war of illustration: varani sahu the leagues isince pv sindhu returned from rio with india’s first...

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A recent commercial for the Indian Super League (ISL) is a triumph of imagina- tion over experience. India is football crazy, if this ad is to be believed, with a mania for the sport that makes the South Americans, the English, and the Spaniards look like mere dilettantes. In this age of po-faced realism and #unstereotype, it’s great to see a film blissfully unboth- ered by how unreal- istic it is. However, of such ads are hype for a series, and hopefully an entire fran- chise, built. Depending on who you ask, this ad and similar commercials for non-cricket themed sports are either wishful thinking or a prescient glimpse into the future of India as a sporting nation. Inspired by the IPL formula, several leagues have emerged over the last half decade, with varying degrees of consum- er and advertiser interest and success. According to Jaideep Ghosh - partner and head, transport, logistics and sports, KPMG India while cricket dominates cor- porate sponsorship, money raised by the other sports is on the rise. On ground spon- sorship was up by 300% in kabbadi, 92% in football, 53.5% for marathons and 32% in tennis. And in 2015, the Pro Kabbadi League generated a revenue of `45 crore for its broadcaster Star India. India’s tentative attempts at becoming more than just a single sport nation are roughly mirrored by its fortunes in the Olympics over the last six decades, theo- rises Debabrata (Debu) Mukherjee, vice president, marketing & commercial, Coca- Cola India and South West Asia: “We are now seeing green shoots in individual sports: shooting, archery, wrestling, box- ing, badminton and tennis.” He doesn’t hazard a guess on which of the upcoming sports will hit the big league but believes, “the headline is - there is space for more sporting properties.” This is reflected in Thums Up partnering with kabbadi and Coca-Cola with tennis and football. Even corporates like Hero Moto Corp, formerly synonymous with cricket is now covering golf and hockey besides being title sponsor for Indian Super League. DHL, closely associated with Formula 1 and rugby globally, has come on board as associate sponsor of the Indian football tourney. Says RS Subramanian, SVP & country manager, DHL Express, India, “ISL is the third most watched/ attended football tournament in the world, and the largest in Asia.” Besides opting for sports that emphasise its brand values — speed, passion and teamwork — DHL hopes the partnership will connect it to a larger au- dience through brand visibility in stadia, publicity, and official communication. So what’s a brand that finds cricket too cluttered or expensive to do? Option A is to invest now, grow with the game and reap rich rewards. It’s what a lot of the clients of IPG Mediabrands are doing according to CEO Shashi Sinha. He expects the universe to expand fur- ther with popular basketball franchise NBA and the EPL getting more serious about India. He says, “The channels will need these properties to sustain an all year round schedule. Many male ori- ented brands — handsets, ecommerce brands, telcos are coming on board.” For instance, IPG client Amazon which is re- portedly spending ` 20 crore just on the opening of the ISL. Continued on Pg 2 >> “I’m Not Against Endorsing Fairness Creams” I t’s been over a month since PV Sindhu returned from Rio with India’s first Olympic silver medal in Women’s Singles Badminton. Despite numer- ous felicitations, ribbon-cut- tings, dinners, and lunches that have changed the course of her life, one thing that hasn’t changed much is her training schedule. Even when the whole coun- try may have been talking about her alleged `50 crore deal with sports market- ing company Baseline, our 21-year-old Hyderabad born- and-bred shuttler was busy with practice sessions at her coach Pullela Gopichand’s Academy. The figures defin- ing the second phase of her fame could be inflated, we hear, by as much as 100% - but even `25 crore is a strong number by any yardstick, especially for a celeb who doesn’t belong to either of the two quasi-religions of India: Bollywood and Cricket. Does Sindhu care either way? Doesn’t seem like it. “I never thought about being on TV while growing up,” she tells us. “I used to read up on Olympics. That was my dream. That dream of stand- ing on the podium, seeing India’s waving flag, finally came true.” Brand endorse- ment offers: she sees them as a good sign. A sign that she has made her country proud and that she’s being recog- nised for it. “It’s interesting,” that’s all she has to say on the matter. She hasn’t studied what other sport celebrities have been up to in their jour- ney of making a brand out of themselves. She hasn’t taken any tips from them on how to manage training along with commercial engagements. She wasn’t even aware of the constitutional bill that now makes celebrities liable for claims made by brands they endorse. When it comes to advertisements, Sindhu is still more of a consumer than an endorser. “I’ve been watching ads featuring all the key sport stars. They’re all good normally. I just watch and forget.” Continued on Pg 2 >> Olympic silver medallist ‘Sindhu - the shuttler’ gets candid about becoming ‘Sindhu - the brand’. By Shephali Bhatt War Of The Leagues ILLUSTRATION: VARANI SAHU For brands investing in India’s nascent sports leagues it’s a tense, high stakes game. Play only if you’re in for the long haul. By Ravi Balakrishnan and Amit Bapna SPORTS MARKETING SPECIAL T HE E CONOMIC T IMES OCTOBER 05-11, 2016 WEST

