It’s an industry worth around Rs 25 crore and it’s only getting bigger. Aabhas Sharma and Veenu Sandhu find that the marathon is more than just a healthy business.
In India, they say, brands will flock to a green field where they see a bunch of men with a bat and a ball. However, two weeks from now, when 30,000 people in Delhi wear their running shoes on a crisp Sunday morning to participate in what has become the world’s most expensive half marathon with a whopping Rs 9.5 crore in prize money, the brands will follow. Marathons may not be a sport in the conventional sense, but for brands they seem to have a huge appeal.
Over the years, this appeal has only grown and with it, the number of marathons. As of now, about 25 marathons — large and small— are organised in the country every year. In January 2011, the Mumbai Marathon will see its eighth edition; the Delhi Half Marathon will turn six this month. Bangalore, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Vadodara and Nashik, too, have joined the party. The Kolkata marathon, which started with a mere 800 people in 2004, had 20,000 participants in 2009.
Run for their money
The money involved has grown too — this year’s Mumbai Marathon offered about Rs 14 crore in total prize money — and so has the presence of brands, NGOs and corporate entities from every sector, including PSUs. The Athletics Federation of India (AFI) estimates marathons to be worth Rs 20-25 crore today and expects them to hit Rs 100 crore in 10 years.
Vivek Singh, joint managing director of Procam International, the company which organises the Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore events, says, “Marathons provide an emotional connect for brands and they look forward to it annually.”
Take Bharti Airtel. For the first two years, the Delhi Half Marathon was sponsored by its rival Vodafone. In 2008, when the title-sponsor rights were up for grabs, the company wasted no time in acquiring them. At this time, Airtel had launched its ad campaign, ‘Breaking Barriers’, and perceived it to be in sync with an event that called for endurance and overcoming mental and physical barriers.
“The benefits are intangible,” says Mohit Beotra, vice president, marketing for Airtel (north India).
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“It’s an excellent branding platform and most brands bring in the ‘social’ aspect to bolster their image,” says Santosh Desai, CEO, Future Brands. It’s a win-win situation for both the organisers and the brands, adds Desai, as you get a lot of eyeballs and excellent space to promote your product.
No wonder, organisers pull out all the stops when it comes to promotion. From celebrity ambassadors such as Shah Rukh Khan, John Abraham, Kareena Kapoor and Bipasha Basu, to roping in associate sponsors, the run-up to the marathon is usually a marketing blitzkrieg.
How do brands stand to gain?
Marathons will prosper as “they are a great day out in the sun”, feels Harish Bijoor, CEO of Harish Bijoor Consults, “but they will take years to become a viable or profitable branding platform”. Marathons also are not for mass brands, but for the “elite and niche” ones, Bijoor feels.
While most companies refuse to divulge their investments, it is estimated that the Delhi and Mumbai marathons are events worth Rs 5-6 crore (excluding prize money). This is small compared to global marathons such as the ones in Boston, London and New York, which are worth around Rs 300 crore. But while it has taken years for these marathons to grow into brands, the Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore marathons have come a long way in a relatively short time, say marketers and advertisers.
For most companies, promotional activities at marathons involve putting up stalls, hoardings and banners at the venue, as also distributing branded T-shirts and caps to runners and volunteers. Brands also often look at marathons as a sampling exercise for new products and the running kit given to all participants includes newly-launched face washes, energy pills, juices, sunscreens and so on.
Airtel does a lot of print campaigns but Beotra believes that Procam does a “great” job of marketing the event and they don’t have to do much. Standard Chartered has gone a step ahead this time and launched a TV commercial for the Mumbai Marathon.
Charity begins at work
The website of Concern India Foundation, which invites corporates to run the Delhi marathon for a cause, says the event ensures high visibility and mileage. “It does help build the image of the company if it is associated with a cause,” agrees Rajneesh Singh, group head, human resources, of Network18, which has around 40 employees running for Save the Children. “Since last year, many corporates are encouraging their employees to run for the cause of children,” says Thomas Chandy, CEO, Save the Children.
Last year, KPMG, which supports Literacy India and the cause of mobile crèches for the children of construction workers, participated with five teams; the company will have multiple teams this year as well. Ernst & Young India too has four teams participating in the Delhi marathon this year.
Initiatives such as these show that “companies are attempting to foster a caring culture above and beyond their line of business”, Chandy adds. “It’s a feel-good activity, but at the bottom of it lies getting some return on investment,” says Desai.
KPMG also sponsors T-shirts for the annual ‘Walk for Life’, held in support of cancer patients. “Six thousand people walking in those T-shirts projects a very positive image of the company,” says Jolly Verma, events manager, CanSupport, which organises the Walk.
Title sponsors donate the proceeds from the marathons to charities. In 2008, about Rs 1.6 crore was raised at the Delhi marathon; in 2009, the amount grew by 30 per cent to Rs 2.07 crore. The Bharti Foundation raised about Rs 28 lakh, while Ernst & Young managed Rs 10.50 lakh.
Then there are corporate registrations. While the registration for individual participation is Rs 600 for the 21-km half marathon (both in Delhi and Mumbai), companies participating in the ‘Corporate Challenge’ category need to pay a minimum of Rs 2.25 lakh (for a 30-member team) apart from the event registration of Rs 600 per team member. But the high registration fee does not stop companies from fielding multiple teams. “In 2008, 43 companies registered with 58 teams,” says Nidhi Singh, director, special assignments, Concern India Foundation, which has been the Delhi Marathon’s charity partner for the last three years. This year, 35 corporates have already registered with 48 teams. But there’s time and registrations “are bound to shoot up post Diwali,” Singh expects.
Building teams and brands
Marathons, companies say, are not just a marketing exercise. “It’s an excellent team building opportunity,” feels Sandeep Kohli, national director (human resources), Ernst & Young India.
“Running brings you together as a company,” says Ajay Mittal, chairman and MD of Arshiya International Ltd, a Mumbai-based logistics infrastructure developer. Mittal, who runs marathons regularly, has a staff of about 800 people and five offices across Mumbai. “Last time when I ran, I met people I’d never seen before even though they’d been working for me. As we ran side by side, encouraging each other to keep going, the barriers of hierarchy collapsed,” says Mittal. The practice sessions for participants for three Sundays before the run were a similar bonding activity.
Marathon politics
As the pie gets bigger, the controversies follow inevitably. Earlier this year, the Sunfeast World 10K Bangalore marathon ran into a hurdle after the AFI issued a diktat, forbidding all its affiliated clubs, athletes and officials from taking part in it. Marathons are competitive events, says Adille Sumariwalla, working president, AFI, and need sanction from the AFI. “Organisers must also give a fair percentage of the prize money to AFI,” says Sumariwalla, adding, “If marathons are becoming big business, athletics should benefit from it.”
Amateur runners such as Arvind Bharathi, a member of Runners for Life in Bangalore, aren’t unhappy with the ‘commercialisation’. “We need events like these to help running as a sport get recognition,” he says. The Indian corporate sector and brands are only too happy to oblige.