Do you remember watching a curly-haired short kid on live television with a ‘Power’ bat facing the mighty Pakistan pace trio of Imran Khan, Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis and backed by legendary leg-spinner Abdul Qadir?

Perhaps no.

Back in the winters of 1989, the broadcaster, Doordarshan, had opted to not telecast two matches in India as they covered the then ongoing Lok Sabha elections.

Thereafter, not only Indians but fans from other nations rued if they missed out on a chance to watch Sachin Tendulkar in action. They just couldn’t miss watching the master blaster hit the straight drives, the stepping out from the crease to hit a sixer and raise a desert storm in Sharjah or even his quirky bowling that often won matches for India.

For more than two decades since 1989, the 16-year boy became the country’s most-loved idol, or even a quasi-mythic God of the game if cricket is to be considered as a religion in today’s most populous country.

The man turns 50 today, but the number looks miniscule in front of the runs he scored and for the 100 centuries-feat he achieved as the only cricketer to do so till now in international cricket.

Sachin Tendulkar, jersey number 10, over the years glued citizens to their televisions. Sachin on TV meant empty roads and clusters of people only in front of a TV shop, or loud voices of cheering or disappointments coming out of homes. His fandom, kids’ dreams of becoming another Sachin Tendulkar and the brand value still seem to be a giant sapling awaiting further growth. The unseen halo of Tendulkar is perhaps the brightest, emitting opportunities for brands that got associated with him. He is said to be a brand of a rare type of longevity, which marketed the dreams, hope and aspirations of generations.

It is almost a decade since his retirement from international cricket, but Sachin as a brand remains durable even today when even youngsters of late 2000s have either retired from the game or are about to hang their boots.

“While new icons like Kohli and Dhoni have unparalleled fandom, Sachin continues to be a unique part of people’s psyche as the first hero they revered, at a time when India was just beginning its rise on the world stage. This makes him a brand which needs only a tiny stimulus or context to be activated,” Sanjog Gupta, Head of Sports – Disney Star.

Fandom & dreams of a billion

Sachin mirrored dreams of a billion nation, cries, laughter, anxiety, relief and every other emotion.

“There’s an entire generation of cricket fans which grew up watching Sachin on TV. Feelings of pride and diverse emotions attached with those moments are imprinted on India’s collective memory, which come rushing back each time stories of Sachin are told and re-told,” said Disney Star’s Sanjog Gupta.

Sudhir Kumar Chaudhary, an Indian teacher and seen to be one of the biggest fans of the legend visits every match the Indian cricket team plays since 2003. Coming from Muzaffarpur, Bihar, Chaudhary had cycled for 21 days to Mumbai to watch Sachin play in a match. He paints his body with the tricolor of the Indian flag and embeds Tendulkar 10 on his back.

“As a 90s kid, no one has come close to being a godly figure in my life like Sachin Tendulkar. He brought out all emotions in me, be it joy or tears in my eyes,” said Harendra Ray, a US stock market research analyst. “Watching him on television whenever, wherever on TV or at the stadium are the best memories of my childhood and teenage years. My television used to be fixed on sports channels, watching him live or even the same highlights over and over.”

After India won the ICC World Cup for a second time in 2011, Sachin’s teammates carried him on their shoulders. The man had carried the responsibility of winning cricket matches for India for years, and this was time India carried him on their shoulders.

Rare Diamond: Brand Value

Sachin also emerged to be one of the greatest sports stars for brands. He first featured in an advertisement for Band-aid and was the brand ambassador for the first time for Boost. He told Indian kids his secret – Boost is the secret of my energy.

What Sachin said in his often-mimicked voice was biblical to Indians. When police failed to control a crowd at Eden Gardens, Kolkata, even after a ‘lathi-charge’ as India was precariously close to losing in a match against Pakistan, it took a Sachin Tendulkar to walk around the ground and calm down the spectators.

“Sachin Tendulkar is still considered an icon and a beloved figure in India, so employing him in marketing campaigns can certainly be a great strategy for marketers who are targeting the Indian market, particularly if the product or service being promoted has a connection to sports or fitness,” said Abhinav Pramod Pyati, Co-Founder and Business Head at Cutting Fillum Entertainment, a video and advertisement solutions consultancy agency.

Featuring Sachin in ads can help create a positive association between the product or service and the values that he represents, such as determination, excellence, and hard work. This can promote brand loyalty by enabling the brand to emotionally connect with people, Pyati added.

Sachin’s brand longevity is such that Star Sports is celebrating his 50th birthday today with special programming around the legend’s illustrious career. This is even at a time when the nation is gripped with the fever of the cash-rich Indian Premier League.

“Sachin is a legend much like Amitabh Bachchan from Bollywood. He has always been extracted in terms of endorsements. Even today he is featured in many endorsements because of what he is. There are people who may charge more, but he is irreplaceable,” said Karan Taurani, senior vice president and media analyst at Elara Capital.