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Page 1: War Of ILLUSTRATION: VARANI SAHU The Leagues Isince PV Sindhu returned from Rio with India’s first Olympic silver medal in Women’s Singles Badminton. Despite numer-ous felicitations,

Arecent commercial for the Indian Super League (ISL) is a triumph of imagina-tion over experience. India is football crazy, if this ad is to be believed, with a

mania for the sport that makes the South Americans, the English, and the Spaniards look like mere dilettantes. In this age of po-faced realism and #unstereotype, it’s great to see a film blissfully unboth-ered by how unreal-istic it is.

However, of such ads are hype for a series, and hopefully an entire fran-chise, built. Depending on who you ask, this ad and similar commercials for non-cricket themed sports are either wishful thinking or a prescient glimpse into the future of India as a sporting nation.

Inspired by the IPL formula, several leagues have emerged over the last half decade, with varying degrees of consum-er and advertiser interest and success. According to Jaideep Ghosh - partner and head, transport, logistics and sports, KPMG India while cricket dominates cor-porate sponsorship, money raised by the other sports is on the rise. On ground spon-sorship was up by 300% in kabbadi, 92% in football, 53.5% for marathons and 32% in tennis. And in 2015, the Pro Kabbadi League generated a revenue of `45 crore for its broadcaster Star India.

India’s tentative attempts at becoming more than just a single sport nation are roughly mirrored by its fortunes in the Olympics over the last six decades, theo-rises Debabrata (Debu) Mukherjee, vice president, marketing & commercial, Coca-Cola India and South West Asia: “We are now seeing green shoots in individual sports: shooting, archery, wrestling, box-ing, badminton and tennis.” He doesn’t hazard a guess on which of the upcoming sports will hit the big league but believes, “the headline is - there is space for more sporting properties.” This is reflected in Thums Up partnering with kabbadi and Coca-Cola with tennis and football.

Even corporates like Hero Moto Corp, formerly synonymous with cricket is now covering golf and hockey besides being

title sponsor for Indian Super League. DHL, closely associated with Formula 1 and rugby globally, has come on board as associate sponsor of the Indian football tourney. Says RS Subramanian, SVP & country manager, DHL Express, India, “ISL is the third most watched/ attended football tournament in the world, and the largest in Asia.” Besides opting for sports that emphasise its brand values — speed, passion and teamwork — DHL hopes the partnership will connect it to a larger au-dience through brand visibility in stadia, publicity, and official communication.

So what’s a brand that finds cricket too cluttered or expensive to do?

Option A is to invest now, grow with the game and reap rich rewards. It’s what a lot of the clients of IPG Mediabrands are doing according to CEO Shashi Sinha. He expects the universe to expand fur-ther with popular basketball franchise NBA and the EPL getting more serious about India. He says, “The channels will need these properties to sustain an all year round schedule. Many male ori-ented brands — handsets, ecommerce brands, telcos are coming on board.” For instance, IPG client Amazon which is re-portedly spending ` 20 crore just on the opening of the ISL.

Continued on Pg 2 >>

“I’m Not Against Endorsing FairnessCreams”

It’s been over a month si nc e PV Si nd hu returned from Rio with India’s f irst O l y m p i c s i l v e r

medal in Women’s Singles Badminton. Despite numer-ous felicitations, ribbon-cut-tings, dinners, and lunches that have changed the course of her life, one thing that hasn’t changed much is her training schedule. Even when the whole coun-try may have been talking about her alleged `50 crore deal with sports market-ing company Baseline, our 21-year-old Hyderabad born-and-bred shuttler was busy with practice sessions at her coach Pullela Gopichand’s Academy. The figures defin-

ing the second phase of her fame could be inflated, we hear, by as much as 100% - but even ̀ 25 crore is a strong number by any yardstick, especially for a celeb who doesn’t belong to either of the two quasi-religions of India: Bollywood and Cricket.

Does Sindhu care either way? Doesn’t seem like it. “I never thought about being on TV while growing up,” she tells us. “I used to read up on Olympics. That was my dream. That dream of stand-ing on the podium, seeing India’s waving flag, finally came true.” Brand endorse-ment offers: she sees them as a good sign. A sign that she has made her country proud and that she’s being recog-

nised for it. “It’s interesting,” that’s all she has to say on the matter. She hasn’t studied what other sport celebrities have been up to in their jour-ney of making a brand out of themselves. She hasn’t taken any tips from them on how to manage training along with commercial engagements. She wasn’t even aware of the constitutional bill that now makes celebrities liable for claims made by brands they endorse. When it comes to advertisements, Sindhu is still more of a consumer than an endorser. “I’ve been watching ads featuring all the key sport stars. They’re all good normally. I just watch and forget.”

