Castrol becomes 'Official Performance Partner' of ICC

The International Cricket Council (ICC) and Castrol have announced an agreement that makes Castrol the official performance partner of ICC with a presence at all ICC cricket events for the next five years. The agreement awards Castrol a worldwide rights package from 2010 until 2015 and will include the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011, which will take place in Bangladesh, India and Sri Lanka, as well as all other ICC tournaments up to and including the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015.
 Besides cricket, Castrol’s current portfolio of sponsorships also includes the recently concluded 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa, the UEFA EURO 2012 and the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil.

ICC chief executive Haroon Lorgat said, “This is fantastic news for our great sport. For us to attract a commercial partner of Castrol’s calibre is another indication of the excellent reputation and healthy state of international cricket. It reconfirms how top brands want to be associated with cricket and its great spirit. Even in these challenging times cricket’s popularity among spectators, broadcasters and sponsors is as strong as ever."

“As we prepare for what will be a great celebration of the game at our flagship event next year, we are fortunate to have a group of top-class partners whose commitment to the game is unquestioned. Without that commitment we would not be in a position to help our 105 Members grow the game as they do around the world,” he added. 

Commenting on the sponsorship, Castrol’s regional vice president, Asia & Pacific region Naveen Kshatriya, said, “Cricket is a sport that is passionately followed across many parts of the world. While no other game touches the hearts and minds in the Asian sub-continent as cricket does, the game is also very popular in many other important Castrol markets like Australasia, South Africa and the UK. We are indeed delighted to partner with the ICC as its ‘performance partner’. Castrol products and services are all about delivering high performance and this association will further strengthen the relationship which we enjoy with all our customers and consumers. We intend leveraging this association to help bring into our fold millions of new consumers in the coming years.”

One of the ways in which the tie-up will be seen is the Castrol Performance Index, that will provide real-time ananlysis on which team is leading and which players are the top performers at that point in the game.  

In a conversation with Campaign India, AS Ramchander, marketing director, Asia & Pacific region, said, "We hope to make this association with cricket benefit our brand. One way is the Castrol Performance Index through which the brand will be associated with performance in a much stronger fashion. The second way to reach out to consumers is at the events themselves by providing an environment that is very conducive to enjoying the game. The third will be to build our product brands on the back of cricket properties - when we did the football partnership globally, we were the official partners of FIFA, and at the same time, for our Edge brand, we had Cristiano Ronaldo as our global ambassador. Similarly, we hope to do something like that here."