For a company that started its innings in India over 70 years ago, and in FY23 scored an annual consolidated revenue of Rs 11,263 crore – a 21% growth from FY22 – CEAT is hardly an unrecognisable brand. It is well-settled à la a classical test match innings from Rahul Dravid.
This cricket allegory is apt seeing the tyre company’s passion for cricket. “10 years from now, people should associate only CEAT with cricket,” states MD and CEO Arnab Banerjee.
Tracing the origins of CEAT’s love for cricket is to go down many a rabbit hole, but the more recent and popular journey is to the year 1995 that launched the CEAT Cricket Ratings, the first-ever rating to recognise and reward the best performers on an annual basis.
Fans, for decades, came to a debate armed with facts (read ratings) to prove their favourite cricketer as the better over the other’s pick.
Today (21 August 2023), CEAT is hosting the 25th anniversary of the annual event that not only celebrates the best of players, but the company also rewards former cricketers for their services to the game. The rankings were briefly halted in 2019 because of the Coronavirus pandemic, are have recently returned to life.
However, they come to life at a time when social media use is at extreme levels; people can whip up facts or photographs or videos anytime they want putting the relevancy of such ratings into question.
Banerjee disagrees with the Ratings being only about data and says that everyone (cricketers, former cricketers, and fans) looks forward to the annual event in Mumbai. “It’s about extending the brand’s association with cricket towards our target customers.”
He also nods to former cricketer Sunil Gavaskar’s continued association with the property from day one as a sign of credibility.
Another challenge for the CEAT Cricket Ratings is that rival MRF Tyres endorses the official International Cricket Council (ICC) cricket rankings. Banerjee, however, remains unconcerned. “The ICC rating has been around for quite some time, but it’s just a rating, and there’s no amplification or correlation with that.”
Fans from the 90s and early-to-mid 2000s might adoringly remember the CEAT Cricket Ratings, but cricket fans of the last 10-15 years will recall the tyre brand as the official sponsor of the Indian Premier League’s (IPL) ‘Strategic Timeout’.
Then there is the hard-to-miss blue of the brand’s sticker on the bats of India’s leading cricketers like Rohit Sharma, Harmanpreet Kaur, Shreyas Iyer, and Shubman Gill. CEAT has also invested in cricket gear that it supplies to its endorsers.
“We scan these players regularly… and we look at consistency. It is very important to do the right pick because they are long-term associations. We have not associated with any player for less than two or three years,” states Banerjee when asked about how the company chooses a cricketer.
The company looks at a player’s consistent performance not only during the IPL, it has its eyes on tournaments like the Cooch Behar Trophy, and the Ranji Trophy.
“We are very data-driven, if one looks at different formats, one generally gets it right.”
However, is a player’s performance the only deciding factor? What about their off-the-pitch personality? “Off the field personality can be a detractor,” quips Banerjee and states, “first and foremost is the performance.”
And while the company keeps an eye out for consistent performance, MD and CEO Banerjee is clear the company will never have too many players on its roster. “We want to focus on quality. There could be a churn once in a while, but four will never become eight or nine, it may become three to five.”
CEAT’s relationship with cricket has matured over the years from the Ratings to in-stadia presence to bat stickers, but recently, it took a surprising turn in the form of branded content.
The tyre company in June 2023 announced former Australian cricketer as a brand ambassador and a four-episode show ‘CEAT Timeout’ where he is in conversation with Gavaskar.