India & Sachin’s Breakout

India’s economic liberalisation, initiated in 1991, unshackled the growth story for the Asian nation that has now become the world’s fifth-largest economy. The breakout for India starting from multinational corporations setting up offices here to reforms in banks, taxes and opportunities for high-paid jobs coincided with the rise of Tendulkar.

The man who turned an adult then was also at the center of the advertising revolution and in came the colour TVs.

Sachin started promoting health drinks, soft drinks, car tyres, colour TVs, financial services corporations, foreign sports shoes and even a private telecom network provider. India was seeing a revolution in most of these sectors and Sachin was the face for most.

What was also gaining power in the 90s was the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). Cricket administrator Jagmohan Dalmiya and civil servant I.S. Bindra in 1993 won a case against broadcaster Doordarshan to sell the TV rights of cricket matches in the country. In today’s times, the rights are sold for thousands of crores of rupees.

Dalmiya also ensured the subcontinent nations the hosting rights of the icnonic 1996 World Cup tournament, forcing the cricketing nations to take note of how BCCI can arrange the cricket’s biggest tournament.

Sachin scored most runs in the 1996 World Cup. He scored 527 runs from just seven matches, coming from a ‘stickerless’ bat, or a bat without a brand sticker. Such is the brand influence of the man, that many aspiring cricketers or even gully players removed stickers from their bats.

He had removed the sticker to not be distracted while piling runs in the tournament.

After the tournament, Sachin had signed a bat sponsorship contract with MRF.

The 1996 World Cup TV rights was sold to WorldTel, headed by Mark Mascarenhas – who went on to become Tendulkar’s agent. In 1995, 22-year old Tendulkar signed a five-year contract orchestrated by Mascarenhas. Media reports put the value of the deal in a wide range of Rs 30 crores to Rs 50 crores, the biggest agent deal in cricket’s history back then. However, what this did is it opened sports marketing avenues for other cricketers.

Over 20 years after Sachin signed a bat logo sponsorship deal with MRF, the tyre maker signed a deal with Virat Kohli for over Rs 100 crore for eight years.

Sachin Aaya Re! (Sachin has come) was a jingle used by a beverage brand. For real, Sachin as brands’ golden child, and liberalisation, ad revolution and BCCI, had arrived.

Trusting Sachin forever

Sachin has collaborated with brands including Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Visa and Adidas among several others. However, he never had to collaborate with items seen to be sin goods or unethical. Sachin is personally far from endorsing liquor brands, tobacco or gambling.

He was also untouched by the match fixing scandal of late 90s and early 2000s, making him someone on whom Indians can trust and further building his spotless brand image.

“Having remained far away from controversies throughout and beyond his career, Sachin has a great deal of credibility attached to his name. For this reason, any brand looking to bolster its credibility, trust, and customer acquisition can rely on him as an influencer,” said Kunal Kishore, founder and director, Value 360 Communications.

Sachin can be the perfect fit for brands across categories, from financial platforms to healthcare brands and automobile companies. As a tech-savvy individual, he can also represent technology brands, Kishore said. Since his mass appeal is unsurpassed, he could also be the ideal choice for any FMCG brand looking to target a large audience, he added.

However, it’s worth noting that employing Sachin Tendulkar or any other celebrity for marketing campaigns can be expensive, so it’s important for marketers to consider the affordability of this strategy and whether the return on investment justifies the cost, Cutting Fillum’s Pyati said.

Additionally, it’s important to ensure that the celebrity’s values and image align with the brand’s values and messaging to avoid any potential backlash or negative publicity. The world remembers Sachin’s famous ad “Boost is the secret of our energy”, but it can be said that “Sachin is still the secret of effective brand strategy”, he said.

India can’t bid adieu

“All my friends. Settle down, let me talk, I will get more and more emotional.”

This is how Sachin started his farewell speech in 2012, where he didn’t ask anyone to ‘lend him their ears’. The man’s international career spanning 24 years, or spanning the life of a child born to probably starting with his job, came to a halt.

However, his brand value didn’t take a plunge.

Valued at Rs 1,000 crore, Sachin had become the richest Indian cricketer in the early 2010s. According to various media reports, his net worth is around Rs 1,250 crores now. He is still the blue-eyed boy for the country and had reportedly earned Rs 50 crores in 2022 from investments and endorsements.

“It’s getting a little bit difficult to talk but I will manage,” Sachin said as he continued his farewell speech trying to control his emotions.

However, from the nook and corners of this nation and even outside the borders, many couldn’t control their emotions. The spectators were teary-eyed, voices choking.

But, the voices do not choke any more, when, even after over a decade of his retirement, crowds in large numbers in any stadium still chant — Sachiiiin – Sachin!

The brand Sachin can’t get old.