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Tag: Mahendra Singh Dhoni

  • Saif Ali Khan to be brand ambassador for Siyaram Silk Mills

    Saif Ali Khan to be brand ambassador for Siyaram Silk Mills

    MUMBAI: Siyaram Silk Mills has roped in Saif Ali Khan as the brand ambassador for their parent brand Siyaram’s Suitings and Shirtings.

    Siyaram Silk Mills president Rahul Akkara pleased with the association between the brand and the film star commented “We are delighted to have Saif Ali Khan as the brand ambassador of Siyarams Suiting s and shirtings.  We have released this commercial for the forthcoming season. It will be played on local and national channels across India.”

    Saif Ali Khan expressed his enthusiasm by stating, “It is really an ecstatic feeling to be associated with an Indian brand that has been in the industry for years together and has a very ethnic appeal to it. I look forward to capture the fabric space post being the face of their readymade apparel Oxemberg. Moreover, sharing the Siyarams parents brand’s endorsement space with Mahendra Singh Dhoni is itself a privilege.”

    Siyarams has signed Saif Ali khan for the next two to three years. The brand has gone ahead and shot an exclusive TVC with him in Jaipur.
    The latest TVC conceptualised and created by Makani Creative and highlights the bond between mother and son while showcasing the colours and the beauty of Rajasthan in the background.

  • Saif Ali Khan to endorse Oxemberg

    Saif Ali Khan to endorse Oxemberg

    MUMBAI: Saif Ali Khan has joined the list of other celebrity brand ambassadors including Hrithik Roshan and Mahendra Singh Dhoni currently endorsing J Hampstead and the flag ship brand – Siyaram, respectively. Saif Ali Khan will endorse the formal and semi-formal range in ready to wear apparel for Oxemberg from the house of Siyarams.

    Siyaram Silk Mills, president marketing, Rahul Akkara said, “Saif with his style and persona is set to refurbish the Oxemberg brand in the ready to wear apparel segment and position it as the most sought after brand among the young and aspiring Indian youth. Siyaram strongly believes in the influence that celebrity brand ambassadors have in the decision making of the discerning and trendy Indian consumer and Saif without doubt will add to that process for Oxemberg.”

    Saif Ali Khan will be the ambassador for the mother brand Siyaram Silk Mills as well as Oxemberg, playing a key role in brand and product communication and promotion. Elaborating on Saif‘s role for Oxemberg, Akkara added, “Saif as brand ambassador will play a major part in our strategic move to develop a mass and widespread appeal for the brand. We have plans to promote Saif‘s association with Oxemberg through TV, print and outdoor campaigns.”

    Saif Ali Khan expressed his enthusiasm by stating, “Oxemberg appeals to me as a brand that stands for unmatched quality and it‘s a great privilege for me to be associated with this brand. I look forward to working with them and contributing towards making Oxemberg, the leader in its segment.”

  • Pepsi takes ‘Oh yes Abhi!’ positioning to engage youth

    MUMBAI: After a highly successful ‘Change the Game‘ positioning, cola major PepsiCo India has taken a new brand positioning ‘Oh yes Abhi‘ that seeks to bring alive the hunger for impatience seen in the youth today.

    The positioning marks the beginning of a new journey for Pepsi in India and will be followed by a series of initiatives over the course of the year.

    Commenting on the new positioning, PepsiCo India VP Marketing-Beverages Deepika Warrier said, “Oh Yes Abhi is all about the impatient youth, who believe in making the most of the moment and therefore wants action ‘right now!‘. Oh Yes Abhi! translates into – live for the present as tomorrow is too late. Our latest campaign illustrates all this and much more in a quintessential irreverent Pepsi package.”

    The cola brand has created a slew of television commercials portraying Ranbir Kapoor, Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Priyanka Chopra in their moments of impatience. The TVC‘s are slated to go on-air from 1 February.

    The TVC aims to bring alive Pepsi‘s youthful irreverence and demonstrates the Oh Yes Abhi! moments of these Pepsi brand ambassadors.

    “This film not only captures the stars in their impatient avatars, but also shows many moments from our everyday lives that exemplify the belief of ‘now‘,” adds JWT India ECD Surjo Dutt.

    The ‘Oh Yes Abhi‘ campaign will be supported by extensive above-the-line communication besides radio activation, on-ground amplification and an outdoor campaign amongst other initiatives. Digital platforms like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube will also be used to engage consumers.

  • ESPN Star Sports targets Rs 2 bn from India-England series

    MUMBAI: Sports broadcaster ESPN Star Sports (ESS) is eyeing ad revenue of Rs 2 billion from the India-England series.

