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Business of belief: What RCB’s IPL win means for sports branding
RCB’s 2025 IPL win capped years of emotional branding, cult fandom and chaotic charisma to become one of cricket’s most powerful cultural brands.
You can’t talk about RCB’s emotional story without talking about Virat Kohli. For 18 years, Kohli stuck with the team — through highs, humiliations, and now, history.
Before Royal Challengers Bengaluru claimed its long-awaited first Indian Premier League title in 2025, the franchise had already secured something far more enduring: an emotional stranglehold on its fanbase.
For 17 seasons, the team was defined not by trophies, but by its ability to inspire belief in the face of repeated failure. On June 3, that belief was finally rewarded, as chants of “RCB” echoed through the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad and the country's most "emotionally invested" franchise ended nearly two decades of unfulfilled promise.
At the heart of this transformation stood Virat Kohli, the face of the franchise since its inception. Holding back tears, Kohli called the win the “most emotional moment” of his storied career. “I’ve given this team my youth, my prime, everything I had - and finally, this moment is here,” he said. “I never thought it would happen. I’ve finally won the IPL.”
In 2024, RCB ranked third on the brand value leaderboard with $117 million, behind CSK ($122M) and MI ($119M). But that was without a title in hand. Now, backed by a trophy, a projected 20% YoY brand value increase, according to Qoruz.
Qoruz’s data till June 3, 2025 showed that Royal Challengers Bengaluru led the IPL social media buzz with 74.6K mentions by influencers across Instagram, X, Facebook, and YouTube, far ahead of Mumbai Indians (22.3K) and Chennai Super Kings (19.2K). RCB also recorded a massive 16.2% engagement rate, the highest among all teams. With the IPL final just concluded, this momentum is expected to surge even further in the coming days.
On the player front, Virat Kohli is dominating the conversation with 62.6K influencer mentions so far, followed by Shreyas Iyer (18.5K) and MS Dhoni (13.4K), reflecting the massive cultural weight Kohli brings to the RCB brand. In the 48 hours before the final, Qoruz recorded a sharp spike in creator-led content using RCB-related hashtags. Viral posts came not only from fan pages and cricket creators but also from meme pages and mainstream influencers. Qoruz’s virality index shows RCB topped influencer mentions across all teams during the playoff stage.
For brand strategists and cultural analysts, the victory was less about cricket and more about the culmination of a uniquely Indian emotional investment - one that marketers spend fortunes trying to replicate.
“When you have an iconic figure so deeply tied to a team, their identities begin to merge,” said Santosh Desai, Chief Executive of Futurebrands. “RCB isn’t just a cricket franchise. For millions, it’s a part of themselves.”
A Brand Built on Belief, Not Dominance
Unlike perennial champions Mumbai Indians or Chennai Super Kings, RCB’s allure was never dominance. Its value lay in vulnerability - a glamour-laced, emotionally raw underdog story that resonated across generations and geographies.
“RCB thrives on emotional equity,” said Prabhakar Tiwari, Partner at FRN Advisory. “They built a cult following with star players, a high-gloss brand strategy and a narrative of near-misses. Fans weren’t just supporting a team, they were joining a tribe.”
In cosmopolitan Bengaluru, a city teeming with migrants who often lack a unifying cultural identity, RCB became a rallying symbol. “It gave people something to belong to,” said Desai. “It created emotional cohesion in a transient city.”
Over time, that cohesion grew into cultural currency. Children who grew up watching matches at the Chinnaswamy Stadium carried their fandom into adulthood. Even in towns and rural areas, fans embraced RCB as the emotional epicenter of the IPL - loud, loyal and unapologetically dramatic.
Kohli: The Emotional Core
Much of that emotional resonance is rooted in Virat Kohli, whose long-standing association with RCB shaped not only the franchise, but his own mythology.
“Virat has been with the team through every high and low,” said Lloyd Mathias, investor and business strategist. “His loyalty wasn’t strategic. It was personal. And that’s what made the victory so visceral.”
For brands, such long-term emotional alignment is gold. “RCB and Kohli together became a single narrative,” Desai explained. “It’s like watching a story arc complete in real time.”
