India's world championship-winning boxer, Mary Kom is endorsing only one brand

World boxing champ Mary Kom endorses just one brand

India's world championship-winning boxer, Mary Kom is endorsing only one brand

Successful, controversy-free image, popular and most importantly, now a world champ! These qualities would guarantee a sportsperson plenty of endorsements.
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But, five-time World gold medal-winning boxer MC Mary Kom endorses only one brand (Herbalife), a deal which is only a couple of months old. This is another example of warped commercialisation that India's sporting achievers have to endure in a world driven by cricket, cricket and more cricket.

"Mary Kom is a legend. It's a shame that other sports are neglected by advertisers because they concentrate 99 per cent on cricket," says Padamsee.

"She definitely has to get more endorsements. She needs a good agent, who will get the advertisers to sign her up. She should be in Khatron ke Khiladi (a celebrity reality show)," the former Lintas chief suggested.

Lacking
So what is it that Magnificent Mary lacks when it comes to attracting advertisers? "It depends on how charismatic she is; how her lifestyle is; how mainstream she is and how inspiring she is for women in India," says ad man Prahlad Kakkar.

"Cricketers get mileage because they consistently win," he adds. When Mary Kom's medal-winning consistency is brought up, Kakkar says, "then the media needs to give her more prominence. Her first four titles went almost unnoticed. It is only now (after her fifth World title) that everybody is wondering who is Mary Kom."

'Difficult'
Neerav Tomar, CEO of Infinity Optimal Solutions, the firm that manages Mary Kom's commercial affairs, reveals: "It is difficult to convince advertisers if it is not cricket or Bollywood. Their mindset is fixated.

"There needs to be freshness in their concepts. Cricket is a religion and Bollywood is the biggest source of entertainment in our country. There is a need to look beyond. Winning five successive World titles is a great achievement. However, women's boxing is not as popular as men's."

Tomar is confident of cracking some deals though. "Mary Kom is a medal prospect for the 2012 London Olympics. We are hopeful that a couple of more top brands would like to endorse her," he says.

Kakkar feels women's boxing got popular after Clint Eastwood's Million Dollar Baby movie won an Oscar in 2004.

"There was a certain amount of acceptance after the film which won at the Oscars. It may not be highly accepted in our country where men are chauvinistic, but women's boxing is relatively accepted," he says.

As Mary Kom waits for another endorsement deal, Padamsee says, "it just takes one advertiser to make a breakthrough and the rest will follow suit."