Tag: Cricket

Entertainment One’s Peppa Pig concludes India’s visit with a package full of celebrations at their Grand Finale Event!

Peppa Pig and George have created unforgettable memories for children during their visit to India this summer for their cricket campaign #PeppaPlaysCricket. From teamwork, trust building to sportsmanship – kids experienced everything cricket with their favourites for two whole months! And with their visit coming to an end, Peppa and George culminated the campaign with a grand event in Mumbai today.

With immense love and warmth, Peppa and George welcomed Save the Children and Ayushman, Lusi, Soni and Waris from Team India North, the gender equal team who represented India at the Street Cricket World Cup 2019 in Lords. The event was also graced by one of the pioneers of women’s cricket in India – Mithali Raj, Captain of Indian Women’s Cricket Team who spoke about the sport, everything that goes behind becoming a sportsperson and her support for Save the Children and Team India North.

Today I spent an amazing day with Peppa, George and the true champions from Team India North – engaging and educating the children present on Cricket and everything it takes to become a sportsperson. It was heartening to see so many families and children come together for their love of Peppa, George, and the spirit of the sport! I thank Save the Children for inviting me to be a part of such a great event and thank Peppa and George for coming all the way to India to celebrate cricket and also, spread awareness on India's street connected children, I am sure this will help children get the right start early in their lives”, said Mithali Raj, Captain India Cricket Team and Goodwill Ambassador Team India North, Save the Children

The event additionally had a great surprise in store – Mithali Raj, Team India North, Peppa Pig and George unveiled a special cricket-themed video starring Soha Ali Khan, daughter of former Captain of the Indian Cricket Team Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi and famous Indian Film actor, who, along with Team India North is seen offering kids some fun tips and advice on sportsmanship and teamwork. Created by Nick Jr., the video is now live on the channel as well as Voot Kids.

While kids and their families were in awe of Captain Mithali, and were seen taking inspiration from Team India North, they also indulged in some fun Peppa Pig themed activities including a storytelling session on the book Peppa Plays Cricket, followed by a special meet and greet with Peppa and George.

The day was full of fun activities, quizzes, games, great time for kids and their families – giving them yet another reason to love and remember their dearest Peppa and George!”

July 9, 2019
Bingo! calls out to all Cricket fans with its iconic cheer“Come on India Dikhado!”

MUMBAI: As the country is engaged in one of the biggest cricketing events of 2019, Bingo!,the snacks brand from ITC Ltd, announced release of “Come on India, Dikhado!” song, using the iconic cheer from the classic cricket anthem from the late 90’s. “Come on India!”cheer, which resonated with the sporting spirit of each Indian of that era, has been used in the latest anthem by Bingo! topack a punch of excitement among the modern day millennia. This song has gone on air on digital platforms from 14thJune,2019.

Link to the song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4FelwZ3KJNQ

The song is composed by ShameerTandon and sung by Shaan while rapper BabuHaabi has rendered a contemporary feel to the song. Adil Shaikh, popular Bollywood director has directed the video,which captures the multitude of emotions and sentiments of the Indians who revere the game as a religion. The video also featuresviral star “Dabbu uncle” along with popular TVF web-series actors, Lleo, Badri, Jassi, Shivankit and ChoteMiyanArun which lendsa “Bingo!” touch to the video.

Commenting on the launch,Mr. Hemant Malik, Divisional Chief Executive, Foods Division,ITC Ltd. said,“At ITC, we look forward to be a part ofthe excitement and enthusiasm that Cricket enjoys in our country. With the Come on India Dikhadosong we aspired to create the nostalgia associated with the sport among every passionate cricket lover asthey cheer their team. We are positive that with the launch of this song Bingo! will create abuzzand an uproarkeeping up with thesporting excitement.”

June 21, 2019
Cricket enthusiasts to win big with COLORS Premier League

MUMBAI: The feeling of watching your favorite team play from the stand is supreme and unfathomable! When the name of your player echoes inside the stadium, the experience is unmatchable! So why sit at home and watch the match when you can cheer for them LIVE. Joining in the cricket frenzy, India's leading Hindi general entertainment channel, COLORS will give its viewers a chance to win tickets to watch Mumbai Indians play LIVE at the stadium. Living up to the spirit of India's love for the most popular sport, the channel has associated with Mumbai Indians for this year's T20 cricket league. Taking this association, a step ahead, the channel announces the launch of COLORS Premier League.