Continued on Pg 2 >>

Olympic silver

medallist ‘Sindhu -

the shuttler’ gets candid

about becoming ‘Sindhu -

the brand’. By Shephali

Bhatt

War Of The Leagues

ILLU

STR

ATI

ON

: VA

RA

NI S

AH

U

For brands investing in India’s nascent sports leagues it’s a tense, high stakes game. Play only if you’re in for the long haul. By Ravi Balakrishnan and Amit Bapna

SPORTSMARKETING S P E C I A L

THE ECONOMIC TIMES OCTOBER 05-11, 2016 � WEST

CCI NG 3.5 Product: ETMumbaiBS PubDate: 05-10-2016 Zone: BrandEquityWest Edition: 1 Page: BEWFP User: kailash.korade Time: 09-30-2016 23:46 Color: CMYK

Page 2: War Of ILLUSTRATION: VARANI SAHU The Leagues Isince PV Sindhu returned from Rio with India’s first Olympic silver medal in Women’s Singles Badminton. Despite numer-ous felicitations,

THE ECONOMIC TIMES OCTOBER 05-11, 2016 2

Adidas’ new CEO is making it his mission to go after NikeClosing the gap on clear market leader Nike is the challenge facing new Adidas boss Kasper Rorsted when the Dane takes charge of the world’s second big-gest sportswear brand from the start of October.Investors are banking on Rorsted,

54, repeating improvements to profit-ability he achieved at consumer goods maker Henkel and the Adidas share price has risen by around two thirds since his appointment was announced in January.Ingo Speich, a fund manager at Adidas

shareholder Union Investment, said he hopes Rorsted will scrutinise the Adidas product portfolio and its sales structure as the first steps to boosting lagging margins.“I expect small measures rather than

a bombshell. But in 12-18 months, if the margin is still where it is now it will be difficult for the shares,” said Speich, a critic of outgoing Adidas Chief Executive Herbert Hainer.

Rorsted’s performance

at Henkel, the maker of Schwarzkopf shampoo and Loctite glue, is being ex-amined for clues as to what he will do at the sportswear group which supplies soccer jerseys to Manchester United and world champions Germany.At Henkel, Rorsted culled 80 percent

of the firm’s brands, pushing top names such as Persil at the expense of local labels. He also kept a tight control on costs, shifting some head office func-tions to “shared service” centres in lower-wage countries.Investors also want Rorsted, who

earlier in his career worked for U.S. firms Compaq and Hewlett Packard, to maintain the focus on reviving the Adidas brand in the United States. The Dane spent a lot of time there in the last few years as he overhauled Henkel’s U.S. business.Adidas has started to chip away at

Nike’s dominance in the U.S. market thanks to heavy market-ing spending and collaborations

with singers such as Kanye West and Pharrell Williams as well as top sports stars.One investor said their research sug-

gests a rebound in the Adidas brand has been limited to the lifestyle segment in the biggest U.S. cities so far and it still has work to do in the rest of the market and in performance sports.A quarterly earnings report from Nike

this week showed it was feeling the effects of increasing com-

petition from Adidas and Under Armour.

ADVANTAGE NIKENike’s entrenched

strength in its home U.S. market helps explain much of its

advantage over its German rival in profit-

ability.It is also what

drove

Hainer to buy Reebok in 2005 for $3.8 billion, but the strategy backfired as the brand has since floundered, with some investors keen for it to be sold.Hainer, a Bavarian who is a supervi-

sory board member of German soccer champions Bayern Munich, has been chief executive since 2001.His critics say he failed to improve

profitability even as sales rose by two thirds in a decade. The operating margin was stuck at 6.3 percent in 2015 versus 14 percent at Nike.Some investors hope Rorsted will

scale back new store plans to be more like Nike, which focuses on flagship stores in top locations combined with e-commerce.Adidas had 2,722 stores at the end

of last year and plans to add another 500-600 by 2020 and quadruple ecommerce sales to 2 billion euros ($2.2 billion) by then. Nike is more ambitious -- targeting $12.5 billion from ecom-merce by then.

(Source: businessinsider.com)

Celeb too honest for his own goodArun Pandey, founder of Rhiti Sports that represents MS Dhoni, Ravindra Jadeja, Pragyan Ojha, and several other sportsmen, tells us: “Every time a dental brand approached us to

sign MS (Dhoni), he will say ‘Pandey ji, yahan mere daant kharab ho gaye hain, aap bolte ho dental brands ke liyead karo!” (Here, my teeth have gone rotten and you’re asking me to en-dorse dental brands). Pandey (ji) has had to give away “mouth-watering proposals” from clients because of Dhoni’s earnestness. “Once, a brand withdrew from CSK sponsorship deal also, because MS refused to endorse the brand. I kept telling him it’s a huge deal but MS was clear. You ought to respect the man for his honesty. The first time I spoke to him about the idea of doing a biopic on him (in 2012), he actually told me to get lost, in jest,” Pandey recounts.

