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To join the bandwagon latest is India’s largest cement manufacturer, ACC Limited. The cement giant has announced their association with Kings XI Punjab, one of the eight teams participating for the championship and would be partnering with the team as their official team partner showcasing the brand on the arm of the apparel of the team members.

Clearly, the strategy would help the company reach out and connect with masses as there is no other sport in India apart from cricket that has a huge fan following and appeal. With a strong base and presence in Punjab and North India, the association would also help the company help its customers and channel partners getting exposure with the Kings XI team through a series of interactive innovations.

As part of their marketing strategy, ACC Limited would be running a number of promotional activities during the 2010 Indian Premier League season. Along with featuring the brand on Perimeter boards, placards and all, the company is also planning to come up with a new ad campaign involving the team captain Yuvraj Singh along with other team members.

Moreover this is not the first time that ACC Limited has gone with a brand promotional strategy that involves cricket as the medium. Its association with cricket goes way back in the past during 50s and 70s of the era when a list of great players were a part with the group. It was among one of the first to offer full time employment to cricket players and has a history of having legendary players of the likes of – Rusy Mody, Ramakant Desai, Madhav Mantri, Bapu Nadkarni, Dilip Sardesai, Polly Umrigar, Sunil Gavaskar and Karsan Ghavri, working on board with them as employees.

As the association with Kings XI Punjab also marks the cement giant’s re-union with cricket after quiet a long break, the excitement was also evident with what Sumit Banerjee, CEO-MD, ACC Limited said about the venture, “I feel happy that ACC is associated with cricket once again after long years particularly because it is a company that has an unmatched history of supporting cricket decades before the game became so commercially successful.”

Speaking on the same lines, Jayanta Datta Gupta, Chief Commercial Officer (CMO), ACC Limited said, “Once upon a time, we used to be employers of India’s legendary cricket names like – Polly Umrigar, Madhav Mantri, Bapu Nadkarni, Dilip Sardesai and Sunil Gavaskar to name just a few. Now it feels good to be associated with contemporary names like – Yuvraj Singh, Kumar Sangakara, Brett Lee and Irfan Pathan through our association this year with Kings XI Punjab.”

Anil Srivatsa, CEO, Kings XI Punjab, also had a similar view point to share on the association, “Kings XI Punjab is thrilled to announce its partnership with India’ foremost cement and concrete manufacturer – ACC Cement. We are happy to partner with ACC Cement as both of us have synergies of being passionate, innovative and trendsetter in our respective businesses. We look forward to cement our relationship with the company and our fans with this association for years.”

However, ACC has just not been limited with cricket when it comes to its association with sports. In fact, it might come across as a surprise to few that the company’s townships and factories have been actively involved in promoting district level sports including sport meets for rural and tribal people.

Also to add on, the company had lent support to Indian National Boxing Team in 2004 as an initiative to encourage certain genres of sports. With legendary players of 60s – Premjit Lall and Naresh Kumar being full time employees with the company, Tennis has also been one of the sports that it has been associated with.