While the Mumbai Indians players sweat it out on the field, with COLORS Premier League the fans can have their own league at home to participate in and score big. Through an interactive microsite, www.colorspremierleague.com, viewers will have to answer simple questions while watching COLORS during prime time from 7-10 pm. With every right answer, they will be able to score runs and win tickets to watch Mumbai Indian matches LIVE at the stadium. The bumper prize of an all-expense paid trip to watch the finale match of the season will go to viewers who will participate maximum through the season and ensure top scores for themselves.

Speaking about this interactive property, Nina Elavia Jaipuria, Head, Hindi Mass Entertainment and Kids TV Network, Viacom18, said, "Cricket begets huge excitement within the country and as the most loved sport, it holds the power to connect with audiences across demographics. As a country, which is passionate about both entertainment and cricket, this association gives us an opportunity to extend the euphoria linked to the cricket season to viewers on our channel. With COLORS Premier League, we aim to not just offer a unique blend of the two, but also give viewers a chance to be a part of this exciting extravaganza."

The Mumbai Indians and COLORS collaboration will give an opportunity to the viewers to not only enjoy LIVE cricket matches but also watch their favorite Mumbai Indian players in various moods on the channel through in show integrations.

April 3, 2019
IPL auctions set to kick off 2019 cricket bonanza for brands, marketers

MUMBAI: Indian fans are in for a rollercoaster ride in 2019 thanks to an action-packed cricket calendar. Virat Kohli’s men have major challenges – tough and exciting in equal measure – lined up right through the year. The Indian side is set to play 12 Tests, 22 ODIs, 17 T20Is and the all-important World Cup in June. That’s in addition to the two-month-long cricket party – the Indian Premier League (IPL).

The mouth-watering prospect of the star-studded Indian cricket team taking on some of the most formidable cricketing nations offers an exciting proposition for fans, marketers, and brands. From a broadcast perspective, it obviously is a golden opportunity for ensuring maximum viewership and revenue. While Indian broadcasters are now investing in emerging sports along with a growing interest from audiences, nothing captures the hearts and minds of India’s public like a hotly contested cricket match.

Dentsu Aegis Network South Asia chairman and CEO Ashish Bhasin says cricket always commands premium price purely because of the consistency of viewership that it ensures.

“I think cricket is always a good opportunity for brands particularly those who want to reach a wide range of audience because it is one of those properties that reaches to each and every corner of the country and has got the universal appeal. If you look at the last few years, cricket hasn’t let any advertisers down because the interest has only gone on increasing. So I do think it’s a good opportunity and every opportunity comes at a price. Advertisers pay for eyeballs and cricket gets you consistent eyeballs. So it will always command a good price,” he feels.

According to the 2018 KPMG media and entertainment report, television is expected to grow at a CAGR of 12.6 per cent owing to growing TV penetration, strong advertising demand on the back of domestic consumption and major events (two cricket world cups and a general elections on the next five years) supported by better distribution realisations due to operationalisation of TV digitisation.

Season 11 of the IPL saw a spike of 15 per cent in viewership from 1.2 billion impressions in 2017 to 1.4 billion impressions in 2018. On the other hand, Star India’s OTT platform Hotstar hit a world record for concurrent online viewing with 10.7 million viewers for the final. The 2015 ICC World Cup garnered 635 million viewers till the India versus Australia semi-final. A total of 309 million Indians (TAM Panel CS4+ extrapolated to the universe using a standard conversion factor) tuned in to watch India’s semi-final clash against the Aussies on their television sets.

Syska Group marketing head Amit Sethiya is looking forward to all the opportunities the upcoming year is likely to throw up to his brand.

“Definitely there are a lot of opportunities that are going to come because of a whole range of experiences in 2019. But I think the main concern is that advertisers and brands need to check what kind of integration they are going ahead with. Three things that we are fundamentally repeating that it’s Bollywood, politics and cricket and these things still stand true,” he adds.