When family/coach doubles up as agentWe are told one of the luminaries from India’s Olympic contin-

gent has a lot of potential and is getting interesting offers from brands. “But in that household, the coach’s word is final. The

coach doesn’t give us time to even meet the celeb, let alone sign deals,” says an aggrieved marketing agent. It’s good if the coach doesn’t want the

focus to go astray, we’d reason. His response to that: “Yes, it’s all

good. Except the sport this celeb-to-be is associated with isn’t too glamorous. You need to strike a balance between training and commercial ventures.”

Baseline is managing all things branding for her, she admits. “Sindhu is new to this. It’s our duty to educate her on brands,” says Ramakrishnan R (Ram), co-founder and direc-tor at Baseline Ventures. “That ̀ 50 crore figure didn’t come from us. Maybe the writer was re-ferring to her potential. We are sane enough not to quote such a figure. That said, if Sindhu con-tinues to perform the way she is right now, and maintains the great persona she has, she will be right up there among the top athletes of our coun-try,” he adds.

Baseline is in final talks with nine of the 16 companies, eager to sign Sindhu as brand en-dorser post Rio. These largely include finan-cial institutions and women-centric brands. While Ram is not at liberty to divulge names, he tells us a little something about one of the BFSI brands. “It’s a reputed brand (of course). This is the second time the brand is getting a sport celebrity endorser, after a long hiatus.” The association gives Sindhu the cushion of financial planning and wealth management, he feels. Not to mention, the category is high on media spends, which ensures more visibility for our shuttler.

Women-centric brands are a no-brainer. For someone who chose badminton over her par-ents’ professional sport (volleyball), she has a strong mind of her own, which makes her a good fit for the said category. “I don’t even like volleyball,” she quips. No wonder content sites

are already speculating who will play Sindhu’s role in her biopic. “I don’t have anyone in mind, haven’t thought about this. But it should be a good choice,” she states.

Sindhu hasn’t gone fully into the endorsing mode yet. She isn’t nervous though, she clarifies.

“I want to watch myself doing those things now, and see how it’ll all look.” Sindhu breaks any stereotypes you may have of sports-women not being par-ticular about their appearance. Her style game, as attested by the Twitterati at several occasions, is quite on point. “I like shopping and I like dressing up,”

she says. “I know I’m in the limelight right now - all eyes are on me. I’m working hard on my game every day. I go out once in a while. It feels nice to get ready for special occasions.”

Since she is going to be endorsing women-cen-tric brands, we ask her about the two disparate women-themed narratives running parallel in advertising these days: One that directly

propagates stereotypical beauty; the other that manipulates female insecurities in a nicer man-ner - so women feel a false-sense of empower-ment and not embarrassment in the process. “I think whatever you have is beautiful,” she says. “People are not going to like you for being fair or not, but for who you are as a person.” Is that indirectly a big ‘No’ to endorsing anyone from the fairness creams family, we ask. She laughs, and promptly replies, “I don’t know! If it comes, I can’t say right now whether I will or won’t. I am not against it. I think each one of us has a differ-ent mindset. I may think everything is beauti-ful the way it is. For someone else, maybe being fair is beautiful. I’m not against that perception of theirs.” And she won’t mind catering to that perception too. “But it all depends on what kind of brands come forward. We will have to make a decision accordingly.”

That’s the level of candour you can expect from the most popular representative of the GenZ of sport celebs. She knows her game, her strengths and her limitations. Spain’s Carolina Marin who won the final against her at Rio, has lost matches against Sindhu in the past. “But that day was her day,” she says, referring to the Olympic finals, “whereas my smashes were going out.” Sindhu’s also used to fame, and the lull between that fame and the next big game. “I know I have created history so everyone’s con-gratulating me right now. Soon, it’s going to be over and I’ll be back to my training sessions like I was after winning the World Championship.” All that’s left is for her to learn the ropes of the branding business, perhaps. But then, that is a different shuttlegame anyway.

[email protected]

Sports marketing agencies are at a nascent stage in India, yet their lives are ev-ery bit as dramatic as that of Tom Cruise’s eponymous character in Jerry Maguire

(an American romantic comedy on the life of a sports agent, for the uninitiat-ed). The challenges are slightly differ-

ent though. You don’t hear them yelling ‘SHOW ME THE MONEY’ to someone on the other end of the phone call. “You have to be aggressive but in a controlled manner,” says Ramakrishnan R, co-founder of Baseline Ventures (repre-senting PV Sindhu, Srikanth Kidambi). You have to respect the clients be-

cause ultimately they’re driven by pro-cesses. As an agent, you have to fight to win the athlete’s trust. “Just a few years ago, athletes were dependent on their brothers and uncles for brand-related decision-making. So many of

them are from small towns and weren’t comfortable

with English. We had

to convince them we weren’t sharksafter their money,” says Indranil Das Blah, founding partner & COO, KWAN Entertainment (represents Sania Mirza, Abhinav Bindra, Dipika Pallikal, Dinesh Karthik, Irfan andYusuf Pathan).

