Coke, Future Group, Toshiba, Canon, others rush in to cash in on Sachin Tendulkar

While Coca-Cola is releasing 6.5 million special 'Sachin' cans, insurance services provider Aviva will fly lucky contest winners to London to meet Sachin.

By Ratna Bhushan & Sagar Malviya, ET Bureau | Updated: Jul 25, 2011, 06.47 AM IST

NEW DELHI: India Inc is pulling out all stops to leverage Sachin Tendulkar's world record 100th century in international cricket-widely expected during India's ongoing tour of England.

"A whole lot of advertisers plan to air ads across media including news channels, print media and online the day Sachin makes his 100th 100," says Navin Khemka, senior VP at media buying firm Zenith Optimedia, whose client list includes Reckitt Benckiser. "This includes both brands associated with him and those who are not."

Brands that the master batsman endorses lead the drive, of course. While beverage maker Coca-Cola is releasing 6.5 million special 'Sachin' cans, insurance services provider Aviva will fly lucky contest winners to London to meet Sachin.

Top retailer Future Group, photographic and digital imaging firm Canon and consumer electronics firm Toshiba too are ready to leverage on Sachin's unprecedented feat (see the list), while others like sportswear and footwear maker Adidas are still finalising their strategies.

Brands not associated with Sachin too have pre-booked ads in print media and TV channels in anticipation of the historic event.

Cricket fans are in a frenzy at the prospect of the 38-year-old batsman scoring his 100th international century in the first test at Lord's, where team India is battling to save the match. The team will play four test matches, five one-day internationals and one T20 match in England.

Sachin has scored 99 international hundreds, while the second best-Australia's Ricky Ponting-is way behind with 69 centuries.

ESPN Star Sports, official broadcaster of the series, expects to rake in 180-200 crore from the series, largely riding on expectations of Sachin's hundredth century.

BIG PLANS

Canon India Senior VP Alok Bharadwaj said that the camera maker's plans to celebrate the event will be centered on its photo community of two lakh members, retail partners and dealers. "For example, we will capture '100 good moments with Sachin' with members of our photo community," he said.

Future Group President (Food and FMCG) Devendra Chawla said the retailer, which markets personal care products like toothpastes and handwashes under the Sach brand, is working on a limited edition non-standard pack for one of the existing categories to be launched in a few weeks' time.

"As our brand Sach is co-created with Sachin himself, we plan to celebrate the milestone in our stores for apparel and FMCG categories through visual merchandising, thematic brand campaigns and contests," he said.

Sachin, who is known to charge about $1 million per year per deal, endorses close to 14 brands, including Coca-Cola, Adidas, Canon, Aviva Life Insurance, Toshiba, Future Group, and Royal Bank of Scotland.

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