World Cup propels Reebok sales

Reebok India is making the most of India's World Cup win in cricket. The brand recently

congratulated the performance of cricket stars M S Dhoni, Yuvraj Singh, Harbhajan Singh, Piyush Chawla and Yusuf Pathan with ‘Golden Bats’. The brand’s association with the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 and its endorsement deals with the likes of Dhoni and Yuvraj Singh are paying rich dividends. As they have seen same store sales increase 20 per cent in April 2011, over April 2010. The sale of merchandise has shot up after the victory, in April. The sale of World Cup merchandise has grown significantly in April after India's World Cup victory, across the 1,000-plus franchisee outlets of Reebok. Their partnership with the ICC entitles them to sole merchandising rights in its category for events including the World Cup.

Besides its association with Dhoni and Yuvraj, the brand is associated with a host of cricketers including seven from the T20 World Cup winning Indian team. The brand feels when people see a Dhoni playing with the same bat, they know that it’s of a certain quality. Moreover, the brand has also spent a considerable amount of time on R&D and developing the range, with inputs from the cricketers themselves. The winning runs were scored off Dhoni’s Reebok bat, and the brand is keen to keep that euphoric moment fresh in public memory. A contest was launched inviting consumers to express how they felt after the victory. Sajid Shamim, ED, Marketing and Product, Reebok India says people were asked to post these as messages on a Reebok ‘Dil Se’ wall on Facebook. The brand thought of this when they saw Yuvraj Singh cry after winning the trophy. They received over 20,000 entries in record time, and the top 100 are getting to meet Dhoni, Yuvraj and others soon.