Sports advertising expenditure is largely driven by cricket with other sports contributing a minor share. According to India Sports Sponsorship report 2018 by ESP properties and SportzPower, media spending in sports as a whole grew 15.8 per cent from Rs 3511 crore ($ 516 million) to Rs 4065 crore ($ 616 million), driven even more strongly in 2017 by Television On Air, which grew an incredible 42.7 per cent from Rs 2376 crore ($ 348 million) to Rs 3379 crore ($ 512 million). The other reason for sports adex increase is the annual increase in ad rates, especially on IPL.

Broadcasters have started investing heavily in regional feeds, the likes of which were witnessed in the last IPL season. Star India leveraged 17 of its channels, including Star Plus and Star Gold to make the finals a runaway success. It was aired in eight languages including Hindi, English, Tamil, Telugu, Bengali, Kannada, Marathi and Malayalam.

At the time, Star India aired all the regional feeds apart from Hindi and Tamil on GEC and movies channels, but in the recent past, it has launched a new channel for Telugu feed called Star Sports 1 Telugu. The network is also ready to launch its fourth regional channel on 30 December for the Kannada audience named Star Sports 1 Kannada.

Fashion brand fbb’s marketing head Prachi Mohapatra said that cricket now reaches more demographic segments than before and therein lies its true power.

“Our association with IPL has been positive from a view of fbb’s brand visibility and subsequent in-store traction. We were confident about the partnership and believed in the strength of the association. Cricket stays a superior property and now has a wider consumption that cuts across demographic segments than what it had earlier. Hence, association with the same will remain high on the agenda for many participating brands,” she adds.

The ad expenditure on IPL increased from Rs 228 crore in 2008 to Rs 1204 crore in 2017. Sports advertising across all media accounted for Rs 4065 crore, 6.6 per cent of the total ad spends in the country. While the bulk of this advertising is on cricket though, other sports like kabaddi, football and badminton are now gaining traction from both the viewers and advertising.

Eros Digital COO Ali Hussein highlights how his platform’s partnership with Kohli’s IPL franchise helped him drive their subscriber numbers.

“It has been an interesting collaboration with Royal Challengers Bangalore as it was an industry first. No other OTT player in India has sponsored an IPL team. This association helped us reach a larger audience for Eros Now and we were able to leverage great synergies with content that we created for the platform and value that we were able to drive to our subscribers via match tickets and exclusive merchandise,” he said.

While cricket has been the country’s most loved sport for a while, the explosion of the IPL has added another dimension to the sport. Apart from helping the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to further propagate the game, the cash-rich league has aided brands in unlocking new markets and tapping more consumers.

“Consumer-focussed brands are always seeking for various mediums & opportunities to reach out to their target audience. Given the kind of viewership these cricketing events enjoy in India, they would always serve as potential platforms for partnerships. Cricket and Bollywood are the two most followed headlines in the country and hence provide for a great association for a brand like Eros Now,” Hussein adds.

Earlier this in January, IPL teams spent a mind-boggling Rs 431.7 crore in a two-day auction in Bengaluru, with pacer Jaydev Unadkat bagging a Rs 11.5 crore contract to earn the top Indian grosser’s tag. The salary cap of Rs. 80 crore then was 33 per cent higher than the Rs 60 crore available in the 2014 auctions.

Franchises have witnessed a windfall due to the renegotiated broadcast rights (won by Star India for Rs 3270 crore per year, four times higher than what Sony Pictures Network India paid per year during from 2008 to 2017) and title sponsorship rights (acquired by Vivo for Rs 440 crore per year).

Indian cricket has set global benchmarks in the past couple of years, with the IPL rights being awarded for a record Rs 16347 crore to Star India for the period 2018 to 2022 and Oppo snapping up the Indian cricket team’s sponsorship rights for Rs 1079 crore till 2022.

As the IPL money-spinner returns for its 12th edition, the auction on 18 December is where all the action commences before the players battle it out on the field.

While 1003 players had initially registered but the final auction list is out with a total pool of 346 cricketers set to undergo the hammer in Jaipur. In a sense, the IPL auction is likely to end 2018 with a big and set the agenda for a thrilling season of cricket in 2019.

