NEW DELHI: The Beijing Olympics have turned the spotlight of corporates and sponsors on some new sports. While cricket will continue to draw mega bucks, the success stories in new areas like boxing, wrestling and shooting are catching the fancy of advertisers and sponsors.
And the emerging 'brands' are today's heroes - Vijender Kumar, Akhil Kumar, and Jitender Kumar in boxing, Sushil Kumar in wrestling and above all, gold medallist Abhinav Bindra in shooting.
In fact, bronze medal-winner Vijender, with his good looks, has caught the imagination of people, and become 'an icon close enough to popular cricketers', advertising agencies and sponsors say. Companies associated with action, youth and machismo are eager to leverage his success at the Olympics, which may include motorcycle, apparel, deodorant and soft drink brands.
"Boxing is an aggressive sport and has its own glamour for youth. The good performance of the three boxers including Vijender's medal win has the nation waking up to the glamour of boxing. This will really boost the visibility of the sport in India, with Vijender soon assuming the status of a fashion icon. Brands associated with youth, action and macho will be pouring money into the sport", says Sanjeev Bhargava, COO FCB Ulka.
Media buying agency Lodestar Universal COO Anamika Mehta says: "There's a lot of excitement around sports like boxing and shooting after India's success at the Olympics. Vijender will be an attractive marketing and ad proposition for sports, sportswear, and even the Cola companies".
Media agencies, however, say that the nature of the sport (boxing or shooting) is such it will be difficult to carry forward the player's achievement (unlike cricket which is played more frequently).
Referring to ace shooter Bindra, Prasoon Joshi, executive chairman, McCann Worldgroup India, says, "Currently Bindra is the superhero, at par with big cricketers like Dhoni or Sachin. If he is able to renew the popularity of the sport over the next few months, he will be alive in the consciousness for a long time."
Ditto is the case with the other non-cricket players. "Vijender's win gives a big visibility and boost to non-cricket sports like boxing. But going forward, his endorsement value will depend on how he is able to encash it through his future performance", opines Anita Nayyar, CEO, Havas Media India.
Agrees VS Mani, senior VP, Initiative, saying, "Though the sport will be in the limelight for a while, it remains to be seen, how much value it derives in the long term".
Advertisers have also pointed to the fact that there's a fatigue factor associated with cricket. Some companies such as Samsung and LG have consciously moved away from pouring money in cricket, and have identified other sports. Consumer electronic major Samsung India left cricket a couple of years back, and has decided to promote Olympics till 2016, as part of a worldwide decision.
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