Hoggard I think
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Hoggard I think
Brand Sachin on top of the world
Pradipta Mukherjee / Kolkata March 01, 2010, 23:49 IST
Experts say Tendulkar can leave the field tomorrow without any brand equity dilution.He was already India’s biggest icon and proudest possession after scoring an incredible 47 Test and 46 one-day tons. But after he played that unbelievable 200-run innings of brutal finesse on Wednesday, Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar, 37, has ensured that he could leave the field tomorrow without any dilution in his brand equity.
Brand experts say Tendulkar will continue to get paid millions of dollars to appear in television commercials and on billboards selling everything from luxury cars to credit cards, soft drinks to shoes even after he retires. Reason: Sachin is a brand that transcends time, according to Ogilvy and Mather India Chairman Piyush Pandey.
That’s a far cry from the days (just a few months back) when the growing feeling was that Brand Sachin was no longer value for money. After recurring injuries kept him off the field and a blip in form, a growing number of companies including Fiat, TVS, Airtel and Pepsico ended their long relationship with the cricketer. Experts were quick to point out that half the country’s population is below 30 years and Tendulkar, clearly, was overage. More so, when younger men like M S Dhoni have turned in more consistent performances. One of his former teammates, Sanjay Manjrekar, even referred to Tendulkar as “the elephant in the dressing room.”
The impact was obvious. According to Tam Media analysis, Tendulkar currently endorses around 15 brands. But his nearest competitor, M S Dhoni, endorses more than double that number.
That will surely change now. With his consistent performances over the last six months, everyone expects the Little Master’s brand fortunes to soar. Even in his tough days, Tendulkar earned Rs 5-6 crore a year per brand, but experts now say his brand value will no longer be dictated by his scores. Talent management firms, which peg his earnings now at Rs 50 crore a year, expect Tendulkar to re-scale the commercial value of cricket as a sport and multiply the value of the celebrity endorser.
India Inc agrees. Andreas Gellner, managing director, Adidas India says, “Tendulkar is a generation-defining athlete and we are associated with him for a decade now. He personifies our brand values perfectly and is an inspirational figure for every Indian.”
Gellner says Adidas believes in partnering with leading athletes who bring the passion behind ‘Impossible is Nothing’ to life through excellence in sports. The company has also launched ‘Adidas-ST’ cricket hardware range which is inspired and co-created with Tendulkar.
Star-struck India is among the heaviest users of celebrity endorsements. In 2001, 25 per cent of all TV advertisements carried a known face. By 2008, this had grown to 62 per cent and continues to grow. In 2009, the top five brand ambassadors — MS Dhoni, Shahrukh Khan, Katrina Kaif, Sachin Tendulkar and Priyanka Chopra — endorsed 68 brands with Dhoni leading the pack, according to Tam Media.
V L Rajesh, head of marketing - foods, ITC, says, “Tendulkar has been endorsing Sunfeast biscuits since 2007. He is extremely popular with kids and adults alike, reasons why we chose him as our brand ambassador. Also, associating with a national icon helps in our brand equity.”
R C Venkateish, managing director of ESPN India, says, “Tendulkar was a brand ambassador for us between 2002 and 2006, when we had a brand-ambassador-driven marketing outlook. Now our content is our brand ambassador.” “We signed on Tendulkar because he is an iconic personality and the best association a sports channel could have,” adds Venkateish.
However, many say even Tendulkar requires the right brands that go well with his current image. Anand Halve, co-founder of Chlorophyll, a brand building and strategy planning organization, says Tendulkar as a brand ambassador is best associated with ‘maintenance or fitness with longevity’. Companies, which want to harp on sustained performance over the years, is a perfect brand fit for Tendulkar. His brand recall is strong even though he has lost out on several endorsements due to advancing age.
Halve may be spot on. But everyone agrees with one fact: If brand managers are looking for the maximum bang from the celebrity buck, Tendulkar is still way above others. He delivers quicker recall in a cluttered scenario. The recent performances will only cement that positioning of Brand Tendulkar.
