We have long debated the value or the return on investment of an advertising award. While that’s yet to be clear, what seems to be clear is the value of an Olympic medal.

As Manu Bhaker shot her way to two Bronze medals at the Paris Olympics, her brand value surged more than seven times. Bhaker, who currently endorses Performax Activewear, and is managed by IOS Sports and Entertainment, got close to 40 brands showing interest in bringing her on board as an endorser. Her brand value which was in the range of INR 20-25 lakh pre-Olympics, has now shot to INR 1.5 crore.

According to IOS Sports and Entertainment, around a dozen of those 40 deals should be finalised shortly. While the agency couldn’t disclose the names of the brands, media reports claim there are many MNCs with big marketing budgets signing her on.

Along with the ROI on advertising awards, another relevant debated topic is that between AI and gut.

Bhaker finished seventh in the 2020 Olympics. She won Gold in the 2021 International Shooting Sport Federation World Cup. She won Gold in the 2018 Commonwealth Games too. And Abhinav Bindra, our first individual Gold winner ever, also called it in a chat with Manifest.

I don’t think AI could have any role in predicting the wins.

The T20 World Cup recently showed how upsets (Afghanistan beating Australia and USA beating Pakistan) and uncertainty are always there in sport, but, marketers could have used their gut and picked about seven Olympians as endorsers at a price lesser than what Bhaker now commands after winning the Bronze. 

Yes, there’s a chance of all seven athletes failing to win, but supporting seven athletes also helps generate goodwill for a brand simply because there aren’t enough of them supporting non-cricketing athletes.  Now, when a brand supports an athlete like Bhaker who is coming off a win (or two), does the goodwill change to opportunistic? Some would think so. 

So it’s probably time for brand heads who like being associated with sports to place their bets pre-tournament so that when the athletes win at the Olympics, it’s not only the tiranga that’s raised but also ROIs on investments on those winners.

The author is founder and editor, Manifest.