THE FORGOTTEN HEROES
February 14, 2007 by nuanse
Brand endorsement is a way to go! A way to get your brand noticed amidst all the clutter that brands create in the marketplace. Amidst all the noise and hype that brands indulge in so very freely. Brand endorsement is possibly the best way to get the awareness rating of your brand up there in the stratosphere of a clutter-free terrain, otherwise unattainable with the me-too strategies of the marketer at large
From a celebrity viewpoint, there are three criteria’s for getting a brand endorseme
nt, one is Popularity quotient, other is performance in the field the celebrity belongs to and the third is brand vision connectivity, that is how well does the brand personality connects to the celebrities personality
But have you ever wondered, there are a lot of people in our country who actually deserve much more limelight than what they are getting, well ill concentrate more on the sports section in this post, and would want to make you aware that a country as a whole we are not adaptable to novel things….
YUVRAJ SINGH – well people would say he’s a good player, though he’s very inconsistent, he has just 25 half centuries and 7 centuries in 154 matches. but here’s a list of endorsements he has YUVRAJ ON LG T.V. PEPSI. WESTSIDE T-SHIRT, SAHARA. REBOOK SHOES. HIMALAYA CHAWANPRASH, GO-GOA TRAVELS. HERO-HONDA (AMBITIONS). NIPPO BATTERY, HERCULES MTB(CYCLE). EXTRA PREMIUM(Hindustan Petroleum). LG SEVEN100 (GSM-Mobile Color), SURF EXCEL, PARASHUITE AFTER SHAVE GEL. MICROSOFT XBOX. So the number turns out to be ‘12’.Yes he’s good looking, flamboyant so brands like XBOX, reebok shoes, west side would really be his kitty. But isn’t this too much !!!
The same way we have another media active player Sania Mirza . Her current endorsement deals are GVK Industries, Sahara, Atlas Cycles, Tata Tea and Sports Authority of Andhra Pradesh, Hyundai Getz, Sprite, Lotto that again adds on to be 8. about her achievements → she is the youngest Indian to have won Wimbledon juniors, first Indian to have reached 3rd round in Australian Open and faced Serena Williams and lost. Yes she is hot, so I guess that’s the biggest reason to see her in the news all the time and many brands too. Man I believe she is the most hyped celebrity in the past 2 years.
The most impossible of all Narain kartikeyan, so this guy is the first INDIAN to make it to the F3 circuits, he had a great season there, therefore he was upgraded to Formula 1 the most prestigious motor race circuit in the world. Before reaching there people didn’t even knew Micheal Schumacher, though he had a bad season with Jordan, now he is a test driver for Williams team, now during his peak he had Reebok, JCB, ESPN Star Sports, Tata, JK Tyre, Speed, Amaron and Ambipur. That is 8 in all, does he deserve them
Now I have listed three examples of different sportsmen who aren’t great at their profession but very great when it comes to the advertising circuit. So I would like to seek answers on LEANDER PAES, MAHESH BHUPATHI, the 1st ever Indian pair to have won Wimbledon doubles, they at least win 5 grand slams doubles titles every year, and they have had just one endorsement J.Hamstead. other players like Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, the first ever Indian to have won a silver medal at Olympics in single player games had just Coke. There’s also Jeev Milkha singh, the golfer and Jaspal Rana. Though I agree that people like Jeev, Rana and Rathore are short of popularity quotient but people like Paes and Mahesh deserved more celebrity endorsements.
So will we as a country always follow cricket as our religion, or also try to diffuse other sports and sportsmen as our idols, celebrity endorsers and influential people
Good question raised Nikhil, but i think its not the issue of diffusing other sports and sportsmen, rather it is the issue of how can we better our sports culture as a whole. Once this is done, the various sports (apart from cricket) will then receive the viewership which is much wanted, followed by the sporsmen receiving their share of importance. I would like to quote the reply of Rajyawardhan Singh Rathore on the question of pathetic condition of Indian sports. He said “Sports is not just recreation, its a celebration of life”, and this is what needs to be understood by the people in our country. Just recall the last time you went to watch any sports event in a stadiom or arena, and then recall how long it has been, in some cases it would be never.
Cricket i think will remain the religion in India for ever, for no one can change its popularity, but for other sports to reach that level of popularity in the country, we need to change our mindset about sports itself. From considering it as a recreational activity, we need to make it an integral part of a persons life right from his/her childhood. We can follow America’s example where it is compulsory for evry student to get trained in atleast one sport in the schools. This is what increases the popularity of the various sports there and makes them produce world class players who get adequate importance in terms of endorsements and fans all over the world.
Nice read…its very light and nice range of topics..will visit regularly..check out my blog too.
Prashanth
u r right niks.we remember only those who frequently come infront of us.As u said, we hav really forgotten these heros.If i m nt wrong Hockey is our national game. We even forgot tht..Do we remember Mahendra Amar Nath?i think i was the 1st person to whom u asked abt Jeev Mallika Singh and i couldnt answer and i m saying myself educated. ha ah ha haaaaaaa .
hmmm… nicee! …well written! bt i think dt these guys who are loaded with endorsements are more famous amidst the people owing to d popularity of their respective sports.. and hence they r more inflential! most of our pple dont even kno who Milkha Singh is.. n so obviously,his promotin a brand is nt gono create as much an impression!! i think its just abt our own ingnorance…
As bad and shocking it may seem it is true and it is really bad…
All our country knows is of Cricket …rest all who deserve,who dedicate their entire lives to their respective professions arent given a damn..
Nice read!
Nikhil, Aditya here is right… how many times v ourself as a person have taken interest in going for any game other than cricket… forget about going there how many times have v taken interest in atleast knowing other sports. Have we ever taken interest in knowing what is double trap shooting all about or what is tennis all about or hockey or F1… We should not be sitting here and questionning the popularity and the religion status that cricket and its stars are getting. The 1st step is to popularise the game and then the stars would follow and with it the people like Rathore, Narain and all will get the endorsements and the popularity they deserve.
Also talking about Narain Karthikeyan and the F1, I say he is not getting what he deserves. He is the 1st Indian to be around that F1 car forget about driving it. Whatever popularity he has its much less than what he deserves. Just because one season of his was not as good as everyone wanted but whoever knows and follows F1 would have always said that that was what was expected out of his first season. Talking about Micheal Schumacher sure he is popular but it took him time to be up where he is today and it will take Narain some time too.
On the other hand sportsperson like Sania Mirza and other one time stars get much more popularity then they deserve.
Endorsements as you might know is one way of minting money for the celebrities and getting customers to buy the product which they endorse. Here whenever a sports person is on his peak of form (be it any sport) is given the popularity. Where is Narain now… Where is Parthiv Patel (he got lot of money when he started)…