Roger Federer has been the face of Rolex since 2006. Similarly, Usain Bolt has endorsed Puma, having earned more than $10 million annually.
Closer home, India loves watching Bollywood celebrities and cricketers endorsing varied brands and names. With Virat Kohli being the second highest in terms of brand value, one can only vouch to check how brands rely on sportspersons for brand endorsements, increasing their image’s credibility and relatability.
And apart from cricketers, many brands have onboarded athletes and sportspersons championing other sports in the country, as brand ambassadors over the years. Let’s check a few of them, along with their popular ad campaigns.
1. Neeraj Chopra
His momentous win at the Tokyo Olympics 2020 made Neeraj Chopra a household name. The track and field athlete went on to bag several brand endorsements that earned him INR 36 crore in 2022 alone.
Popular ads featuring him include the ones from CRED, Tata AIA.com, Limca, and GoodDot.
2. P.V. Sindhu
One of the most revered names in sports and specifically badminton, P.V. Sindhu has been making everyone sit and take notice, every time she steps on the court.
Along with being the highest-paid female athlete, her endorsement list is ever-growing with brands like Asian Paints, Apis Honey, Airtel, Myntra and Maybelline already in her kitty.
3. P.T. Usha
Hailed as the sports queen of India, P.T. Usha features in this KFC ad promising a seven-minute delivery.
4. Nikhat Zareen
A whiff of Nikhat Zareen’s inspirational story can be caught with Google’s ad #BolneSeSabHoga.
5. Kiran Dembla
Just like Nikhat Zareen, Google through their #BolneSeSabHoga campaign, also brought forth the story of bodybuilding champion Kiran Dembla.
6. Mary Kom
Six-time world boxing champion Mary Kom has endorsed brands like Puma and Nestle, but the Tata Namak campaign remains her most popular one.
7. Saina Nehwal
Saina Nehwal’s endorsements include names like Fortune Cooking Oil, Iodex, Savlon, Vaseline Edelweiss, Indian Overseas Bank, Kellogg’s etc.
8. Abhinav Bindra
Through this ad, India’s first individual Olympic Gold medal winner Abhinav Bindra beautifully conveyed the tough lives many invincible Indians live, that make India a winner, every day.