Here are five typical challenges they face on a regular basis:

Getting The Sports Story RightThere is no best example here, but na-tions having efficient and transparent models of sports governance, which have proactively institutionalised a sporting culture are tasting success in international fora. The US has integrated sports with education and college sports competitions governed by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCA A) are highly popular across the country.

As a category of sponsor-ship portfolio, sports is con-sidered a good brand building and consumer engagement platform, provided you get the story right. Emirates Airlines is one good instance of a com-pany which has consistently and effec-tively used sports sponsorship to build brand image and credibility.

The Emergence Of Rural Sports Regional games packaged in interesting league formats have been successful in garnering rural viewership. High levels of interest in rural areas is indicative of the latent potential in rural sports offering. Further, broadcasters’ strat-egy to woo rural viewership by present-ing predominantly rural sports such as kabaddi and wrestling with urban packaging has succeeded in popularis-ing these sports pan-India. Corporate interest is evident from the setting up of commercial leagues as well as growing sponsorship numbers

The Emerging ParadigmsIncreasing online consumption of

sports: Viewers are increasingly favour-ing online streaming of sports events over watching them on TV, as the online option gives them the flexibility of time

and space.Growing female viewer-

ship: There has been an up-surge in global female view-ership for sports events. In India too, sports viewership is no longer male dominated, as females comprise a signifi-cant portion of the viewer-ship pie.

Increasing viewership and participation in sports other than cricket: On the lines of the IPL model, eight other

leagues were launched between 2013-15, with some of these leagues garnering a high cumulative viewership.

Impact Of Online And Digital GrowthA young digital audience, and rapidly increasing smartphone and internet penetration is driving the growth in online consumption of sports content in India. 60% of the digital audience in India is within the age group of 13-35 years, which is also the primary tar-get audience for short-format sports. Broadcasters have developed new capa-bilities to cater to this growing trend. Hotstar was launched by Star India a fortnight before the ICC CWC 2015, which garnered a cumulative viewer-ship of 87 million for all the 49 matches.

[email protected]

The Real Life Jerry Maguires

Continued from Page 1 >>

Continued from Page 1 >>

2MS DHONI

`1.5 cr10 Brands Endorsed

1VIRAT KOHLI

`2.5 cr12 to 15

Brands Endorsed

What we don’t know about the struggle of sport marketing agencies. By Shephali Bhatt

Celeb picks money over brand-building Badminton player Sai na Nehwa l has changed several sport marketing agencies. “Yet we were disappointed when we lost her as a client,” says Kwan’s Indranil Blah. “I thought we did a good job with her, built a strategy to get brands that align with her personality. She is also one of the many sport celebs who don’t understand brand building takes time. Making quick money won’t take you as far as making thoughtful strategy-led branding decisions would,” he adds.

The fly-by-night operatorsKwan’s Blah also blames fly-by-night operators who offer celebs the moon and dissuade them from doing what’s best for them in the long run. A rather famous story in the circuit on similar lines goes like this: An agency was going to sign a ̀ 100 crore deal with a famous cricketer. The deal was to be signed with a client in Australia. When the crick-eter and his assistant arrived in Australia, the agency couldn’t reach them. Next day they found out the assistant had opened his own agency over-night, and signed that deal himself. That’s a very #IDon’tEven moment for any legitimate agency, if you ask us.

When the client is, well, “being a client”Baseline’s Ramakrishnan (Ram) was once called by a company to its native city to sign a deal. He flew down only to be told the meeting was going to pushed by a day since something had come up. On Day Two he was informed: “The deal is off.” Fortunately for Ram, he’s also had instances where he has managed to resurrect a seeming-ly dead deal. On one occasion, he was aboard a plane when he was informed the marketer he was going to meet had to fly somewhere else urgently. “I insisted I can’t deplane myself, so I’ll try and catch the client before he boards his plane. We actually signed the deal in that brief win-dow between one flight’s landing and another’s take off - at the airport,” he recalls.

There are more disappointments than positive stories, all of which only make them better at what they do. “You often get a chance to send the client a screenshot of the morning paper with your sportsperson’s news on front page, to draw his attention, or to prick him.” There are also situations when the morning paper tells them a deal is off, instead of the client doing it through proper channel. “So, you always play it by ear. Or as the Australians say, ‘you wing it’,” Ram concludes.

