ACC, one of the leading cement manufacturers, has extended its association with Kings XI Punjab in the fourth leg of the Indian Premier League. The company began its association with the team last year. In this year's IPL leg, ACC plans to spend Rs 2 crore.
The tie-up will allow ACC to run promotions during the IPL season and display advertisements on perimeter boards, the big screen and placards. It also gives ACC's customers and channel partners an opportunity to interact with the Kings XI Punjab team.
ACC has a strong presence in Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and North India. The link with King XI Punjab team will help the brand relate with the masses in a big way, the company said in a press release on Monday.
Mr Rajiv Prasad, Chief Executive, ACC (Northern Region), said, “The company has an unmatched history of supporting cricket long before the game became so commercially successful.” ACC's association with the game began way back in 1940s when many of the country's great cricket players were employed by the company. The legendary Madhav Mantri joined ACC as a young executive in 1946. ACC was amongst the first companies in India to offer full-time employment to cricketers, the company said.
Several cricket legends, such as Rusy Mody, Ramakant Desai, Bapu Nadkarni, Dilip Sardesai, Polly Umrigar, Sunil Gavaskar and Karsan Ghavri, were employees of ACC during their active cricket careers.
India's test team at the time often had seven or eight players who were also full-time employees of ACC. So close was this bond that sportsmen affectionately referred to ACC's second name as being “All Cricketers Company”, it said.
Mr Joydeep Mukherjee, Director Sales – North, ACC Ltd, said, “The format of IPL allows us to associate with the most popular sport in India, and gives us a wide scope of running innovative activities around consumers, channel and employees.”