December 17, 2018
Disney hoicks Uday Shankar to top job at Fox-Disney combined unit for APAC

MUMBAI – As part of the integration planning for the pending acquisition of Twenty-First Century Fox, Inc. (“21st Century Fox”-NASDAQ: FOXA, FOX), the Direct-to-Consumer & International (DTCI) segment of The Walt Disney Company (NYSE: DIS) today announced plans for the strategic alignment of its consolidated international business units under three key leaders.

“The planned restructuring of our business units outside of the U.S. will result in a stronger, more agile organization, one that is better able to pivot and capitalize on the many opportunities present in today’s fast-changing and increasingly complex global marketplace,” said Kevin Mayer, Chairman of The Walt Disney Company’s Direct-to-Consumer & International segment. “Once the acquisition is complete, all three regions will be led by exceptional, highly experienced executives who will combine the 'best of the best' talent from both organizations. This new structure and the outstanding leadership team we’ve put in place are clear demonstrations of our strong commitment to integrating operations and thoughtfully executing our strategic priorities around the globe.”

The structure will allow for more efficient management of the Company’s portfolio of assets and the optimization of resources applied in support of the Company’s strategic priorities. DTCI’s international operating structure and executive management, effective upon the completion of the acquisition, will include three distinct regions:

· EMEA– Rebecca Campbell, who currently serves as President, The Walt Disney Company EMEA, will maintain oversight of this region and adds oversight of Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS)

· Latin America – Diego Lerner, who currently serves as President, The Walt Disney Company Latin America, will maintain oversight of this region

· Asia Pacific – Uday Shankar, who currently serves as President, 21st Century Fox, Asia, and Chairman and CEO of Star India, will become Chairman, Star and Disney India, and President, The Walt Disney Company Asia Pacific

Additionally, Janice Marinelli will serve as President, Global Content Sales and Distribution. Responsible for DTCI’s integrated global content sales organization, she will lead and have oversight of the Company’s programming sales efforts for its combined portfolio of content, as well as the distribution of branded direct-to-consumer apps and services to broadcasters, digital services and other third-party distributors around the world.

Ms. Campbell, Mr. Lerner, Ms. Marinelli and Mr. Shankar will report to Mr. Mayer.

Joining the EMEA leadership team, reporting to Ms. Campbell, are:

·       Jan Koeppen, currently President of Fox Networks Group Europe and Africa, who will serve as President, Television and Direct to Consumer, The Walt Disney Company EMEA

·       Marina Jigalova-Ozkan, who will continue in her current role as DTCI’s Managing Director, Russia and CIS for The Walt Disney Company CIS LLC

Joining the Latin America leadership team, reporting to Mr. Lerner, is:

·       Carlos Martinez, President, Fox Networks Group, Latin America, who will serve as Executive Vice President and General Manager, Media Networks, North and Brazil, The Walt Disney Company Latin America

Reporting to Mr. Shankar as part of the Asia Pacific leadership team will be the following current DTCI executives:

·       Luke Kang, Executive Vice President and Managing Director, Greater China, Japan and Korea

·       Kylie Watson-Wheeler, Managing Director, Australia and New Zealand

·       Chafic Najia, Senior Vice President and Managing Director, Middle East

In the coming weeks, DTCI plans to announce additional executives joining the three regional leadership teams as well as the global sales organization.

Additionally, the following DTCI business leaders will all continue in their previously announced roles, reporting to Mr. Mayer:

·       Rita Ferro, President, Disney Advertising Sales

·       Aaron LaBerge, Chief Technology Officer

·       Michael Paull, President, Disney Streaming Services

·       Ricky Strauss, President, Content & Marketing, Disney+

The current leaders of DTCI’s shared services areas, listed below, will continue in their roles:

·       Linda Bagley, Deputy General Counsel

·       Karen Hobson, Senior Vice President, Communications

·       Jim Lygopoulos, Senior Vice President, Human Resources

·       Justin Warbrooke, Chief Financial Officer

Disney’s acquisition of 21st Century Fox has received formal approval from shareholders of both companies, and Disney and 21st Century Fox have entered into a consent decree with the U.S. Department of Justice that allows the acquisition to proceed, while requiring the sale of the Fox Sports Regional Networks. The transaction is subject to various international regulatory clearances, a number of which have been obtained, while others remain pending.