[email protected]

Jaideep Ghosh - partner and head, transport, logistics and sports, KPMG on trends that are shaping the business of sports. By Amit Bapna

“I’m Not Against Endors-ing Fairness Creams”

War Of The Leagues

All the fi gures (based on industry sources) represent the amount the celeb takes per day per brand. *Figure industry speculates Sindhu is asking for, since she will have limited days for these projects and can therefore demand a premium **Sindhu is yet to sign these brands, and there could be more. (If the speculated fi gure for Sindhu is to be believed, then she is in fact third after Kohli and Dhoni in the endorsement game)

3PV SINDHU

`75* L9** Brands Endorsed

I know I have created history so everyone’s congratulating me right now. Soon, it’s go-ing to be over and I’ll be back to my training sessions

ILLU

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IRB

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Play To Win

Kasper Rorsted

To the people who consider these fran-chises underperforming laggards, Sinha says, “Two or three years is too short a period. That they are able to sustain some numbers around cricket is the larger sto-ry. India is extremely underleveraged on sports.”

Which brings us to Option B — scrimp and save, but stick with cricket, since it’s here to stay in the foreseeable fu-ture. Says Ashish Bhasin, chairman and CEO, Dentsu Aegis network: “Of the total spend on sport, 90% of the ac-tual absolute value has been on cricket.” The interest shown hasn’t translated into signficantly higher revenues and investments.

While a popular whipping boy in the press and among fans, the BCCI is still a robust, wealthy behemoth — the same

cannot be said about the bodies backing many of the other sports in India. Bhasin believes these sports can grow only with properly administered sports bodies, consistent in view and approach. And the ability to make each season bigger than its predecessor.

The flipside to a brand coming in ear-ly and taking home a disproportionate chunk of glory is the sporting tourney collapsing, unable to sustain itself. In short, transforming the until recently, slightly mundane world of sponsorships, into a high risk, high rewards game of glorious uncertainties. One where every sponsor hopes the cliché about the “game being the winner at the end of the day” comes true at least for the sports it has invested in.

[email protected]

CCI NG 3.5 Product: ETMumbaiBS PubDate: 05-10-2016 Zone: BrandEquityWest Edition: 1 Page: BEWPG2 User: kailash.korade Time: 09-30-2016 23:34 Color: CMYK

Page 3: War Of ILLUSTRATION: VARANI SAHU The Leagues Isince PV Sindhu returned from Rio with India’s first Olympic silver medal in Women’s Singles Badminton. Despite numer-ous felicitations,

Sheran MehraHEAD, GROUP STRATEGIC MARKETING & COMMUNICA-TIONS, DBS BANK INDIAAD: Nike’s Da Da Ding ad featuring both Indian sportswomen and real women is my favourite cam-paign. WHY: It breaks the feminine stereotype, and has been splendidly executed in terms of casting, scale

and sound track. It scores high on shareability and repeat view-ing intent. To me, it’s not just about women, the campaign drives

the agenda of sports or fitness across genders and age groups. The celebrity usage is rightly subtle with real women getting equal share, thereby, building a wider and deeper connect.

Amit SynglePRESIDENT - TECHNOLOGY, SALES & MARKETING, ASIAN PAINTS

AD: Nike - Da Da DingWHY: You see celebs used in the right spirit. Deepika Padukone is the most

popular of all the ladies and yet you don’t see the focus only on her. Every sports-woman, from Ishita Malaviya (surfing) to Rani Rampal (hockey) is getting her share of limelight.

Advertising’s Most Valued PlayersBE gets a clutch of marketers to pick ads that star their favourite sports people. By Amit Bapna & Shephali Bhatt

Anil Ramachandran EVP & HEAD, MARKETING AND RETAIL UNSECURED ASSETS, INDUSIND BANK AD: Under Armour featuring Michael Phelps. The ad brings to fore the fact that even the most consistent of heroes have to work hard. Every day. Day after day. Not for the cameras, the lights or the adulation. They push their limits behind closed doors so that they can

push all boundaries outside. WHY: I am a big fan of Michael Phelps and I think this campaign really brings out the core of his characteristic determination which is required to succeed on the global stage. Because we see the star perform and deliver so often and so consistently over the years, we almost begin to think that he does so, effortlessly. Truly a wonderful campaign and a brilliant utilisation of an international sporting icon.

Sunil KatariaBUSINESS HEAD - INDIA AND SAARC, GODREJ CONSUMER PRODUCTS LIMITED (GCPL)AD: Visa Europe’s Usain Bolt ad released just before the London 2012 Olympic Games. The messaging runs in paral-lel with Usain’s phenomenal speed as the world number one

sprinter (100 and 200 metres) and Visa’s fast contactless payments. The technol-ogy was announced just before the games began in London and the Olympics was the first event where consumers could choose not to carry cash and instead make contactless payments with the card or a mobile phone using NFC technology. WHY: I really liked the way the brand has used the location, as Usain runs through London to reach the Olympic stadium and they have integrated various purchase points in the advertisement. Visa managed to create a distinct brand recall for their contactless payments preposition by aligning it with Usain’s fan-tastic performance in the games.

