MUMBAI: Global airline company Emirates has shifted its sponsorship alliance from Kings XI Punjab to Deccan Chargers, signing a three-year multi-million dollar deal with the Hyderabad franchise as it makes the Southern region part of its focus area.
Being a team sponsor of Deccan Chargers, Emirates will have ‘Fly Emirates’ branding on the player jersey, pitch-side branding at each of the matches, player appearances, and hospitality among others.
Globally, Emirates is associated with sporting events like Fifa World Cup, Rugby World Cup, and ICC World Cup besides a whole host of other sporting events. It invests one per cent of its global revenues into sports sponsorship.
Emirates was earlier associated with Kings XI Punjab for three years since 2009 as a team sponsor. It, however, decided not to renew its deal with the Mohali franchise once it ended last year.
The Chargers on the other hand had Ultratech as their team sponsor last year, which has partnered Rajasthan Royals for the season 5 of the IPL.
Emirates Airline Vice President India & Nepal Orhan Abbas said, "Emirates had a three-year agreement with Kings XI Punjab beginning 2009 and the contract ended in 2011. We were looking at various options which have synergies with our brand. Our association with Deccan Chargers was the best fit and hence we entered into an agreement with them for the next three years.”
While refusing to give the specific value of the deal, Abbas said the multi-million dollar deal will allow the airline to connect with its consumers across India.
"Emirates has made a multi-million dollar commitment to the Deccan Chargers over the next three years starting March 2012. This three-year sponsorship commitment will allow Emirates to come closer to our customer base in one of the most important regions on our network, and share our cricketing passion with our customers."
Abbas also asserted that sports is an important advertising vehicle for the company to raise brand awareness and build a close relationship with consumers.
The Deccan Chargers, starting their title challenge against the Chennai Super Kings in Vizag, will feature a host of household names, including Sri Lanka’s Kumar Sangakkara, who will captain the side, South African stars JP Duminy and Dale Steyn, as well as Indian wicket Keeper Batsman Parthiv Patel.
“We are proud to have a leading global brand like Emirates as our Team Sponsor for the next three seasons of the IPL. We are confident this association with Emirates will be fruitful. With an exciting new squad and sponsor, we look forward to the tournament and repeating our winning performance in DLF IPL 2012,” said Deccan Chargers co-owner Gayatri Reddy.
Additionally, McDowell‘s No 1 is Fan Friendzy sponsor while other partners include Kingfisher Premium as Good Times partner, Puma as apparel sponsor, Xenoh as deodrant partner, Muffins Innovations as tablet pc partner, Apollo Hospitals as medical partner, and Oakley as eyewear partner.
The media partners include Deccan Chronicle as print media partner, TV5 News as electronic media partner, Ad Age as outdoor partner and Big FM as radio partner.
