Sania's money power beats Viru, Irfan

NEW DELHI, MARCH 7: From luxury cars to bicycles, jewellery to footwear, a cricketer is the obvious choice for any company to sell their product. But with Sania Mirza and Narain Karthikeyan emerging as India's new sports icons, corporates are prepared to rally behind them with lucrative endorsement deals.

"Corporates have started to look beyond cricket. The endorsement offers reflect the popularity of an individual. This is due to the hard work of the new stars who have managed to reach the top at international level,” says Anirban Das, vice-president, Globosport.

In case of sports which do not enjoy huge popularity, an individual has to make a break at the top level to attract attention," he elaborates further.

The rise of non-cricketing stars is a good sign for Indian sports as our new icons will help raise the popularity of other sports as commercials and media hype generates interest among people,” says Sunil Kalra, branch director, Percept India.

"Corporates are now willing to associate themselves with sports like tennis and Formula One racing,” he says.

While Sania started off the year with a Rs 5.5 lakh rate per endorsement before her match with Serena Williams at the Australian open, it climbed to Rs 1 cr after beating the current US Open Champion and World No 7 Svetlana Kuznetsova at the Dubai Open.

It compares extremely well when looked at even by cricketing standards. While Sachin Tendulkar is at the zenith at Rs 3-to-6 cr, lesser mortals like Team India skipper Sourav Ganguly command a figure of Rs 1 cr, while his deputy Rahul Dravid is near Rs 70 lakh alongside tyros like Irfan Pathan and Virender Sehwag.

Sania Mirza, after her success in WTA Hyderabad, attracted the sort of attention that is reserved only for cricketers and such popularity could not have gone unnoticed by corporates.

The impact of Sania's magic was such that within weeks of her dream run in the court, Globosport, the Bangalore-based company had 18 corporates lined up to sign the new sensation of Indian Sports.

The rush was such that the company thought of taking time and deciding on the offers, says Das.

When Karthikeyan raced up to the big league of Formula One, it was not just the soft drinks and lifestyle companies but even auto ancillary firms and transport firms that came to capitalise on his star power.

"Success at the international stage pulls the corporate houses. It acts as a catalyst of sorts as the money helps in getting good coaching and training facilities abroad for players which is not affordable with the income from playing at home, its too little, says Das.

Initially it is very tough to convince companies that Aparna Poppat or say Pankaj Advani has the potential to make it big in sports and can be good brand amdassadors, says Das.

"Corporates are skeptical before signing non-cricketers and we have to demonstrate their value to them, Das says.

But in today's world of corporate culture, where popularity of any sport or individual is gauged by their appearances on television or in newspapers, how much are the sportspersons themselves conscious of advertisement.

"We are playing for the country and our primary aim is to perform on the field. Any recognition and incentives that comes on the way of players is always good," says hockey player Gagan Ajit Singh who was recently signed by the ministry of textiles as the brand ambassador for handicrafts.

Though he admits that doing commercials means more responsibility, "people always see and watch you, you are always noticed and the popularity raises expectations. But yes, it is encouraging and helps improve performance," he says.

With tennis hogging headlines on sports pages and television channels, children with parents are heading for the nearest tennis court.

In fact, there is an increase in the number of youngsters and parents coming up with queries for admission after Sania started her dream run in the Australian Open.

Golf player, Jeev Milkha Singh, who will also promote handicrafts, says, "We cannot compare cricket with other sports. It is followed as a sort of religion here. But yes, everyone needs recognition for their hard work and it is good to see that tennis, hockey and golfers are getting their due.

"For 'real-life-real-heroes', project of the ministry of textiles we were looking at unsung heroes who suit Indian handicrafts which despite being the best are lagging behind. So we choose non-cricketing sportspersons,"says Kalra.

Also the prices cricketers charge come into play when the companies think of signing any sportsperson for endorsements.

"Sourav and Sachin are beyond the reach of almost everyone. The market has become too cluttered. So the corporates are looking for star players in other fields," says Kalra.