December 13, 2018
Star Sports launches new campaign for ICC Women’s World T20 2018

MUMBAI: Star Sports has unveiled a new campaign for this year’s ICC Women’s World T20. The film captures the narrative of a girl who wants to play cricket, but is denied the opportunity at first, until she decides to take initiative and show her ability to the world.

The TVC, shot in Kashmir, highlights the emotions that girls across the world go through when it comes to stereotypes attached to playing sports. From being picked in the local Sunday team or getting the opportunity to play, girls are often left out, despite possessing the skills to compete.

Built on the core thought of letting the bat do the talking, “Ab inka balla bolega”, the campaign drives home the fact that anyone can excel at the world stage if given the right platform and opportunity, as seen by the ‘Women in Blue’ and their breakout run at the ICC Women’s World Cup 2017.

Apart from the TVC, the campaign also urges us to encourage talent with an equal lens, irrespective of gender in every sphere of life, by launching the #GiftABat movement.

The Indian women’s team, led by Harmanpreet Kaur, will face New Zealand in their opening game of the tournament on 9 November 2018. Besides New Zealand, Australia, Ireland and traditional rivals – Pakistan are the other teams pitted in the same group as India. Fans can catch all the action starting 8.30 pm on SS1 – SS1 HD and Hotstar.

November 9, 2018
Dream11 urges users to #KheloDimaagSe in new rap-led campaign

MUMBAI: Dream11, India’s biggest fantasy sports platform, has launched #KheloDimaagSe, its newest integrated with its brand ambassador and Indian cricketer Mahendra Singh Dhoni.

The new campaign gives all passionate Indian cricket fans the opportunity to engage deeply with the sport. The brand believes that all Dream11 users aspire to employ the same kind of thinking prowess that has made Dhoni the master of the game.

Dream11 first introduced this positioning through #DimaagSeDhoni, its maiden campaign that helped build the fantasy sports category in India. It established Dream11 as a game of thrill, skill and sporting pride, in addition to growing the brand’s user base by three times. Through #KheloDimaagSe, Dream11 wants to reach a larger audience base and target adoption at an unprecedented scale.

The campaign has been conceptualised and created by Leo Burnett Orchard.

Speaking about the new campaign, Vikrant Mudaliar, chief marketing officer, Dream11 said, “In a cricket-dominated country like India, every cricket fan is an expert. With the new #KheloDimaagSe campaign, Dream11 provides users with a unique opportunity to use their sports knowledge, expertise and skill much like the players on the field. With fantasy gaming fast capturing the imagination of the country, Dream11 is a perfect foil for sports fans who love their game and further enhance their love through our platform.”

Leo Burnett Orchard was tasked with creating a campaign that would appeal to more people across India, beyond just the core cricket fan-base. Its vision was identical to Dream11’s – to make Dream11 India’s biggest fantasy sports game.

People get excited by and partake in everything that is adopted by a large number of people. Playing on this insight, Leo Burnett Orchard decided to project Dream11 as a mass phenomenon and not something that is isolated or individualistic.

Speaking about the campaign, Leo Burnett Orchard Executive creative director Amod Dani says, “Dream11 is a game that needs a coherent understanding of cricket and its statistics. While the ‘Dimaag se Dhoni’ campaign made an immediate impact for the brand, making it one of the most sought after games in India, the core objective of ‘Khelo Dimaag Se’ is to make the platform far more social and inclusive. The motormouth, rap approach brings alive exactly what the users are thinking while Dhoni plays a central role in walking us through this musical.”

October 29, 2018
Kabaddi beats football in popularity among Indian kids

MUMBAI: The sports viewership in India has been mainly restricted to cricket for the longest time. It is difficult for any other sport to lock horns with cricket. So the race is on for the second spot. We seem to have a winner for now. Star India’s homegrown property Pro Kabaddi League (PKL) has helped kabaddi carve its space and became the second most watched sport in the country.

With the sport gaining popularity across the country, not only adults and youth but kids are also enjoying the game. PKL season 6 is all set to commence on 7 October 2018. The league is by far the most popular non-cricket property, contributed 61 per cent of viewership share in season 4, according to Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) India.

