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Tag: Rohit Sharma

  • Ace cricketers unveil the brand’s new identity and latest collection of luggage and backpacks

    Aristocrat appoints Rohit Sharma & R Ashwin as brand ambassadors

    By A Correspondent

     

    Luggage-maker Aristocrat has appointed Indian cricketers Rohit Sharma and R Ashwin as its ambassadors to endorse the brand’s new identity and stylish product line. Repositioning the brand with a fresh outlook, Aristocrat will now have a newlogo with a tagline that says, ‘Unpack Your Dreams’ which is aimed towards individuals who are ambitious and constantly pursue their passion.

     

    Speaking about his association with the brand, Rohit Sharma said: “I really relate to Aristocrat’s philosophy of ‘Unpack Your Dreams’. All of us dream of achieving something great in our lives but very few of us live the dream. Somewhere along the way we lose sight of our vision and pack our dreams and tuck them away. Ever since I was a young kid it was my dream to play cricket for the country. Now when I look back, I know that it wouldn’t have been possible had I not given it my all. It was only through self-discipline and practice that I managed to achieve this.”

     

    Talking about the new collection, R Ashwin said: “As a cricketer, I am always travelling, be it for practice sessions or for a series and having reliable travel gear is of utmost importance. I am really happy to be representing Aristocrat and must say I am thoroughly impressed with the new designs and the quality of the products.”

     

    Expressing her views on the partnership, Radhika Piramal, Managing Director of VIP Industries Ltd said: “We are delighted to have two powerful players from the Indian cricket team to endorse Aristocrat. R Ashwin and Rohit Sharma have passionately followed their dreams and have managed to become one of the best cricketers in the world. With ‘Unpack Your Dreams’ we wish to reach out to the younger audience who are passionate and want to urge them to pursue their dreams.”

     

    Speaking about the brand ideology, Sudip Ghose, Vice President Sales and Marketing at VIP said: “We have seen a growth in the demand for Aristocrat products over the last year and have also witnessed a surge in sales online. With the repositioning we wanted to extend our product offering with a new collection and create a fresh appeal for the brand, keeping in mind the evolving consumer and industry trends. We believe our new brand ideology and ambassadors will resonate with a younger audience who are passionate about their dreams and follow them no matter what.”

     

  • Commits to buttressing continuous global growth and mark-to-market initiatives for the Hero brand with his two decades of rich experience

    Hero Cycles appoints Rohit Sharma as Chief Communications Officer

    By A Correspondent

     

    Hero Cycles has announced another senior level executive appointment of Rohit Sharmaas Chief Communications Officer.Hiscore responsibility is leading and driving all communications for the Hero Cycles group and thereby heading and managing the Public Relations and Corporate Communications functions as well.

     

    According to Pankaj Munjal, CMD, Hero Cycles, “We extend a warm welcome to Rohit Sharma. He joins us as an integral part of our key marketing team. We value the space we occupy in the collective consciousness of the Indian people and amongst our well-wishers. Hero Cycles is fast growing into a brand which stands for quality, friendliness and health. I am sure that Rohitwill help develop our reputation capital at all levels and for multiple audience sets simultaneously. I wish Rohit Sharmaall the best in his new innings with us.”

     

    Commenting on his appointment, Rohit Sharma, CCO, Hero Cycles, said, “In my role as the CCO,my endeavour would be to create a brands which people would like to spend their time with and make a part of their everyday lives. I believe that Hero Cycles is a strong culture brand which is both timeless and age agnostic. It represents a free-spirit which and is loved both by the masses as well as the classes. As part of the kaleidoscope of the mother brand Hero, UT and Fire Fox brands hold immense potential and promise. I look forward to assisting our CMD, Pankaj Munjal in all international and domestic acquisitions as well as entrepreneurial projects which would help further expand the groups’ business and reach across the country and the globe.”

     

    Rohit Sharma,who was born in Amritsar, is an MBA from IILM and is stationed in Delhi. He possesses over two decades of enriched and diverse experience in sales and marketing and has worked with leading organisations such as Zodiac, Times of India, Lowe Lintas and Partners, and JWT. He has also been helped in building mega brands such as Xerox, ITC, McDonalds, Nestle and the Hero group.

     

  • Meet Bunty Sajdeh, the new star of the sports endorsement business

    Sports will soon be as big as Entertainment

     

    By Dyanne Coelho

     

    The state of the sports industry in India is changing, and at a fast pace, says Bunty Sajdeh, the man who manages cricketers Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan. “I’ve been working since 1998. In a span of 10 years, I saw sports grow from nothing. While sports is still no competition to entertainment, it’s definitely growing,” says Sajdeh.

     

    The Indian Premier League is a format that has definitely helped cricket, Sajdeh feels, but even apart from this, there is a lot of growth on the way that is slow and steady, but is happening. Today that growth is visible with the pro kabaddi league, the hockey league and the badminton league. “The US has nine hugely-successful sports leagues, and sport is a much bigger market than entertainment in the US – or anywhere else in the world actually. I think India is the only place where it is the other way around,” Sajdeh added. When he started his own company, Cornerstone Sport and Entertainment, he began by managing both celebrities in Bollywood as well as sportspersons. Gradually, the company made the shift to only sportspersons. “I think there is a lot more scope working with athletes from my experience,” says Sajdeh. “When you represent athletes, there is a certain aspirational aspect to it. That’s there in Bollywood as well, but here there is more of an emotional and patriotic factor.”

