Dhoni explores new career options in Rigi’s campaign

Saptarshi Ray, creative head, Rigi, talks to afaqs! about the recent campaign featuring MS Dhoni, and influencers like Gaurav Taneja, Kusha Kapila, Sharan Hegde and Tanmay Bhatt.

Back in our childhood days, when someone asked us, ‘what do you want to become in future’, most would say a doctor, engineer or lawyer. This isn’t the case anymore, as there are so many career options available today. 

With growing digitalisation and Internet connectivity, students are now exploring options like content creation, vlogging, social media influencers,online streaming, real gaming, etc.

Rigi is an online platforms that offers classes or coaching for all the above-mentioned professions. The platform was co-founded in 2021 by Swapnil Saurav and Ananya Singhal. 

It offers community monetisation and management tools for content creators and influencers. It has a bundle of tools, including subscription management, paid workshops, live one-to-one classes, etc. Recently, the platform onboarded 10,000 content creators.

The brand just launched a campaign with its ambassador M.S. Dhoni, who’s also an investor. The campaign includes four films with famous creators like Gaurav Taneja, Kusha Kapila, Sharan Hegde and Tanmay Bhatt (also an investor). The campaign is designed by Vishal Dayama and Bhatt, and produced and directed by folks from The Rabbit Hole agency.  

Talking about the campaign, Saptarshi Ray, creative head, Rigi, says, “We were not looking for the conventional route, wherein Dhoni could just come and ask customers to download the app. Our target group is different. We appeal to creators who’re looking for ‘crazy’ and creative content.” 

In the ads, Dhoni is seen saying, ‘I will not pay’.

“We played around a narrative that this year could be the last one for Dhoni in the Indian Premier League. So, the campaign is built around ‘What’s next for the Thala’. Maybe, he can become a content creator. Dhoni isn’t active on social media, so he’s approaching influencers to learn from them. Vishal and Tanmay decided to include a funny banter in the campaign,” Ray highlights. 

When asked whether there was any data that made the company launch the ads during the ongoing IPL, Ray says, “There are many content creators across various categories. But there’s also a chunk of fantasy cricket experts. During the IPL, they’re quite active in the space and, through them, our metrics can go up. It’s the potential market for us.”  

The company didn’t buy any IPL ad spots this time around. The reason, Ray states, is, “As we’re an early-stage startup, burning a big amount of money won’t give us much returns. Also the traction from the influencers, will be organic and, through it, we can target other creators as well, as all of them follow each other.”

Ray shares that if the same amount of money is invested in performance marketing, instead of the IPL, the results will be five times better. Also, the brand will be able to evaluate and measure the metrics.

This is a digital campaign and the TG includes the millennials and Gen Z in mostly North Indian states. 

Competitive landscape 

According to Market Research, the online education market size in India in 2021 was valued at INR 108.79 Billion, and it is expected to reach INR 299.18 Billion by 2027,  with a CAGR of ~22.26% during the 2022 – 2027 period. The growing focus on skill development and employment, is driving the demand. Working professionals prefer to pick up courses on digital platforms, over traditional classes, due to factors such as convenience and flexibility. 

In this space, non-academic courses are also performing well. There are also many brands in the space. 

When asked about how Rigi is different from others in the space, Ray says, “We are not directly onboarding any creators rather we're providing them tools to conduct the workshops. Other brands first onboard creators and then go about finding the audience for that particular course. They end up charging big commissions and, therefore, the ticket size becomes higher. Our ticket size is a lot less, as compared to other platforms. In our model, creators have the liberty to sell their course at whatever price they want.” 

As far as the platform’s revenue model goes, when creators start earning by offering their courses, a 5% commission is charged by them for the overall revenue earned on the platform.