In a country like India where there is diversity of cultures, what unites us is Sports. Sport like Cricket has become a religion for people. But it’s not just cricket what unites us, we are beyond cricket. And we did prove that when our girls shined in Rio Olympics with winning medals and certainly our hearts too!
The sports market is built in large part on a solid base of core fans. The emotion that keeps fans attached to a team is a powerful sales driver and that is something what leads to sportsmen into the licensing industry.
Formula One also has a huge fan following in India, and it witnessed significant sales of merchandise at the venue as well as at licensed stores. The Manchester United football club is also selling its merchandise in India by forming an association with the Future Group. However, it is not just the sports teams and sports leagues that are entering licensing. Top sportsmen are entering into licensing deals for using their names as a brand.
We list out 5 Indian Sports stars who entered licensing deals and partnership for better –
- MS Dhoni
MS Dhoni became the first Indian cricketer to launch his line of fragrances named ‘7 By MS Dhoni’ because the cricketer’s lucky number is 7. He led the way into the licensing world for other sports players in India. Now, with the huge buzz over the MS Dhoni’s biopic and we are eagerly waiting to watch his story too.
- Sachin Tendulkar
The God of Cricket too has his brand name licensed (Unbelievable! right isn’t it?). Recently Sachin Tendulkar launched his menswear brand True Blue on Myntra in association with Arvind Fashion Brand.
- Virat Kohli-
From being a batsman to being a businessman he has aced it all with his hardwork and confidence. He launched Wrogn, his own line of youth fashion brand in 2014. And by licensing his own brand he did nothing wrong.
4. Yuvraj Singh
Although Yuvraj Singh has promoted investment fund YouWeCan Ventures, thereby investing in brand licensing for budding entrepreneur earlier, he has not launched his line of merch. We have heard that he is set to launch his brand this weekend.
- Harbhajan Singh
Believe it or not but he was probably the first sportsmen in India to sell licensing rights to his name to License India. You could see the off-spinner’s name being used in various types of merchandise and even in chain of restaurants as ‘Bhajji Da Dhaba’.
The emergence of sports leagues such as the IPL and the World Series Hockey (WSH) in recent years has given a boost to the licensing and merchandising segment. The sports licensing in India is poised to grow over the years with many sports icon gradually entering into sports licensing.