Aditya BagriDIRECTOR, BAGRRYS INDIA

AD: Pepsi - ‘Nothing of-ficial about it’ (1996). Even though the campaign fea-tures many cricketing greats such as Courtney Walsh, Ian

Bishop and Dominick Cork and even umpire Dickie Bird, the face of the campaign was a young Sachin Tendulkar whose prowess with endorsements already seemed as commanding as his skill with the cricket bat.WHY: One of the cheekiest moves in advertising for that time, given Coca-Cola had paid a huge sum to be the official sponsors of the Cricket World Cup. What worked was the approach of ‘breaking the official norms’ and moving away from a boring and stereotyped ‘gentleman’s game’ perception of cricket to something more fun, aggressive and disruptive. The ad gives me an overwhelming sense of nostalgia every time I watch it.

Debabrata MukherjeeVP - MARKETING & COMMERCIAL, COCA-COLA INDIA AND SOUTH WEST ASIA

AD: Genworth Financial (2004) starring Andre Agassi and Steffi Graff’s young boy, playing against erstwhile tennis champ from the US - Taylor Dent and making it extremely hard for the

ace player to win. Campaign line says: “The right genes make all the difference. Introducing Genworth Financial. Built on GE heritage.”WHY: It’s a fantastic use of celebrity where you use his DNA without him being in your face all the time. An excellent way of driving home the message of brand’s lineage

Ali Harris ShereDIRECTOR MARKETING, BRITANNIA

AD: Ambuja Cement with the Great Khali WHY:The brand and the endorser feed off each other’s equity of ‘strength’ beautifully.

The exaggerated style of the narrative blends perfectly with the sportsman’s (Khali) personality. Also, the ad communicates the message in a very simple and viewable manner. It’s not the typical trite messaging one associates with most celebrity endorser ads. I doubt if the ad would have had the same impact if Khali was not there in it!

Sandip TarkasCEO - SPORTS, MEDIA, AND SPECIAL PROJECTS, FUTURE GROUPAD: Pepsi Crash the Pepsi IPL 2015 WHY: Of late, celebs are being used in the most ordinary way. This one ad made them human instead of being out of the ordinary. It connects well with people when you show them the human side of ‘stars’. And the cherry on the cake was the old lady telling Virat Kohli not to do too many ads and focus on his game instead.

Vivek SharmaCMO, PIDILITE AD: Pepsi 2011 Change the Game campaignWHY: For once, the celebs weren’t showing off their skills. Instead, the common man was teaching MS Dhoni the Helicopter Shot. Harbhajan Singh was being taught Doosra, Kevin Pieterson was getting tutored on the Alti Palti shot, and Virendra Sehwag on Upar Cut. It ensured natural integration of what the sport celeb is good at, along with seamless involvement of the audience and the brand in the story. Celebs weren’t preachy. It was also a clever decision to use a mix of Indian and foreign sports-men, and give audience the chance to resonate with an ad starring their favourite cricketer.

‘We could have marketed Bolt better’In his fi rst interview with an Indian publication, Puma’s ever-so cool global director of brand and marketing shares his notes on work, life, Riri, Bolt and Willy Wonka. By Delshad Irani

Who is Adam Petrick? A theatre arts student from the University of Pennsylvania. (As fate would have it, one of his batch mates was Puma’s former managing direc-tor for India, Rajiv Mehta.) His back-ground in theatre, naturally, makes us wonder how he landed in the mar-keting division at a global sportswear company instead of, say, Broadway. According to him, “It was the best education for my job. As a director in a theatre program you learn about col-laboration, cooperation, communica-tion, working with technicians and artists, and how to sell people on ideas. I learnt about history, arts, literature. It was a tremendous reference book for what I do. Is it relevant for what every-body does? Perhaps not. But for me it was.” Petrick has spent 17 years at the French luxury group Kering-owned company that ranks at No3 globally af-ter Nike and Adidas based on net sales in 2015.

Lessons from Willy WonkaEver since Petrick read Charlie and the Chocolate Factory he has been fascinated with Wonka; “The idea of a place where the products you love come from and you can physically go and visit was attractive to me. Then, to imagine a guy like Wonka who truly used his brand or his concept of exactly what he wanted to deliver to people to drive the very engine of his produc-tion facility was pretty cool. He uses joy to manufacture candies, I like to believe we use joy, that energy to drive the products that we create.” Another lesson from Wonka is that technology doesn’t necessarily have to be the most cutting edge, “it can also be the use of something in an innovative way and I think that’s something else we’ve tried to learn from Willy Wonka.”

