The Hindu Business Line : Cricketers will bounce back, say brand managers

New Delhi / Chennai March 27 Harish Krishnamachar is a disappointed man. Disappointed that his brand has not performed in the market. To put that in cricket lingo, Mr Krishnamachar, Managing Director of Iconix, Saatchi & Saatchi's talent management agency, which handles Sachin Tendulkar's brand portfolio, says that if a brand's basis is performance this is not a good time for Brand Sachin.

However, Mr Krishnamachar, while emphasising that it is indeed not a good time for Sachin, says his that his brand has inherent strengths. "It's a period of consolidation; everybody who has an interest in the brand wants to see the implications." Iconix handles all of Sachin's endorsements of 10-12 brands ranging from Boost, Pepsi, Adidas, TVS, MRF, Reynolds, ITC and Canon, among a few others.

While he holds out no advice to the several brands that are endorsed by Sachin, he says it would be prudent for them to lie low. "You are effectively in a situation where people are not rational about it as they tend to over-react. The intrinsic worth of the brand has not changed because of one bad performance by an endorser; the impact is on the player not as much on the brand."

As he points out, the issue is fundamentally about valuation and cricket, he says, tends to get overvalued and now it is a reality check.

"We are extreme kind of people in terms of emotions; in my assessment neither of the extremes are necessarily right," he adds.

Dravid endorsements

Meanwhile, Mr Lokesh Sharma, Managing Director, 21st Century Media, who handles the endorsements of Rahul Dravid, says, "Brand values of cricketers don't get affected by one event or one loss. These are long-term contracts that do not get impacted by such events. In fact, in the case of Dravid, he has been endorsing products brands like Reebok, Pepsi, Britannia and Castrol for over eight years now, even before he was made the captain of the national side."

He adds, "Companies come to him not because of his stature in the team but because of his image of being dependable, consistent, a great performer having a clean image."

Mr Ramanujam Sridhar of Brand.Comm says there are not too many alternatives to cricket and entertainment and nor do brands seek to de-risk themselves from the sport.

He says brands will come back to cricket, albeit at much lower rates and they will get selective of who they will put their money on.

Brands too will seek greater accountability from their endorsers.

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