“You’ve got to create heroes and you've got to pay them,” said the late Mark Mascarenhas of WorldTel way back in 1995 after WorldTel made Tendulkar India’s first multimillionaire sportsperson. The hero has just ensured that companies keep on paying him for many summers ahead.
http://www.business-standard.com/ind...-world/387133/
'If he can't win as many matches as he can for India, he's wasting his time'
Tendulkar should consider quitting - Ian Chappell
Cricinfo staff
March 30, 2007
Time to retire for Sachin Tendulkar? Ian Chappell thinks so ? Getty Images
Ian Chappell, the former Australian captain, has come down hard on Sachin Tendulkar, saying the time had come for him to consider quitting the game. Chappell said that the Tendulkar decision would be crucial as India try and rebuild after their shocking first round exit from the ongoing World Cup.
Tendulkar managed only 64 runs in India's three first-round matches of the World Cup, and couldn't make much of an impact against Bangladesh (7) and Sri Lanka (0), the two games India lost.
"Before anybody else makes a decision on what will happen to Tendulkar the player himself has to have a good long look in the mirror and decide what he's trying to achieve in the game," Chappell, 63, wrote in Mid-Day, a Mumbai-based tabloid. "At the moment he looks like a player trying to eke out a career; build on a glittering array of statistics. If he really is playing for that reason and not to help win as many matches as he can for India then he is wasting his time and should retire immediately."
Chappell went on to compare Tendulkar with Brian Lara, the West Indian captain, and pointed out how the latter hadn't changed his style of play over a 17-year career. "This is a credit to his technique and mental strength, as the aging process generally makes a player more progressively conservative," Chappell wrote of Lara. "Tendulkar hasn't worn as well; his last three or four years have been a shadow of his former self.
Chappell took into consideration the slew of injuries that Tendulkar had suffered during his career, a factor that had forced him to miss a number of matches in this decade. "Tendulkar hasn't been as lucky as Lara," Chappell wrote, "the Indian batsman has suffered a lot of injuries in this period where his play has deteriorated and there is nothing that melts your mental approach quicker than physical handicaps. Lara has been relatively free from injury and he certainly doesn't have the weight of numbers riding on his shoulders that Tendulkar does. However, the population of the Caribbean might be small but they are extremely demanding.
"Despite all the fuss and the odd controversy that has surrounded Lara's career he has remained himself; this is my game and that is how I play. For whatever reason Tendulkar hasn't been able to maintain his extremely high standards for the last few years and unless he can find a way to recapture this mental approach he's not doing his team or himself any favours.
"If Tendulkar had found an honest mirror three years ago and asked the question; 'Mirror, mirror on the wall who is the best batsman of all?' It would've answered; 'Brian Charles Lara.' If he asked that same mirror right now; 'Mirror, mirror on the wall should I retire?' The answer would be; 'Yes.'
http://www.cricinfo.com/india/conten...ry/287897.html
Chappel kku ippo Cheppalaala adicha maadhiri irukkum :lol:
One of the best articles I have ever read on Sachin
Cricket's own Vicar
At its simplest level, sport is about possibilities. We fans dream up spectrums of possibilities. We align ourselves based on these spectrums, pledge our allegiances and set ourselves up for emotional and sometimes even physical reactions based on how things actually turn out. Most times our dreamt up possibilities are restricted by our citizenship - in itself a simple piece of paper, if you think about it.
It is perhaps then all for the good that there still exist a few in the realm of sport who make you forget about these restrictions and think only about the sporting possibilities. It takes no special skill to surmise that I am talking about Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar and the possibilities that only he brings to the sport that he adores and so beautifies and typifies - cricket.
I lay the blame squarely on Sachin Tendulkar - for making it so hard to write yet another article on his prowess and achievements and landmarks, which show no signs of fading away. Superlatives pale. Praise falls flat and comparisons do not seem to fit, if only because we are finding it harder to find appropriate standards of comparison as time goes on. Cricket's prolific writing community has driven itself against the wall praising his two decades in the game. It has worked itself into a fury trying to explain to the layman about his passion for the game; his unsurpassed mastery of the art of batting. It has tired of continuously extolling his virtues on and off the field as a champion and a true sportsman. So much so that when you want to write about Tendulkar or his exploits it pays to take some time to think deeply to try and not repeat either yourself or the numerous others who have tried their hand at the same exercise over the years.
I have a confession to make. Nothing seemed to suggest itself as exemplary enough. As momentous and unique enough to grace yet another occasion, yet another peerless achievement by the maestro. For a while I was stymied when trying to write about his latest achievement - that of scoring a double century in an ODI contest. Yet another time when he carried his bat through and batted for his team's entire quota of 50 overs.
