“In writing, as in cricket, getting the right strokes is important,” said Sachin Tendulkar to an audience eager to know what one of India’s cricketing greats, who recently hung up his boots, does with his time.

The brand ambassador elegantly deflected personal enquiries and steered the topic towards the Reynolds pen he has endorsed for six years and helped garner a market among children. He addressed the media here today at an event to unveil the logo of Writewiz, an initiative to encourage good handwriting among students.

Known as one of the preferred brands among adults, GM Pens International Pvt Ltd’s Reynolds was looking to tap a younger segment when it roped in the Master Blaster.

In 2006, when the maker of Reynolds had only a toehold into the pen market for children, the company roped in the cricketer and devised promotions aimed at newbies in their formative years in school.

The brand association was also right: his father Ramesh Tendulkar was a popular Marathi novelist – “I grew up watching my father – and my father was a writer.” The market share improved substantially with his promotions. “In fact, our share in the Rs 3,500-crore pen market in the country has improved by 40 per cent after he came in,” said I Mahendran, Joint Managing Director of the Chennai-based company. GM Pens, which spends about 8-10 per cent of its revenue on ads, has launched a number of TV commercials in which Tendulkar in the Indian jersey spoke to children about the water-proof nature and the longevity of Reynolds. “The effect was such that after the commercials we had children running to stores for ‘that pen Sachin has in hand,’” said Mohamed Meeran, Managing Director, GM Pens.

Related Topics
comment COMMENT NOW