     

    Sajdeh feels in the next three to five years, sport will be at par with entertainment, if not supersede it. Brands are investing, leagues are coming up and the sports industry looks promising, says the man who put his faith in Virat Kohli even before he played for India. “We signed Virat before he played for India. We travelled, we evaluated, we went to domestic games, so we could get people like Virat, Rohit, Raina, and Shikhar early on in their careers.”

     

    The sports world and the world of business are also beginning to come together in a whole new way. Sportspersons are looking to invest outside of the field and are planning ahead for retirement as well. “Virat Kohli owns more than 10 percent of FC Goa. He has also invested money in the team, and he is very bullish about it,” says Sajdeh. “He is already looking at simultaneous opportunities off the field that will last beyond his playing career.”

     

    Kohli is now bigger than a cricketer, he has become a brand in himself, says Sajdeh. Following the Maggi controversy, Twitter was abuzz with talk about whether celebrities endorsing products should be responsible for the products’ quality. At Cornerstone, the team works closely with brands as well. According to Sajdeh, the controversy is unfairly skewed towards celebrities that endorse the product. “Our endorsement contracts with brands are very stringent. We have a very clear clause which indemnifies our celebrities and our athletes a 100 per cent from exactly such instances,” he says. “As a matter of fact after this whole controversy, we went back to our legal team and revisited our contracts to make sure that we were protected from all sides and we didn’t have to change a thing. So our athletes are very well-protected,” he said.

     

    Sajdeh has signed a couple of young cricketers and is constantly on the hunt for new talent across all sports. “We are looking at a portfolio of another eight to 10 athletes who will be the next Virats and the next Rohits and the next Sanias of the world,” he adds. “And it’s for us to then replicate what we’ve done with the existing lot and learn from our mistakes, and do a better job with the next generation of athletes that give us the honour of working with them.” As for Cornerstone, Sajdeh says the company will certainly go on even after his top sportspersons retire.

     

    In our fast-paced lives, even sport has moved to a fast-paced format. In cricket, the 50 overs game has gotten compressed to the 20 overs format, and has been readily accepted and followed with immense passion. Internationally as well, a majority of leagues which are multi-billion dollar properties, like the National Football League, ice-hockey, basketball, baseball,  are all multi-billion dollar events, but the duration of the games are all one-and-a-half to two hour, at best.  That’s all the time people have to dedicate to a sport they love. Sajdeh believes that sport has to keep up with changing times as well, “I think the move from 50 overs to a 20:20 game is easily understandable in our fast-paced lives,” he says. “Today if you ask any cricketer in the Indian team what they would rather play, forget the money and the fame, they would look at Test cricket. But watching a Test match means eight hours a day for five days. And when you have a series of three Test matches, nobody can devote that kind of time.”

     

    Following the huge success of IPL, other leagues like the ISL and the PKL have emerged as well. While many argue that these have sort of stolen the thunder of the IPL, Sajdeh is all praise for them. “I think this is a very good thing. I’m sure all of these will coexist and will move ahead and be profitable in their respective spaces,” he says. “In the next three to five years, I see sport coming up and matching our entertainment industry in terms of market share.”

     

    This story first appeared in dna of brands dated June 15

     

  • It is important that the co-founders have a common vision in the game. As the promoter of the business, you should clearly articulate your vision, says Rohit Sharma.

    5 things to keep in mind while starting an online venture

    By Rohit Sharma

     

    #1 “Be Frugal” should be your mantra

    It is very important to be extremely frugal. Cash is King and start-ups should keep their fixed costs as low as possible. Try multitasking. It is important to conserve cash and be completely stingy before you raise the required capital for the business. Ideally, you should have capital for next 18 months either ready or in the pipeline.

     

    #2 Team, a critical success factor

    It is all about the team – their motivation levels, dedication and perseverance to make it happen. It is important that the co-founders have a common vision in the game. One of the biggest challenges is to hire the right start-up team (excluding the founders/co-founders). The team needs to be extremely good in terms of skill-sets; one also can’t afford to hire very expensive people. As the promoter of the business, you should clearly articulate your vision so that the start team comes on board completely motivated and with a strong belief in you and the business.

     

    #3 Business Metrics: Get them right

    It is very important to get the key business metrics of your business right from day one. Have complete clarity in terms of key growth drivers, revenue drivers and cost drivers and continuously monitor track more efficiency in the business. Business plans should not be made for the VCs, but for yourself and for the growth of the business. If you have done that successfully, VCs will anyways buy in.

     

    #4 Don’t give up too soon

    It is important for the entrepreneur, especially in the digital space to be extremely nimble and flexible. Mainly because the environment is very dynamic, business models are continuously changing, new technologies/innovation keep on coming, so one should be prepared to quickly adapt to newer business models if required. You might not be doing exactly the same thing eventually that you started with. There is nothing wrong with that as long as you have created a sustainable growth model in your business.

     

    #5 There is no experience like good customer experience

    It is very important to focus on a great customer experience. It is all about the right product that the customer loves and it could be the biggest differentiator for the business. One needs to spend disproportionate time to deliver an outstanding customer experience across all the value-chain components of your business. A great product or customer experience can be your biggest marketing tool.

     

    Rohit Sharma is the Founder, Wopshop.com.