Tata Tea to play ball with Arsenal

English club may send coaches to train players

Tata Tea's cup of innovative plans is brimming over. The company is planning to tie up with UK's premier football club Arsenal FC.

The details of the tie-up, which is expected to be announced tomorrow, are not known. According to the broad contours of the proposed deal, the English Premier League football club may send coaches to India to train young talents. High Life Management, a sports management agency, may also be a part of the initiative.

According to sources, the proposed Tata Tea-Arsenal tie-up is a part of the beverage company's advertising campaign""Jaago Re""to migrate tea from being a physical and emotional revitaliser to becoming a catalyst for 'social awakening'.

The campaign began three months ago. Tata Tea executives were tight-lipped on the deal. When asked, high-level executives of the company declined to comment.

Incidentally, the Tata group has been promoting football for long. It runs a football academy at Jamshedpur where its steel firm, Tata Steel, is based.

Sources said the tie-up may give afresh lease of life to football which has been losing popularity to cricket even after its century-long existence in the country.

Arsenal is one of the most successful clubs in the UK, which has won the Premier League in 2003-04 and became the first London club to reach the UEFA Champions League final in 2005-06.

The agency High Life Management offers production events, media relations, creation of brand properties, and identification of ideal talent to its clients. The agency's other FMCG clients include ITC and United Breweries.