ITC Foods announced today that it has roped in cricketer Sachin Tendulkar to co-create a line of energy foods. Named Sachin's Fit Kit, the range is likely to include energy bars, fortified cookies or even vitamin enriched pasta. | |
| "The use of celebrities has been largely limited to advertising and promotional initiatives. This partnership makes a new beginning for a celebrity to actively participate and contribute in product development, an area that has been until now an exclusive preserve of in-house experts," said Ravi Naware, divisional chief executive - foods division, ITC. |
| |
| As a co-creator, Tendulkar will be an integral part of the product development process and will provide inputs on creating healthy products. Naware said Tendulkar's vast experience in the cricket field had also helped him accumulate enough knowledge on special nutrition which enhance fitness. |
| |
| Apart from providing intellectual inputs, the sports star will also double up as a trial user who reports on the efficacy of the ITC products. |
| |
| "During training sessions, Tendulkar can be on a Fit Kit diet and report on the product performance," said ITC executives. |
| |
| The range will be launched in a couple of months. The timing of the launch is important as it will take advantage of the pre-World Cup hype. The cricket World Cup will begin in March 2007. The contract between ITC and Tendulkar's management firm Iconix will extend beyond three years, said Naware. But he refused to elaborate on the value of the deal or the exact duration of the contract. |
| |
| According to analysts, the move makes sense for ITC because health foods as a category has not witnessed a huge success in the mass market. Naware said that's probably because in the earlier cases, the consumer was not ready. |
| |
| A Mumbai-based analyst said that the move to make Tendulkar, not just the brand ambassador, but also the brand will give a new twist to |
| |
| the nutritional foods business. "It makes a dull category interesting," said an analyst. |
| |
| Tendulkar added that there is a definite market for energy bars as consumers are stretched for time and on many occasions customers miss breakfast because of lack of time. |
| |
| "This range can cater to that segment," he said. But tendulkar is not new to the foods category. |
| |
|
| |
