A new ball game: Infosys has got tennis champions as its brand ambassadors

What does that say about the course it wants to take?

Iga Swiatek of Poland, 22, is in the early bloom of a tennis career that already has four Grand Slam singles titles and promises many more. Rafael Nadal of Spain is 37, and has won 22 Grand Slam singles titles, the second most in history for men. But it will be a feat if Nadal, sidelined for most of this year with a hip injury, adds to that impressive list.

In the space of 24 hours last week, the two ends of the career spectrum were united under the aegis of Infosys, India’s second-largest inform­ation technology (IT) company, which announced the two tennis aces as its brand ambassadors.

There is a theme common to the two appointments: artificial intelligence (AI). But we will come to that in a bit. First, the significance.
 

This is the first time an Indian IT services player is getting an individual as its brand ambassador. Even if you look at the industry around the world, it is the first time in 14 years that a global IT services player is appointing a brand ambassador. The last to do so was Accenture, which ended its contract with Tiger Woods in 2009 after the golf legend confessed to — putting it discreetly — acts of personal misdemeanour.
 

It is a bigger surprise that the one to go against the flow is Infosys, which has had its founders — names that include N R Narayana Murthy and Nandan Nilekani, who have become public personalities — carry the torch for the company, its values, and its positioning as a great Indian entrepreneurial story that democratised wealth creation.
 

Sumit Virmani, global marketing officer, Infosys, says it was a logical extension of the company’s branding efforts to have the two tennis champions as its brand ambassadors.
 

Keen observers of the game would have seen the Infosys logo during tennis matches. It has been the technology partner of the Association of Tennis Professionals, the body that runs the elite level of the men’s game, since 2015. (Women’s Tennis Association is the women’s body.) “We believe they are a fantastic ambassador to the Infosys promise of ‘navigate your next’ because we have all seen them live this for years,” said Virmani.
 

What is that next phase about?
 

While announcing Nadal as its global brand ambassador, Infosys said he embodied what it took individuals or business leaders to evolve and continually navigate their next. Swiatek will promote Infosys digital innovation and be an inspiration for women.

The company’s brand statement says, “Navigate the next”, and the association is a clear signalling of the shift within the company.
 

First, Infosys is navigating its own “next”. The last of its founders involved in the company, Nilekani, is now the non-executive chairman. He has stated that he will be around till the company needs him and eventually leave.
 

Secondly, with a shift in the technology landscape and the astonishingly rapid em­ergence of AI, the company has an­n­ounced its next phase of growth will be as an AI-first company.
 

Using sports for brand promotion is not unheard of in the Indian IT industry. Tata Consultancy Services, the largest of them, has used marathon as a sport to promote its brand. Tech Mahindra has used chess.
 

But Infosys has taken the game several levels ahead by using faces of players, not just the sport in general. That requires specific and focused association that must also tie in with the AI-first strategy.
 

So, Infosys is working with Nadal’s coaching team to develop a personalised AI-powered match analysis tool. This will be available in real time to Nadal’s coaching team to simultaneously track insights from his live matches, when he is back on the tour, along with historical data from his earlier matches.
 

For Swiatek, Infosys will build an advanced data analytics and video dashboard by leveraging AI to amplify her training and help rapidly evolve her strengths and match strategy through continuous learning.
 

But, the question remains, why should a company need recognisable faces if it does not sell directly to you and me?

“It is true that IT companies in India are not consumer-facing, but that does not mean they don’t have to market themselves,” says Samit Sinha, founder and managing partner, Alchemist Brand Consulting. “Their target is not the consumer, but the pool of talent that every IT company wants to attract.”
 

With salaries, perks, job description, etc, being largely similar, the way a business-to-business (B2B) company can differentiate itself is with imagery or through intangible attributes and benefits, says Sinha.
 

What is more, IT is no longer purely B2B, with AI making it sort of “consumerish”, especially with the use of generative AI that

is spreading like wildfire.
 

“We want to make sure that AI becomes a natural part of working for everyone. It is a way to improve productivity or do more things. AI today is central to the way clients are thinking, and this is both a consumer and enterprise trend,” Salil Parekh, the chief executive officer of Infosys, told Business Standard in an interview earlier this month.
 

But, why Nadal, who is at the fag end of his fabled career?
 

Sandeep Goyal, managing director, Rediffu­sion, says the Spaniard will continue to symbol­ise excellence and extraordinary performance. “Nadal’s global stature, I am sure, will be levera­ged at B2B events and in the overall corporate communication of the company,” he says.
 

A case in point is Roger Federer, Nadal’s great rival, who continues to be relevant as a brand ambassador even after his retirement from com­petitive tennis and is now a highly visible face of Swiss tourism. According to Forbes magazine, Federer, 42, still makes $95 million a year.