Kids as an audience, contribute to 20 per cent of total TV viewership, which is the highest share across all age cuts. In 197 million TV households, there are around 211 million kids. In sports, after cricket, kids are watching kabaddi with 19 per cent viewership share from week 8 in 2017 to week 37 in 2018.

Ernst & Young partner, media and entertainment advisory services Ashish Pherwani said, “Star changed the way kabaddi was marketed in India. It created heroes, made the sport more involving for the audience and made it a faster exciting event.”

Rural India contributes to 74 per cent of the live viewership and the remaining by the urban market in the kid’s audience. Out of the 19 per cent share, kids mostly watch live telecast (55 per cent), whereas 26 per cent of the viewership comes from highlights.

PKL season five garnered 1.6 billion impressions from the live telecast on seven channels. The final match in season five garnered 25.4 million impressions compared to 13.9 million impressions in season four, which is 83 per cent growth.

Kabaddi as a sport is followed the most in AP/Telangana followed by Maharashtra/Goa and Karnataka. If we look at the region wise contribution in the two to 14 age groups, 44 per cent is shared between Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Maharashtra and Goa. Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh contribute to 27 per cent of the overall viewership in the same age group.

As kids contribute to 20 per cent of the total TV viewership, a larger part of it is because of co-viewing. A further split is observed between channels whose primary audience are kids and all other channels where kids are the incidental viewers. GEC and movies channel together account for over 80 per cent viewership share on non-kids channels.

PwC India partner, media, entertainment and sports sector advisory leader Raman Kalra said, “Kabaddi is popular that is true and it will continue to grow also but there is a very clear rise of football. Even though the statistics are either way but clearly football is going to grow rapidly in India. I do believe that it is going to become a prominent sport in all the segments, especially given the kind of grassroots development and academies happening in that front.”

If we talk about brands, PKL season one hardly had any sponsor and partner but with the traction it had got for the past couple of seasons, it has managed to cross 100-mark in season five including individual team sponsors and partners. In 2017, Vivo signed a Rs 3 billion ($45 million) deal for five years with the league.

PKL season 4 had a high contribution from female viewers (44 per cent). Despite this, female-specific sectors are not present on PKL. Female-targeted sectors (personal care/ personal hygiene, household products, personal healthcare) contributed 15 per cent to the total duration of advertisement. As opposed to that, male categories (durables, banking/finance/investment, auto, fuel/petroleum products, alcoholic drinks) constitute 35 per cent of the total duration.

As kids watch kabaddi more than football, if we compare the ad sector between ISL and PKL, we can see the entire education sector missing in PKL. Education sector contributed to 11 per cent of total duration at the time of ISL. “That’s a natural phenomenon, brands will follow the audience no matter the sport. As the audience profile starts going up you will always see an appropriate shift of brands,” Kalra added.

Encouraging the growth of the sport amongst the younger generation, Star Sports has undertaken a pioneering initiative, KBD Juniors, to spread awareness by facilitating grassroots level engagement. KBD Juniors season 2 has already begun and will be broadcast on Star Sports and Hotstar during season six of PKL. The tournament will have 24 schools across 12 cities and 3,500 students between the age group of 11 to 12 years battle it out to make it to the grand finale.

The events included in the data are National Kabaddi Championship, Pune League Kabaddi Spardha, Vivo PKL Season 5 from 2017 and All India national style Kabaddi, Asian Games (Kabaddi), Big C Telangana Premier Kabaddi, Kabaddi masters Dubai, Kabaddi national and Pune League Kabaddi in 2018.

October 5, 2018
LEGENDARY CRICKETERS AT THE MEGA CRICKET CONCLAVE IN DUBAI- SALAAM CRICKET

Aaj Tak brings together legendary cricketers from Asia at the iconic Annual Cricket Conclave, Salaam Cricket in Dubai on 17th September. Cricketing legends Sunil Gavaskar, Mohd Azharuddin, Harbhajan Singh, Wasim Akram, Younis Khan, Misbah Ul Haq, Habibul Bashar, Muttiah Muralitharan, Abdul Qadir will get together at Hotel Address Boulevard, Dubai to enthrall the audience with unheard tales, electrifying insights and their un-paralleled view on the Asia Cup.

