term perspective and with a vision of mutual benefit to the celebrity and the company.
"The value delivered in such a relation has a great worth which is beyond the endorsements."
Simple beliefs
Asked what the qualities are that Mahi looks for in a brand (apart from, of course, the price tag), Pandey breaks it down.
He said: "Mahi usually likes to go with the brands that he is comfortable with.
"He is a grounded person and even though he is captaining the best team in the world, he remains down to earth.
"He has very simple beliefs which he follows. However, there are definitely a few products that M.S. Dhoni doesn't endorse which he feels don't comply with his set of ethics."
Dhoni and money
Arun Pandey, Mahendra Singh Dhoni's manager, does not agree with the popular perception that too much money and the lure of endorsements can blur the focus of a cricketer.
"Any cricketer's prime motive is to play for the country and bring laurels for it," he said. "Money is never the prime focus but the satisfaction to see the entire team win is. The advertising, endorsements are the peripheral rewards that happen because of your performance on the field.
"Never in a single case will you see the advertisements happening during a tournament but the shoots etc happen only when there is a sufficient time gap between the tours.
"As against the popular perception that the cricketers tend to balance the game and endorsements, the cricketers focus only on the game and take out a day for shoots etc. if the cricketing schedule permits. Thus, it's not that the advertisement impacts the performance of the player but vice versa."
Dhoni brands
- Pepsico, Reebok, Exide, TVS Motors.
- Mysore Sandal Soap, Videocon, Reliance Communications, Reliance Energy, Orient PSPO Fan, Bharat Petroleum, Titan Sonata, Brylcream, NDTV, GE Money.
- Siyaram.
- Fashion at Big Bazaar, Maha Choco, Boost (health food), Dainik Bhaskar
- Dabur Honey, Kolkata Fashion Week. Aircel communications, Nova Scottia Premium shirts.
- Amrapali, UB Group.
