Corporate bodies cry foul over BCCI restrictions

[DesiChap]

Corporate bodies cry foul over BCCI restrictions TIMES NEWS NETWORK / Amrita Nair-Ghaswalla, Namrata Singh & Rupali Mukherjee MUMBAI/NEW DELHI, April 7: The angry murmurs against the BCCI's restrictions of endorsements will surely gain in strength. Added Shailendra Singh, joint managing director, Percept Holdings, which handles brand endorsement contracts for Sourav Ganguly and Yuvraj Singh, among others: "It is a regressive step. The BCCI must concentrate on finding a way out of the mess that Indian cricket is currently in. Restriction on endorsements is the last way to get performance out of a cricketer." Singh, whose firm has dealt in endorsements worth several crores over the last nine years, says BCCI is a private body. "I don't think they should dominate the commercial or personal life of a cricketer." He added that if the BCCI "would like to link performance with the players, then the sponsors can, in turn, link performance with the BCCI." Singh said that after the recent debacle, sponsors are also looking at grading their involvement. In other words, if the BCCI got $5 million from a cricketing series, sponsors would shell out $4 million only when the team reached the semi-final stage, or only $1 million if it came back in three days. Similarly, corporates who had tagged on to the ICC Champions Trophy "are passionately involved in the game even today. They want the full worth of their investment just as the marketing team of BCCI has wrung out every cent possible." Many corporates are irritated that the BCCI has not consulted them "before announcing their grandiose plans affecting a player's personal income". Sources said that since 70% of global cricketing revenues come from India, the announcement will lead to a huge loss for both the BCCI as well as corporates. The Sahara group, which is an official BCCI team sponsor along with Nike, had pumped in around Rs 150 crore as sponsorship for a year. Officials at Sahara are deliberating on the BCCI's next move. A corporate chieftain said: "The need clearly is to involve the people who invest money in cricket in any future BCCI deliberation." Ajay Chandwani, CEO of Percept-Hakuhodo, which is handling Dhoni for Siyaram, and Yuvraj for Hero Honda (Glamour) has also termed the step a retrograde one. His agency was responsible for launching Rahul Dravid in his Bank of Baroda avatar. The Rs 2 crore endorsement made "Dravid a hot favourite, when he was lacking the drive and was too defensive." Pepsi, one of the major sponsors with their Blue Billion campaign for the World Cup this year, is waiting for official notification of BCCI's decision. Says Vipul Prakash, executive VP marketing, Pepsico India, "There would definitely be a change of strategy. We will abide by whatever the players say. If the cricketers agree to it, we will too." Harsh Mariwala, chairman of Marico, whose Parachute Advanced After Shower gel is endorsed by Yuvraj Singh, said: "Cricket is anyway out of flavour. Cricketers will have to first prove themselves and then corporates will take a call." On the BCCI decision, he said: "There will be greater clamour for cricketers, whose endorsement rates will rise. As a good alternative, corporates may then look at other celebrities." Similarly, other company seniors said firms would have to change their advertising strategy. A direct fallout of the BCCI restriction may see cricketers becoming more selective about the brands they associate themselves with. Atul Shah, managing director, Anchor Electricals, whose brand was endorsed by Rahul Dravid and team, said: "If cricketers hike their rates, only those with deep pockets can afford to get them to endorse their brands. Small companies are ruled out. Companies may also prefer to rope in newcomers." However, the decision will not impact LG Electronics, which is a major sponsor of the World Cup. "We had taken a decision three years back to stay away from cricket endorsements, but continue to be associated with the game as it is the biggest advertising medium," says LG marketing head, Sandeep Tiwari. In the past, LG had signed up ex-captains like Ravi Shastri, Sunil Gavaskar and Sourav Ganguly for its Captains of India campaign, and also featured Yuvraj Singh. An industry source pointed out that it is not only cricketers who stand to lose. It is their agents who manage their contracts "who will be the first to be hit, he said. He added that these agents, left with little choice, would now have to rework each cricketer's portfolio. Coca-Cola, on the other hand, has consciously moved out of cricket endorsement. A measure that has clicked well with the company, given the new BCCI directive. As an official said: "We are practically out of cricketers. The whole thing was over-valued." The cola giant has relied on Bollywood to take its brand forward.

[DesiChap]

Re: Corporate bodies cry foul over BCCI restrictions

Singh, whose firm has dealt in endorsements worth several crores over the last nine years, says BCCI is a private body. "I don't think they should dominate the commercial or personal life of a cricketer." He added that if the BCCI "would like to link performance with the players, then the sponsors can, in turn, link performance with the BCCI." Singh said that after the recent debacle, sponsors are also looking at grading their involvement. In other words, if the BCCI got $5 million from a cricketing series, sponsors would shell out $4 million only when the team reached the semi-final stage, or only $1 million if it came back in three days. Similarly, corporates who had tagged on to the ICC Champions Trophy "are passionately involved in the game even today. They want the full worth of their investment just as the marketing team of BCCI has wrung out every cent possible."

:lmao: :lmao: :lmao: :lmao:

[Cricketics]

Re: Corporate bodies cry foul over BCCI restrictions truly, this restriction on endorsements will not do any good for the players.. their performance will be same with our without it.. if a peson has to score 2 centuries back to back, then he will score, or if he has to fail, then player will faill.. these restrictions and stuff are just over reaction on the early wc exit

[gs]

Re: Corporate bodies cry foul over BCCI restrictions I dont care. Let flow of money be regulated. If cricket/BCCI doesnt deliver, then let the corporates tighten their purse strings. Its sickening to see ads on TV with players like pathan and dhoni - one cant make it to the team and the other scored 2 ducks in 3 WC matches!! :mad: