Why Cheteshwar Pujara never got any brand endorsements

The year was 2021. We were pitching for a bank’s advertising business. We proposed Cheteshwar Pujara as the brand ambassador. In our research from the Indian Institute of Human Brands (IIHB), Pujara was seen to be trustworthy, honest, dependable and reliable. All attributes good for a banking brand.

But there was immediate push-back. “He’s too sedate”, “He’s too boring”, “He is so uninteresting”, “He’s not fun”, “He’s not stylish”, “Stodgy and staid”. But for a bank aren’t these actually virtues? A bank doesn’t need to be flamboyant; it doesn’t need to be sexy; it doesn’t really also need to be terribly stylish. It needs to be trustworthy, honest, dependable and reliable, we argued back. Which Pujara very much is. Plus he’s a quiet achiever. And patient. And persevering. And tenacious. And gritty. Most importantly, he’s a safe pair of hands.

No, no, no said the client. One of our competitors uses Ranveer Singh. Another uses Deepika Padukone. We need someone with more pizzazz and panache. We tried reasoning that Ranveer is maybe too playful and trivial for a banking brand. The client, however, held firm – Cheteshwar Pujara was too ‘colourless’ and ‘uninteresting’ to represent the bank to its customers. Discussion over.

Cheteshwar Pujara never really found favour with marketers and brands – he did endorse a fantasy gaming platform, FantasyDangal and his bat carried the SG (Sanspareils Greenlands) sports equipment manufacturer’s name. Nothing much else to show for 15 years of active (and superlative) cricket wearing India colours.

The 37-year-old announced his retirement yesterday after playing 103 Tests with 7,195 Test runs at an average of 43.60. He scored 19 hundreds and 35 half-centuries during a fabulous cricket innings that spanned over 15 years at the international level.

The 2018-19 Border-Gavaskar Trophy remains of course the pinnacle of his career – the most memorable series win for him. In his 1258-ball marathon-of-a-series, Pujara clocked a mammoth 521 runs at an astounding average of 74.42 and topped the scoring charts in the series by far. He played the rescue act by notching up his maiden Test hundred in Australia when India were in dire straits at 19/3 in the series opener. Pujara relied on his defensive technique, grinded down Australia's attacks and then feasted on them to propel India to its first Test series win in Australia. Pujara continued as India's backbone during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2020-21 series in Australia. With India bereft of its vital players, Pujara garnered 271 runs from four Tests to lift India to its second consecutive win Down Under.

Was Pujara too much of a contrast to Virat Kohli who was his contemporary for most of his playing days? Virat – aggressive, fast and furious (literally, sometimes). Pujara – quiet, slow and steady. Virat , at peak, had nearly 40 endorsements and continues to be loved by brands. Pujara was plucky, but perhaps too polite. With brands that didn’t help.

Wasn’t Pujara supposed to be Wall 2.0? But then Rahul Dravid did vastly better with endorsements – his sign-ups were pretty impressive. Dravid over the years was brand ambassador for Shriram Finance, HDFC Life, InCred, Max Life, Bournvita, YiPPee!, Farmley, Orchids - The International School, LaunchMyCareer, Signify, Salesforce, Practo, Puma, Castrol, Bharat Petroleum (BPCL), Piramal Realty, Abbott, Knest, Roombr and perhaps a few more. An impressive portfolio, for sure. But the same traits that won Dravid so much support from marketers somehow evaded Pujara. Sad.

But Pujara’s comparison to Rahul Dravid, methinks had more to do with his dogged mindset than his technique. Armed with an atavistic batting methodology and mindset, Pujara brought the best of both worlds to the table. His focus on the longer format was a much-needed change in the current set-up of cricket, where instant glory and quick money has taken over from an era when Ranji trophy performances were paramount. A phlegmatic and determined batsman, his technique was surprisingly bottom-handed, dependent on running his wrists through the ball, rather than punching it with his fore-arms. Because of his straight-batted technique and his firm hands, he managed to make it work by playing late and very close to his body.

With human brands (and I have a doctorate in the subject), they can either stand-out or blend-in. Pujara was the blend-in type but somewhere perhaps he blended in just too much, and ended up not even being noticed.

Cheteshwar Pujara was the embodiment of discipline, patience and perseverance. He would have made a very ‘right-fit’ brand ambassador for the bank I mentioned at the beginning of this piece. And many more brands. Alas, slow and steady no longer wins the race.

Goodbye, Pujara. Well played – a great cricket career, for sure. It is the loss of the brands who never understood what you represented: old fashioned goodness. And that unfortunately is no longer in vogue.