Kohli’s presence alongside other larger-than-life personalities - Chris Gayle, AB de Villiers, Glenn Maxwell - amplified the brand’s showmanship. Partha Sinha, Senior Business Advisor, offered a cultural lens. “Where CSK is calm, clinical and led by a monk in yellow, RCB is high-voltage drama. They don’t play cricket. They perform it."
He added, "Kohli doesn’t just bat - he burns... For years, RCB didn’t chase trophies. They chased narrative. And heartbreak. And oddly viral Instagram reels."
As RCB clinched their first-ever IPL title in 2025, it also marked not only a sporting triumph but a branding milestone for key partner Puma, which has closely tracked the franchise’s evolution.
Despite the conclusion of Virat Kohli’s landmark ₹110 crore endorsement deal with Puma, the former captain continues to feature in the brand’s latest campaign, RCB Shotline - likely due to prior commitments and the enduring synergy between Puma and the RCB franchise.
Shreya Sachdev, Director-Marketing, PUMA India, told Storyboard18 that the brand’s partnership with RCB transcends cricket, rooted in a shared cultural ethos and commitment to fan-first storytelling.
She noted that RCB stood out on Puma’s three criteria for partnerships - alignment with brand values, mutual value creation and shared positioning and praised the franchise for its willingness to innovate in content, merchandise and community building.
As the IPL 2025 win reshapes RCB’s narrative, Puma sees the moment as validation of a long-term bet on authenticity and emotional resonance in sport marketing
From Disappointment to Differentiation
It seems RCB’s true marketing masterstroke was its ability to turn collective heartbreak into brand identity.
“RCB fans wear failure like a badge of honor,” said Tiwari. “They’re emotionally invested in the struggle - not just the result.”
That sentiment was echoed by Mayank Shah, Vice President at Parle Products. “This victory was a narrative payoff. Many fans who had tuned out have re-engaged. It’s a story of redemption - a classic brand arc.”
For brand consultants, RCB’s journey highlights a larger truth: success isn’t always measured in wins.
“A brand isn’t owned by the franchise. It’s owned in the minds of fans,” said Harish Bijoor, founder of Harish Bijoor Consults. “And, RCB has dominated mental real estate like few others.”
Still, some believe the franchise remains underleveraged.
“RCB has been left thirsty,” said Suhel Seth, Managing Partner at Counselage India. “Diageo is underleveraging RCB,” said Seth, adding, “Had Vijay Mallya been around, you would have seen a totally different RCB right from consumer engagement to stakeholder traction.”
What’s Next for RCB — and for Marketers Watching?
Now that the “Ee Sala Cup Namde” slogan has finally become “Namdu” (This year, the cup is ours), the question for brand strategists is simple: what comes after catharsis?
“There’s now an opportunity to build legacy,” said Shah. “This win changes everything - emotionally and commercially.”
Mathias believes RCB may now be the most powerful cricket brand in India, surpassing even CSK. “It appeals to youth culture, has a vibrant international following and enjoys a unique pub-and-club watching culture - particularly among global Bangaloreans in the U.S., Gulf and beyond.”
Piyush Pandey, Chief Advisor to Ogilvy India, cautioned against comparisons. “Not even Virat - and I say this with full respect - matches the brand power of Dhoni. But in the IPL, only three teams have truly transcended the sport to become cultural brands: CSK, Mumbai Indians, and RCB... What they all have in common is charismatic icons who command deep emotional loyalty.”
Brand and marketing consultant Karthik Srinivasan offered a regional analysis. “Both CSK and RCB had a headstart to build the fandom from the beginning... and both are from cinema-crazy states. Doing it for sporting superstars is not very different.”
The team’s personality remains its unique calling card. CSK is the "monk’s army". MI is the "corporate juggernaut". But RCB? "I think RCB is best defined as the ‘passionate underachievers,’” said Desai.
“Because I don’t think they were ever true underdogs. On paper, the team has always looked strong. It’s this sense of passion that comes from having consistently underachieved despite potential,” added Desai.
Now, with a trophy in hand, RCB has rewritten its story. For marketers and brand builders, it is a case study in how to turn emotion into equity and heartbreak into one of sport’s most powerful identities.
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