Endorsement Game | From hockey to wrestling, Indian Olympic stars attract more advertisers

A look at India's big wins at Olympic Games Tokyo 2020.

In the recently concluded Tokyo Olympics, team India gave one of its best performance by securing seven medals including a gold and the games have given brands their new stars.

From hockey, wrestling, badminton, boxing, weight lifting to javelin throw, Indian athletes scored historic wins at the 2020 Olympics. And this is not going unnoticed by brands.

Neerav Tomar, MD and CEO, IOS Sports, a sports marketing firm that manages portfolio of Indian men's hockey team, weight lifter Mirabai Chanu and Lovlina Borgohain, said that there was a lot of positivity built around sports during the Tokyo Olympics.

"We have been winning medals, national sports hockey also saw good performance. All this put together everyone was waiting for closing ceremony. So, we are seeing brand interest for not only our athletes but also others. There's lot of attraction."

India men's hockey team captain Manpreet Singh who in 2018 was onboarded by German footwear and apparel brand Adidas as brand ambassador is seeing an endorsement deal finalized with a steel brand.

The men's hockey team in Tokyo Olympics secured a bronze.

"There are queries coming in for two-three of the hockey players. Each one of them are representing their states and there local advertisers are showing interest," said Tomar.

Along with men's hockey team, players including Rani Rampal from women's hockey team are also looking at securing endorsement deals.

In addition, boxer Lovlina Borgohain who also secured a bronze at 2020 Olympics will see finalization of four to five brand deals in the coming weeks. And with this Borgohain will enter the endorsement space.

The other athletes who won a bronze in Tokyo Olympics include shuttler PV Sindhu and wrestler Bajrang Punia.

While Punia is already a known name in  the brand world, Mustafa Ghouse, CEO, JSW Sports, the sports arm of JSW Group, said that winning an Olympic medal takes it to another level.

"We are seeing interest for Bajrang (Punia) as well. Also, being an Olympic medal winner puts you in a different bracket and his (endorsement) fees will increase," said Ghouse.

Punia currently is the ambassador of Asics, Optimum Nutrition, Thums Up, Exxon Mobil and Moj.

In fact, ahead of Tokyo Olympics Punia had added to his brand portfolio Optimum Nutrition.

In addition, Punia had earnings of Rs 2.4 crore, according to 2019 Forbes list where he ranked 94th.

Another athlete Mirabai Chanu that not only got a medal back home but also was the first one to open India's medal account in the 2020 Olympics after Domino's is looking at adding brands to her portfolio.

"Domino's was just start point. Long-term endorsement deal we have already done three of them (for Mirabai Chanu)," said Tomar.

He added that all of the Olympic players will easily get about six to seven brand engagements which are long term.

While the Indian athletes have got their due recognition after Tokyo Olympics, there's a lot more sports marketing firm managing the portfolio of these players will have to do.

Tomar said that for hockey he expects that the federation will be planning multiple events and tournaments where the athletes will be on their playing field.

"Then we have also lined up to merge Bollywood and entertainment sector because there are reality shows, talk shows, news channels where they (athletes) need to be in the right shows."

However, things are different due to coronavirus outbreak which has impacted TV, film production.

So, all focus right now is to keep the athletes in the public eye.

"You cannot just vanish from the ring. Continuous visibility is what we are planning now," said Tomar.