The Timeless Tendulkar

We have all probably worshipped, criticized, admonished or idolized Sachin Tendulkar as a cricketer at some point of our lives. But what's the secret behind Brand Tendulkar still being the best?

“Paytm First Games ropes in Sachin Tendulkar as their brand ambassador” – read the morning newspaper just a week before onset of IPL 2020. With cricketers like Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni in limelight today, why did Paytm First Games choose Sachin Tendulkar as its first ever brand ambassador? Was it budget issues?

Well, just FYI, Paytm First Games has set aside 300 crores to spend on marketing and promotions during the rest of the financial year. Don’t you forget the deep Chinese pockets ever!

So, what could be the real reason? Well, Paytm First Games had to grow its market share in the space currently dominated by Dream11. To enhance brand awareness about the fantasy cricket, it chose to finalize the Little Master. Let us try to decipher the reasons behind it.

Lovingly regarded as the greatest batsman of his generation and one of the best to have ever played the game, Sachin Tendulkar has no doubt been ruling the hearts of sports fans from years. On November 16, 2013, it was considered as an end of an era when he decided to leave the cricket fields. But little did the fans know, that the hero had a clear path set for his future. The Brand Tendulkar is an INR 185 crore brand today with about 16-18 endorsements, but it has been building up since decades. Before digging into the intricacies of the Tendulkar brand, let us briefly look at what worked for Tendulkar in his early days:

In a country with divided cricket fan bases between Gavaskar and Kapil in 1980s, Tendulkar served as a glue to amalgamate all the fans in 1990s. Gavaskar and Kapil were like oil and vinegar: both national heroes but appealing to different masses. While Gavaskar was often perceived as the sophisticated professional, Kapil was projected as the talented simpleton. Curiously, Tendulkar was linked to both: when Gavaskar, by then a former cricketer, gifted Tendulkar his own pads, it became a viral piece of news. Kapil, on the other hand, had an overlap with Sachin while doing a Boost commercial together, & they had been double-wicket partners, and had bowled in tandem to tilt the Hero Cup final of 1993 in India’s favour. Therefore, Gavaskar fans and Kapil fans saw Tendulkar as one of them! This connect with almost all the cricket fans in the country marked the birth of Brand Tendulkar.

Cut to Present: Sachin now endorses 18-25 brands, nearly the same as he endorsed in his playing days. Not just the number of brands, but he has also been able to maintain his endorsement fee of ~5-6 crore per endorsement. Today, SRTSM (Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar Sports Management company founded by the cricketer and his wife in 2016) manages the endorsements of Brand Tendulkar and its annual revenue over the past five years has shot up by about 250 percent and per day commercials have risen 347 percent. His brand value had grown by 15.8 percent in 2019 to $25.1 million (around INR 185 crore) from an year ago.

Back to our prime question: Why only Sachin Tendulkar for Paytm First Games? Unless you live under a rock, you would remember the recent anti-Chinese movement in India. And Paytm has always been a Chinese app/brand for Indians. For any brand, social image is the topmost KPI to analyze its past and future and it is believed to be a reason of rise and fall of many well-known brands (Also read: Finding New wings for Angels of Victoria’s Secret to find out importance of social image for a brand). Maintaining an image in India amidst this trending anti-Chinese debates was a mammoth task before Paytm First Games.

Our star cricketer turned businessman/entrepreneur, Sachin Tendulkar saw bent towards social uplift by associating with brands like UNICEF and Ministry of Health and Family Awareness. While younger players represent enthusiasm, radicalism & rigor, Sachin brings out the calm, & mature side of brands he endorses. Hence, the eureka choice for the new Paytm brand.

But what use is a good product if there aren’t enough eyes to see or buy it? The same stands true for human brands too. Considering that Paytm First Games is essentialy an online platform, and its target audience must be cricket fans plus social media freaks, Master Blaster seems to have taken care of that as well. Soon after his retirement, he focused on building a social media presence and with 28 million followers on Facebook, 34.3 million followers on Twitter and as many 27.1 million followers on Instagram today, he seems to have struck the right chords.

Long story short, Brand Tendulkar represents a cricket legend that might have quitted the stadiums but hasn’t quitted the stage yet. With a good digital fanbase comprising a good portion below 18 years, & the only retired celebrity to get a spot in the 2019 Duff & Phelps' celebrity brand valuation list, the legend was undoubtedly the first choice for Paytm First Games.

Do you agree with our analysis? Do you not agree with our analysis? We will be more than happy to engage in a healthy debate! Let us know below.

By: Anmol Gupta | Isha Garg