In school, his friends called him ‘Jammy'. Perhaps, that was Rahul Dravid's first unofficial endorsement of a brand, even though he may not have realised it.
Since Rahul's father, Mr Sharad Dravid, was working for Kissan (an HUL brand), his friends at St Joseph's Boys' High School in Bangalore gave him that moniker.
From jams to banks and colas, this Karnataka cricketer has endorsed many products.
The ‘jammy', who was The Wall of Indian cricket, became Mr Dependable for advertisers also.
Dravid's commercial for Reebok in 1997 (a year after his entry into Test cricket), and one of his earliest ads, carried the tagline ‘tomorrow is mine'. His consistent performance over the next few years proved how apt this tagline was.
Now 15 years later, while announcing his retirement on Friday, he hoped that the present generation of talented cricketers would prove that “tomorrow is theirs” as well.
Dravid was one of the few cricketers who endorsed public sector banks. In 2005, Bank of Baroda launched him as its brand ambassador. The then Chairman of the bank, Mr Anil Khandelwal, had stated that the hard work, dedication and total commitment, which reflected Dravid's personality, also reflected the bank's approach to business in many ways.
In 2006, he entered into a two-year agreement to endorse the Japanese Citizen Eco-Drive range of watches for men. Mr Hideaki Nakazaki, Managing Director of Citizen Watches (India) Pvt Ltd, then had stated that Dravid embodied the spirit of confidence, leadership and an independent nature.
Many of us have seen Dravid stating that ‘ek din Sansuiwalonne mujse pooche… '
In 2007, Sansui had signed him as the brand ambassador for its range of televisions and home theatre systems. The company then had stated that qualities it saw in the cricket - precision, performance, reliability and constant development - synergised well with its television products.
During the course of his cricketing career, he also endorsed products such as Britannia, Hutch, Pepsi, Karnataka Tourism, Skyline Real Estate, Max New York Life, Kissan and Gillette. But, his endorsements never soared like Sachin's or Dhoni's.