Afternoons with Riri In 2014, under his leadership Puma signed on singer and actor, Rihanna as creative director. A good fit since Puma, unlike its competitors, is as much about style as sport and perfor-mance. Petrick tells us he didn’t even consider speaking to any other celeb-rity. “Rihanna’s style, ability to go across fashion, athleisure and street wear, her attitude to work, art and

projects, and unique and unapologetic

approach to business and life -- she’s got the attitude we want to embody as a brand.”

But what if she said ‘no’? “I don’t know what we would have done. It was Rihanna or bust for me.” The gamble paid off. Rihanna, who last week launched a new Puma line ‘Marie Antoinette at the gym’, surprised the team when she landed up at a presen-tation with a mood-board to commu-nicate her vision for the brand and product lines they were about to create together. “I think she really likes it. At least that’s my impression.”

The Real Flash In a candid admission, Petrick says about the brand’s long-time ambassa-dor, Olympian and fastest man on the planet, Usain Bolt; “To be honest with you, he does a lot of the heavy lifting himself. He gets so much attention no matter where he goes. We’ve done an okay job of marketing him. We could have done better. He was a great am-bassador. Continues to be till this day. He’s just so marketable. We probably lost some opportunities. We focused on sports, for sure, but we were probably a bit too focused on causal wear. We had some success with a program called Puma Social, where we were reaching out to younger people and engaging them in a kind of an after-hours thing. Not that it wasn’t a great campaign but maybe we lost a little bit of an opportu-nity to talk about the Puma and Bolt association in those years.”

Deliver the brand, not the technology“Just because I could use a QR code circa 2008 didn’t mean that I should. Same for 3D printing today. And just because I can create an accelerated video experience doesn’t mean that I should. If your brand isn’t selling the technology itself, you better be using that tech to sell your brand. Otherwise what are you doing? You are wasting time.” Puma uses tech to enhance consumers’ experi-ences. For instance, athletes’ visits to Puma’s offices are broadcast on Snapchat. In 2011, Puma launched Joy Pad, a retail concept that in-volved smothering store walls with iPads featuring custom apps to en-hance customers’ in-store experi-ence. It has a long-running event called Ignite Your City and Urban Stampede across the world that in-vites people to hit the streets running and take back their cities. “When the game (competing with Nike, Adidas, Under Armour) is so close it is very important to ensure people have something else to help them make

a choice. People are spend-ing a lot of money on

these product. That purchase should be valuable on mul-tiple dimensions.”

Girls just wanna have fun, too

Petrick has always been baffled by the fact that “you couldn’t get girls to

line up to buy sneakers. Why are there so many

sneakers for boys? Why can’t we have something

for girls to get really excited about? There are women who are sneaker-heads, athletes, they are training and working on their bodies. I felt like they

were undeserved in sportswear. Our efforts are pretty evenly

divided in terms of gender split, when we step out to build a range.”

The industry, on the other hand, is 60:40 or 70:30, which, says Petrick, is “a crying shame”.

[email protected]

Footballer Cristiano Ronaldo is 2016’s highest-paid athlete of any sport, ac-cording to a report by Forbes.

Thanks to the retirement of boxer Floyd Mayweather and injuries hamper-ing the career of golfer Tiger Woods, Ronaldo took the top spot with annual earnings of $88 million (£61 million).It’s only the second time an athlete from

a team sport has topped Forbes’ list since it began ranking sports earnings in 1990 - the first being basket-ball player Michael Jordan.

Ronaldo has commercial endorsements to thank for getting him the top spot - they make up a massive $32 mil-

lion (£22 million) chunk of his income.As well as a $13 million (£9 million) a year contract with sportswear giant Nike, Ronaldo also has deals with Tag Heuer, Herbalife, Pokerstars, Clear Shampoo - as well as his own range of cologne and menswear.

Part of the attraction companies have for Ronaldo is his huge social media presence: 43 million followers on Twitter and 112 million “likes” on Facebook.

Forbes estimates that all of this adds up to $176 million (£122 million) in media value for all his promotional posts.

There’s also, of course, his Real Madrid contract, which pays $50 million (£35 million) a year in salary and bonuses. Ronaldo’s record for the club suggests it was money well-spent - since joining in 2009 he’s scored 260 goals and helped win the team two Champions Leagues.

(Source: businessinsider.com)

Cristiano Ronaldo Football $88m (£60.6m)Lionel Messi Football $81.4m (£56.1m)LeBron James Basketball $77.2m (£53.2m)Roger Federer Tennis $67.8m (£46.7m)Kevin Durant Basketball £56.2m (£38.7m)Novak Djokovic Tennis $55.8m (£38.46m)Cam Newton American Football $53.1m (£36.6m)Phil Mickelson Golf $52.9m (£36.46m)Jordan Spieth Golf $52.8m (£36.39m)Kobe Bryant Basketball $50m (£34.46m)

World’s highest-paid sports star

$88mnANNUAL EARNINGS

2016

THE ECONOMIC TIMES OCTOBER 05-11, 2016 3

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