    The series, involving four Tests, five ODIs and two T20s, has been billed as “revenge” series by ESS hoping to cash in on the rivalry that will help it attract more eyeballs and the moolah as well.

    Team India had faced severe drubbing when it had toured England last year. The Mahendra Singh Dhoni-led team had to face a 4-0 whitewash in Tests while it had lost the 5-match ODI series by 3-0 by managing to tie one match. The Men in Blue had also lost the lone T20 match.

    The sports broadcaster is banking on the Indian team’s track record of doing well in home conditions to deliver good viewership.

    ESS is broadcasting the series as part of an understanding with sister concern and BCCI media rights partner Star India, which had acquired the BCCI rights for a whopping Rs 38.51 billion till 2018.

    “We have sold out ad inventory for Test matches. Now we are focussing on ODIs and T20 matches,” ESPN Software India executive vice president and head of ad sales Sanjay Kailash tells Indiantelevision.com.

    He evaded questions about ad revenue target set by the broadcaster. “We don’t share financial numbers,” Kailash said.

    However, The Exchange Principal Partner Jai Lala feels that the sportscaster will have to settle for ad revenue between Rs 1.5 to Rs 1.75 billion. “I think Rs 2 billion is too high. They should do around Rs 1.5 to 1.75 billion,” Lala said.

    Kailash feels that the Test series has done well as far as advertisement is concerned considering the fact that it comes after Diwali, a period when most of the advertisers exhaust a large chunk of their ad spends.

    “Considering that the Test series is coming after Diwali there were apprehensions as to what kind of response it will get. However, we have managed to rope in eight sponsors for the Test series,” he added.

    The eight sponsors for the Test matches include Tata DoCoMo and Havells as joint-presenting sponsors while Maruti Suzuki, Samsung, Perfetti, Nokia, ITC and Microsoft are associate sponsors.

    Out of the eight sponsors, Nokia, Havells, Maruti Suzuki and Tata DoCoMo had signed deals for the entire cricket season till the Australia series in February next year. According to a report, ESS has already mopped up Rs 2.8 billion from the four ad deals.

    Lala feels that the broadcaster’s decision to do advertising deals for the entire season has helped it de-risk itself from volatility.

    The News Corp-owned broadcaster has already sold an estimated 50-60 per cent of the inventory for the T20 and ODI matches that will take place in January after the India-Pakistan series that is scheduled to take place from 25 December to 6 January.

    The sportscaster is yet to close a deal for the upcoming India-Pakistan series, which is being sold separately and is not part of the deal done for the entire cricket season.

    “The demand for T20s and ODIs will start building up after the first week of December. We already have four on board for the entire season,” Kailash asserted.

    While Kailash refused to talk about numbers, Lala said that the sportscaster had sold ad inventory at Rs 60,000 per 10 second for Tests. For ODIs, ESS was looking at Rs 300,000 and for T20s the broadcaster was eyeing Rs 450,000.

    Kailash also emphasised that ESS wants to attract more viewers towards Test cricket. A step in that direction was the sportscaster’s decision to have a dedicated Hindi feed on Star Cricket which will run parallel to English commentary on Star Sports.

    “We want to attract more and more viewers to grow the franchise of Cricket. The idea is to broad base the sport even more and add more people to watching cricket and monetise it,” he noted.

  • Dhoni on board as Ashok Leyland’s brand ambassador

    Dhoni on board as Ashok Leyland’s brand ambassador

    MUMBAI: Marking a first in six decades, Hinduja Group‘s flagship brand Ashok Leyland has roped in Team India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni as its brand ambassador. This move is part of the company‘s plan to gain share in the commercial vehicle business.

    Ashok Leyland is the second largest commercial vehicle company in India with a market share of around 22 per cent and turnover of Rs 111.18 billion in 2010-11.

    The Indian skipper’s endorsement will be backed by a multi-media campaign across all markets and addressing all customer segments.

    Ashok Leyland MD Vinod K. Dasari said, “Mahi‘s choice was almost automatic for I cannot think of another person befitting the values of brand Ashok Leyland so well. A true son-of-the-soil, a leader who is focused, straight-thinking, passionate and, most of all, humble, he will lead the numerous initiatives that are on the anvil. Our future-ready U-Truck range has already started to make its presence felt in the market with the 8×2 on the anvil. Our Jan Bus, the single-step, front engine fully flat floor bus will soon hit the market. We have also been aggressively expanding our market reach. We believe these efforts will help enhance customer profitability to a new level.”

