Brand Tendulkar : The Road Ahead

After 23 years of pure commitment and dedication, batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar has finally decided to hang his boots for good from the 50 over version of the game.
Forbes has ranked him on 78th spot in the category of world’s highest paid athletes ,till date he has accumulated a total wealth of 18.6 million US dollars  out of which the endorsements contribute over  88 percent which is an astonishing figure.
The top contributors are  Coke , Adidas ,Toshiba, Castrol  RBS,  Jaypee  and Audemars  piguet .Other notable sponsors are Aviva , Canon and Jyothi  labs and a total of 17 brands associated with him presently . With his retirement the fate of his contracts with these brand has come under question.



Let us look at some of the numbers , in a survey conducted in 2011 states that  Sachin Tendulkar is still the best face  of Indian cricket .This survey was conducted at a period when the  nation was still contemplating  his retirement  from the ODI version of cricket.

Sl No	Name	Score	Percentage
1	Sachin Tendulkar	65/100	65
2	M.S Dhoni	39/100	39
3	Virendra Sehwag	20/100	20
4	Zaheer Khan	13/99	13.13
5	Yuvraj Singh	28/100	28
6	Rahul Dravid	04/100	4

The survey comprised of 100 samples, randomly chosen and was conducted at the city Varanasi.
His rank relative to another notable senior cricketer Rahul Dravid shows his dominance in the popularity index.


Brands Endorsed by some of the greatest veterans of cricket post retirement.

Name	Brands endorsed post retirement
Suniel Gavaskar	Palmolive
Kapil Dev	Palmolive,  Boost,Dabur,Birla Sun Life, Crocin
Ravi Shastri	Thumbs Up,LG,Megalube
Sourav Ganguly	Chirag Computers ,BMA Steel

Unlike these veterans Sachin has a wider following, not only in India but in abroad too. Hence it can be expected that though his future earnings may decrease, his association with the brands may not change significantly.
According to Forbes, Michael Jordon, another legend  of Tendulkar’s  stature still has a wealth of 60 million US dollars even after 8 years of his retirement , hence it is not impossible that Tendulkar can’t follow the same path . Most of this depends how he will be presented to the audience in the future. His Endorsements which are soon going to be expired are mentioned below.

Sl No	Endorsement deals on the verge of termination/terminated	Timeline
1	Boost	Already Expired
2	Canon	Jan-13
3	ITC	2014
4	Jyothy Labs	Already Expired
5	Aviva	2014
6	Coca-cola	Associated as an Happiness ambassador

As told by one of  the Canon’s Senior spokesperson “ there won’t be much change in Sachin’s stature but  the relevance to the brand to whom he is associated with may undergo a change and hence it is very difficult to fit him in a brand which targets a segment with an average age of 25-35.
One thing which is very sure is that Sachin’s true impact of retirement will only be felt after he retires from all the remaining forms of cricket i.e.  Test cricket. And to leverage this impact a proper planning should be done so that the audience can sustain the connect with him in the long run.


The Road Ahead:
Sectors like FMCG, Real Estate, Apparels, Insurance and Banking are well suited for Sachin at this juncture of his career, of course a career behind the mike as a commentator or coach is always there to give him the visibility to the consumers.  His new role as an MP can also give the necessary limelight post his retirement.

Source:-http://www.mbaskool.com/business-articles/marketing/7657-brand-tendulkar-the-road-ahead.html