Neeraj Kanwar, Vice Chairman and MD, Apollo Tyres Ltd, on the brand’s heavy investment in sports, especially cricket, where it has signed a ₹580 crore deal with BCCI, and how it is paying off. “Since we strengthened our association with cricket, we have seen good growth coming from rural markets,” he says.
Around 12 years ago, Apollo Tyres began a partnership with Manchester United and leveraged it through a ‘Go the Distance’ campaign. How is that partnership going?
The Manchester United partnership is part of Apollo Tyres’ differentiated strategies our two brands. Our association with Manchester United continues with the Vredestein brand, strengthening Vredestein’s positioning as a global premium brand and building awareness and consumer connect in key international markets. Manchester United’s global reach provides a powerful platform to achieve this.For the Apollo Tyres brand, our focus is on platforms with strong relevance in India, particularly cricket. Our associations with the BCCI and Sachin Tendulkar help us build brand affinity and connect with consumers in our core market.
The reason for the Manchester United partnership back then was that the company was going global. How is the global journey panning out? You later integrated Sachin Tendulkar into the Go the Distance campaign. What was the idea?
