As the
Formula One racing fever catches on in India, an increasing number of global and Indian corporates are joining the bandwagon to promote their brands and reach a burgeoning customer base.
Formula One is the most widely watched sports event in the world, with around 580 million viewers globally.
The
F1 sponsorship market is estimated at $ 200 million as the global popularity of the sport is a big bet for companies to promote their brands.
"The intangible benefits could be much more as India has thousands of companies with ambition to compete on the global stage. While many of these companies have blue- chip brands domestically, they are either lesser known or unknown to a global audience," DS Rawat, secretary general, Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (
Assocham ), said.
Hence, Indian companies are associating with the sport in one form or the other.
According to Assocham, the Formula 1 Grand Prix race in India could generate revenues of over Rs 90,000 crore in the next ten years.
Bharti Airtel is the title sponsor of the event. The firm is already expanding its customer base to South Africa and other countries.
"This is a niche game but it has a very large fan following. Moreover, F1 caters to a global audience. Everyone will be watching the sport. So it makes for a good brand promotion exercise," a senior marketing official of Bharti Airtel told Mail Today. Other Indian companies like Hero MotoCorp, Mahindra, Sahara India, United Breweries and Jaypee Group are also looking at the global customer base to promote their brands.
According to the Jaypee Group, the event has already boosted its brand value and has increased the bookings for its properties. "In the last week itself we have received more than 3,000 queries for our various properties. We expect a good appreciation of the property value after the event is over," a senior marketing official of Jaypee said.
United Breweries, which is the official beer partner for the event, expects to cater to about 50,000 customers.
"This is a very good opportunity. We expect to cater to close to 50,000 customers. And being the official beer supplier to all the F1 after-parties the reach is really wide," Samar Singh Shekhawat, senior vice- president- marketing, United Breweries, said.
Multinational corporations (MNCs) claim that the association will help them explore the Indian market. In the last few years, the Formula One racing has forayed into China, Turkey and West Asia. India is the latest emerging market addition.
Last week, Matt Bishop, head of communications of McLaren, said, "We want to win the inaugural Indian Grand Prix not only because we are competing here as a team but our sponsors too want that we win here because of the huge potential that India offers."
"Vodafone, Lenovo, Tag Heuer, Johnny Walker, Hilton Hotels and Hugo Boss are all impressed with the development and growth of the middleclass here. It's a great commercial opportunity," Bishop added.
Other multinational brands like Renault are also looking at wider brand recognition with the growing Indian middle class.
Courtesy: Mail Today 
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