The iconic cricketers will share candid moments from the game, and their off-field camaraderie that represents their true sportsmanship.

As the nations gear up for Asia Cup, the spotlight returns on the legendary battle between India & Pakistan. It’s nothing short of a war, where the best men fight it out on the field for national honour & glory. The legendary cricketers share their view & sentiments on the game as the countries fight for glory.

The forum is open to all cricket fans, Priced @ AED 350. Salaam Cricket is scheduled to take place on 17th September’2018 at Hotel Address Boulevard, Dubai 2:00pm onwards.

For tickets, please log on to https;//dubai.platinumlist.net & more info call 050 7342004.

September 7, 2018
The rise of brand Rohit Sharma

MUMBAI: He is the only batsman in the world to score double century twice in limited overs, the maximum number of individual sixes (16) in an ODI match and the only captain to win the Indian Premier League (IPL) title thrice. The vice-captain of the Indian cricket team also leads Mumbai Indians (MI) in the IPL. We’re talking of none other than Rohit ‘Superman’ Sharma.

Sharma, who lived in a small suburb in Mumbai and didn’t change schools because of financial constraints, today lives in a high-end plush apartment in Worli that costs a whopping Rs 30 crore. But this is not the story about how he became a household name or a prominent player in the Indian cricket team. The hitman has also become a ‘hit’ among leading brands that are willing to splurge millions to sign him as the brand ambassador.

While he makes a pretty decent amount from his cricketing career where he receives an enormous annual salary of Rs 11.5 crore, Sharma draws in an average of over Rs 10 crore annually from brand endorsements. According to industry estimates, his net worth is projected to grow further by approximately 38 per cent by the end of year 2018.

In a career spanning 11 years, Sharma has endorsed brands such as Maggi, Fair and Lovely, Lays, Nissan, energy drink Restless, Nasivion nasal spray, Ceat Tyres, Swiss watches company Hublot, Aristocrat by VIP luggage, Adidas and Oppo mobiles.

While one may think that his brand choices haven’t really been wise and astute in the last few years, he gradually seems to be getting a hang of how the game of brand endorsement is played. Only in 2018, he became the brand ambassador for Relispray, Sharp television and recently the mobile accessories brand Conekt. The renowned tire company Ceat also pays him Rs 3 crore every year to put the brand’s sticker on his cricket bat.

Though the quality and level of brands he has been choosing in the last few years have gone up considerably, it is still a long way for him before he can become the favourite of every brand. Currently, Indian cricket team captain Virat Kohli seems to be every brand’s go-to person as his brand equity was valued higher than football star Lionel Messi in the Forbes top 10 list of global athletes of 2017 with an estimated value of $14.5 million.

Although the early glamour also pushed Kohli to advocate Pepsi and Fair & Lovely Men in 2011, he eventually decided to move away from these brands in 2017. He refused to renew the contract, saying at the time that he would not ask people to consume something that he himself does not. Kohli said, “Things that I’ve endorsed in the past – I won’t take names — but something that I feel that I don’t connect to anymore. If I myself won’t consume such things, I won’t urge others to consume it just because I’m getting money out of it.”

Following this move by the captain, Sharma too does not see himself selling or endorsing a product that he doesn’t believe in. He says that he is extremely cautious about the brands he endorses. In an interview with Indiantelevision.com, Sharma said, “I am extremely cautious about the brands I associate myself with. I don’t want to be selling or getting involved with something that I don’t use myself. I genuinely believe in having a connection with a brand that you endorse and if that’s missing, there is no point in selling fake products/ideas to people.

But how does he really decide on signing a brand or giving it a miss? Says the MI captain, “Whenever I choose to endorse a product, I want my fans and people to experience the product and enjoy it as well. A lot of brands that I have endorsed are used by me and if I don’t see any camaraderie between me and the brand, I don’t go ahead with the association.”

Lately, newcomer Hardik Pandya is also getting better acceptance in the market than the proven and seasoned Sharma. Pandya is increasingly getting brands despite being new as he is flamboyant, stylish and supports different looks and hairstyles.

The hitman still has a long road and career ahead and his star value is unlikely to dim anytime in the future.

September 3, 2018