I have heard it said that emotions tend to illuminate even the darkest paths where the light of reason fizzles out and leaves you alone. This is a case in point. If following sport is in essence a vicarious pursuit into which you throw not yourself but your faiths on individual players and/or teams, then nobody qualifies to be a Vicar quite as much as Tendulkar.
The magnitude of emotions, enjoyment and realization he has been able to convey and amplify to millions and maybe even billions of people over the years across borders of nationhood, religion, economic means, caste, creed and colour ensures that it is so. It is not difficult to describe the drives, the cuts, the pulls and the cutest of nudges that he essayed today on his way to the first double-century in one-day internationals. But it would merely be superfluous.
His supporters may very well be in the right if they argue that this was always on the cards. A splendorous 175 four months ago had already tantalised his fans. Informed and tempted them about this possibility. And when a summit beckons, Sachin cannot be far behind. He finds a way to the top. And so it was today. 200 not out off just 147 deliveries against the third-ranked side in the world.
A successful man cannot have people simply singing praises about him. Ask his detractors. They would point out that the Roop Singh Stadium at Gwalior had short square boundaries, lightning fast outfields and an absolute marble-top of a wicket. And they would be absolutely right. But here is something they might consider. Give a top-class artist a canvas. Give him a room and give him a vista. See what he comes up with. For the art produced thereof we credit the artist himself; not the canvas for its whiteness and blankness. Not the room for the comfort it offered. Not even the vista for its having conveniently presented itself. They are all incidental. Art is transcendental. So too is Tendulkar's batting.
Much has been made of his drive for runs. Of the man's sheer hunger for putting bat to ball and staying on there at the crease much to the bowlers' bemusement. Forget the fact that he is largely peerless and matchless. He also appears tireless with the bat in hand when you observe his speed and skill when sprinting up and down the wicket putting pressure on the fielders at 36 years of age. Countless have been the questions posed to him about his desire to play the game and of the day when he wants to hang up his boots.
Perhaps they have been posed in an attempt to find out just how long the game will be graced by his presence. The game's own need of his genius does not however go far when trying to explain his superhuman dedication to the craft of batting and of the sheer determination that has powered him to make several sacrifices in order to be there for his team.
In typical Sherlock Holmes fashion, if we eliminate the possibilities one by one it only leaves one last item. That Sachin Tendulkar needs the game just like we mortals need our oxygen, our daily fix of sports and the fount of vicarious joy it promises. That his bat is not an extension of his body as has been often said. Perhaps quite the opposite - that he is an extension of his bat. That his body arranges itself conveniently so that the bat may strike the ball at the most opportune time with optimum speed.
All the better for our vicarious enjoyment. That he gives of himself every time through his bat so that we may once again experience the heady breathlessness that sports brings into our lives. So that over the years we all have a bit of Sachin Tendulkar in us. And that he suggests, in the true spirit of Vicar-ship, the existence of sublimation and transcendentalism in sport, also leaving us with the comfort that even after he ceases to perform his superhuman deeds on the cricket pitch he will live on in our minds - fuelling our dreams and defining our spectrums of possibilities.
yesterday Sachin, singam came in my dreams and appealed to his fans not to bash Dhoni - meyyalumae :bow:
Naama 24*7 nenachitrukkardhu kanavil varivadhu aacharyam illai :wink:
BTW, "Sachin," aduthu irukkum singam yaar?
Chappell, kammaan talk me now.:lol:
(Kaal amuthikaradhoda niruthikka ian :lol:)
:fatigue: That was a marana mokkai article from Ian Chappell. Remember it came right after India's WC exit. I respeet Ian as a commentator. As a commentator, he is analytical/insightful/engaging etc. etc. But this article had a very clear agenda from Ian.Quote:
Originally Posted by ajithfederer
Thoongaravangaley easy-uhh ezhupidalaam. Aana thoongarA maadhiri nadikaravangale ezhupuradhu remba kastam, I say. :evil:
One more sample of an opportunistic bashing of Sachin by the Aussie media in Jan 2007.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2...18/1829185.htm
form-ukkum, class-ukkum vithyasamE theriyaadhe maadhiri, enamma nadikaraanunge.:shaking:Quote:
Originally Posted by Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC)