The Hindu Business Line : Making the difference

Today, brands realise that marketing cannot be based on a herd mentality where they are a small voice in a sea of noises. One has to create and be associated with unique properties in a manner that can be differentiated. Explains Globosport's Vice-President Anirban Blah, "If you recall the last five cricket series, no one can remember the name of the title sponsor of any of the series. Yes, cricket does figure high in TRP ratings. But globally, the norm is not to see the ratings. One looks at the quality of association. With an ATP event, for Rs 5 crore one can get associated with an international event that takes place year-on-year, for an amount far less than the amounts put down for one cricket match, which is not remembered, is not repeated and can be replicated."

"Cricket is what I call `machine gun marketing ... you carpet-bomb the place, hoping it will hit a few targets! Whereas, tennis is very focused in the audience profile that it reaches out to, which is what makes it an attractive proposition for brands. For a Kingfisher Airlines, it is all about luxury, premium, global exposure, and good times. The synergies with the ATP event, are therefore, tremendous," he says.

When talking about sponsorships of these events, there are two investments that are key. There is the cost of acquisition and then the cost of leveraging that acquisition. In most cases, the latter is significantly higher than the former. Tennis provides the opportunity for a sponsor to interact with its existing and potential consumers in a premium-setting, engage in an out-of-home context and generate a strong rub-off in terms of top players, events, word-of-mouth and media mileage. No wonder the list of sponsors associated with these two events include Bengal Peerless, Aviva, the Venky's group, and Mercedes-Benz.

Incidentally, Mercedes-Benz has been partnering with the ATP since 1996.

In an attempt to increase ownership of the Sunfeast Open, ITC too has undertaken some innovative initiatives to allow greater involvement of the tennis lovers with the tournament and take the game closer to the masses. One such concept was `Tennis on the street' in 2005, the inaugural year, and `Tennis in the mall' this year. While street tennis had Sania and Mahesh play against each other, in the mall version Sania played with kids from the Mahesh Bhupathi Tennis Academy.

Other activities included a contest among school children to design the trophy of an international-level tournament; another one was to enable school children to be the Sunfeast Open Ball Boy/Ball Girl and rub shoulders with leading tennis stars. The Sunfeast Open Players Party, the Buggy Ride, and Players' float are other ideas that helped raise the profile of the tournament among the masses.

Kingfisher Airlines and Mallya are also leaving no stone unturned to convert the ATP tournament into a fun-filled extravaganza. The action began with a celebrity match where Bollywood stars will take centre-stage on centre court along with Mahesh. The week is also expected to have its share of parties, tennis clinics, glamour quotient and more.

"Kingfisher Airlines has always believed in extending the brand's values in an out-of-airlines context through events and associations with like-minded

brands and properties in order to communicate with its target audience. For the same reasons, a huge consumer promotion has been planned around the Kingfisher Airlines Tennis Open 2006. Lucky winners get a chance to meet their favourite tennis stars, watch the finals live, win free air tickets between any two destinations serviced by us and loads of merchandise," says Mallya.

For companies looking for properties that fit their brand profile and helps them use entertainment to reach out to consumers in a personalised and memorable manner, the tennis events have come as the right platform. India's contribution to tennis, right from the Amritraj brothers to Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi to Sania Mirza and the Uberoi sisters has been significant, in the variety and flamboyance they brought to court. Moving forward, Globosport, one of the few companies to own two WTA and one ATP events, feels there is sufficient opportunity to take these properties outside the country and within the sub-Continent. It augurs well for the sport, the fans, and of course, the corporates which are eager to spread their wings.

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