  • ‘We are looking at 20% revenue growth this year’ : India Cements joint president marketing Rakesh Singh

    ‘We are looking at 20% revenue growth this year’ : India Cements joint president marketing Rakesh Singh

     

    IPL franchise Chennai Super Kings has been slowly and steadily building its brand over the past four years on the back of its iconic captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni. The sustained efforts of the last four years are beginning to show result as the franchise looks at a 15-20 per cent revenue growth this year.

     

    By retaining its key players, the franchise has managed to build a loyal fan base not just in Tamil Nadu but also among the Tamil diaspora. The two time IPL champions is leaving no stone unturned as far as engaging with fans is concerned and is stepping up efforts on the merchandising front to grow this revenue stream.

     

    In an interview with Indiantelevision.com’s Javed Farooqui,India Cements joint president marketing Rakesh Singh shares the franchises journey so far and the growth path ahead.

     

    Excerpts:

    Isn‘t Chennai Super Kings targeting a revenue of Rs 1.7 billion this year? What is the break-up?
    We did Rs 1.40 billion last year and are looking at a 15-20 per cent increase this time. It’s difficult to give a break-up for the simple reason that a major chunk of revenue comes from the central pool. There are components in our revenue pool – one is central pool which to my mind was Rs 60 crore (Rs 600 million) plus last year; then there are our sponsors and gate collections.

    Have you reached operational break even?
    In the first IPL edition, we broke even. We lost money in the second season (due to shift to South Africa). While we made marginal profits in the third IPL, we widened that in the fourth edition.

    How has IPL season 5 been for CSK?
    The IPL season has been good for us. Our total number of sponsors have gone up. Aircel is our main sponsor. Gulf Oil is our principal sponsor and then we have Life Ok and Washington Apples as new sponsors. We also have Amrapali Group, Hercules, and Usha International as sponsors.

     

    While our revenue continues to grow at a steady pace, what we are also trying to do is step up the merchandising efforts. We plan to grow merchandising by positioning it as a lifestyle brand so that fans not only buy CSK T-shirts during the IPL season but also wear them during the non-IPL season.

    How did the deal with a Hindi GEC like Life Ok happen with a team franchise from the South?
    There is a study done by one agency which says that 46 per cent of the fans support Chennai Super Kings andMumbai Indians. Now if that is the case, anybody who wants to take full advantage of the IPL needs to come to one of us. For somebody who wants make a Hindi GEC popular, it is a nice way of riding on the popularity of Chennai Super Kings. Another thing is that while we are the most popular team in Tamil Nadu, in most other cities we turn out to be the second most popular after the home franchise. I think that is because of the kind of team that we have with four Indian players – MS Dhoni, Suresh Raina, Ravindra Jadeja and R Ashwin.
    ‘We had made Rs 1.4 billion last year with revenue from central pool contributing over Rs 600 million. We have got new sponsors in Life Ok and Washington Apples‘

    The IPL has seen a lot of sponsor switches. How did CSK manage to retain its sponsors?
    We believe in consistency and that is the reason we don’t believe in changing our players. We don’t change our management and we don’t believe in changing sponsors. That has clicked because that does not confuse the fans. We treat our sponsors well and we give them a value for their money for at the end of the day sponsors look at RoI.

    There are reports that title sponsor DLF is not sure of continuing its IPL sponsorship?
    I don’t know about that but what I would like to say is that when the BCCI terminated the Nimbus contract, everybody was saying that the BCCI won’t get Rs 31.25 crore (Rs 312.5 million) per match. But ultimately the rights were sold for a much higher price. I think it has become a favourite time pass for everybody to talk ill of the only sporting brand that India has today.

    So are the team loyalties settling down?
    I think so. If you see the matches where Mumbai or Chennai are involved, the viewership will be high due to team loyalties. That is also the case globally where matches involving Man-U or Chelsea will have higher viewership as compared to other smaller teams. In the first three IPLs, most of the matches were 8 pm matches and the number of teams were less. But now we have more teams and the number of matches have gone up.

    What do you think is CSK’s USP?
    Our USP is that we always focus on cricket, unlike other teams who are focussed on glamour and parties. Not to say that these things don’t work but IPL at the end of the day is a cricket tournament. We have a disciplined team; so whether its on-field or off-field, our team carries a certain character. We have a very strong fan following in Tamil Nadu and Chennai in particular. As per one survey report, 96 per cent of Chennaites support Chennai Super Kings, which is the highest for any franchise in their home city. Mumbai Indians come second with 86 per cent fan support.

