Percept Talent Management to tap into CommonWealth Games winners

Percept Talent Management to tap into CommonWealth Games winners

Percept

MUMBAI: Percept Talent Management (PTM), the celebrity management division of Percept, is looking to cash in on the increase in brand value of athletes who have won medals at the recently concluded Commonwealth Games (CWG).

PTM CEO Rajnish Sahay says that he is talking to 16 medal winners in the CWG across different disciplines to represent them for among other things endorsements. One of them is Saina Nehwal who is said to command Rs 10 million an endorsement. “We already represent Sushil Kumar, Vijender Singh, Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponappa. We will sign up deals for Kumar for a variety of products.”

Kumar recently did a deal with the National Egg Co-ordination Committee.

Deals between PTM and the athletes will be for three to five years. "Health, sports, fitness and lifestyle brands will be the ones most interested in associating with these athletes. Our job is to manage PR, appearances, events that sportspeople that we represent feature in. We will also look after their digital rights," says Sahay.

In terms of working with Indian sports federations to create more visibility for sports, Sahay says that they are talking to the Indian wrestling federation. The aim will be to have a grassroots programme as well as entertainment sports events featuring Indian and international stars. Percept will look at badminton and shooting.

The challenge for any of the medal winners of the Commonwealth Games will be to maintain visibility across the year. "It cannot be that after the Asian Games the athlete disappears from the scene. They have to perform at an international level. They have to be visible in the media regularly. If it is just a one off then the sponsor who has done a one year deal might not get the desired value," an analyst says.

According to Sahay, the coverage of non cricket has grown especially if an Indian participant does well. "Things are changing in this respect. The push that Percept will give to different sports will also help give the athletes visibility. There are also international events that take place regularly," Sahay says.