    How did you engage with fans?
    Besides youngsters between 15-24 age groups who form our vital fan base, we believe that we have also get a lot of support from families. If you look at our merchandise, there is a lot of emphasis on women and children – it’s not just the typical male cricket fan. A lot of families come to watch our matches in the stadium. To reach out to our fan base, we have also tied-up with Radio Indigo besides The Hindu and Dina Thanthi. Our media tie-ups is a cash plus barter deal. But the barter part is helping us a lot on activation. That is something that was missing last year. What it has done is bring down our marketing cost.

     

    We also launched a new video ‘Wave your hands” which has got one lakh views within no time that it was uploaded on YouTube. We launched this campaign sometime in the first week of April, and by the third week we already have one lakh views on YouTube. Earlier we had done “Whistle podu” which was also a big hit. Every fan wants to do something to support his or her team, so that way we are channelising their energy into doing something to support the team.

    How is licensing and merchandising doing?
    We have been giving merchandising a big push since last year, but it takes time. For example, we got almost Rs 4 crores (Rs 40 million) through merchandise sales last year but what comes to us is only 10-15 per cent after excluding the costs. What we are seeing is that it is a good platform to engage with fans. But in terms to revenue contribution, it is only about five to seven per cent. But internationally this percentage is 60 per cent and that is what our goal is: how to grow this stream. This year we have opened an exclusive in the Chennai airport where you get all kinds of stuff. We have also partnered UniverCell for distribution of merchandise in North America and Europe.

     

    In terms of licensing, for the first time we have partnered with Café Coffee Day to make it a hub for Chennai Super Kings fans. Similarly Park Sheraton has converted their lounge into a CSK Bar. So we want to see how these deals work and whether we can make it a yearlong thing. We are working on a fixed fee basis wherein licensees can use our name and do certain things. This year we aim to double our licensing and merchandising revenue.

    How has been the response been to ticketing? There were lots of empty seats during your home matches?
    There are three stands in the stadium which, due to certain clearances issues, the state government has not allowed us to use. On the rest of the stadium, we are overselling. Till we get the clearance, we won’t be able to sell tickets for those stands.
  • BPCL empanels Law & Kenneth in new team of 4

    BPCL empanels Law & Kenneth in new team of 4

    MUMBAI: Law & Kenneth (L&K), an independent brand communications agency, has bagged the creative duties of state-run oil firm, Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPCL), along with the three incumbent agencies — Lowe Lintas, Saatchi & Saatchi and Euro RSCG.

    The account size is pegged at Rs 500 million a year. This amount will be divided amongst the four agencies. The size of the share, however, is not fixed.

    BPCL, one of the oldest public sector petroleum and refining organisations in India, calls for a creative pitch every three years. This year, 14 agencies participated in the pitch process.

    Speaking to Indiantelevision.com, L&K CEO Anil Sadasivan Nair said, “We are extremely pleased to be selected among such a tough competition.”

    The four agencies are expected to provide the Fortune 500 company with comprehensive support in the areas of advertising and communication.

    The company that is engaged in downstream petroleum sector, which consists of refining and marketing activities, is endorsed by Indian cricket team captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Formula One driver for Hispania racing team Narain Karthikeyan.

    Dhoni promotes premium petrol brand Speed and lubricants brand Mak Lubricants. Narain also endorses premium petrol brand Speed.

    Recently, UK creative agency L&K was hired by Hero Honda to create a brand identity for the company, after it parted ways with the 27-year-old partner Honda Motor. Also, Sanjiv Goenka, younger son of Rama Prasad Goenka, is creating a new corporate identity for his share of the RPG Group and has assigned the rebranding job to the agency.

  • BSA & Hercules official bicycle sponsor for Chennai Super Kings

    BSA & Hercules official bicycle sponsor for Chennai Super Kings

    NEW DELHI: TI Cycles of India, one of the leading bicycle manufacturers and part of the Rs.159.07 billion Murugappa Group, today announced their tie-up with Chennai Super Kings through their brands BSA & Hercules as their official bicycle sponsor.

    At a press conference in Chennai, TI Cycles of India and BSA Motors senior VP- sales and marketing Arun Alagappan handed over a message board comprising encouraging messages from consumers from around Tamil Nadu and the employees of TI Cycles to Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain of India and Chennai Super Kings) reiterating TI Cycles’ support towards the Chennai Super Kings.

    Commenting on the occasion, Alagappan said, “The BSA and Hercules brands have always been synonymous with the world of sports. It is to this effect that we are glad to be associated with the Chennai Super Kings and emphasize our support towards them in this year’s IPL. Dhoni has had a magnificent run in the World Cup 2011 and we are looking for him to recreate magic with the Chennai Super Kings this time as well.”