TCS to spend $320 million on marathons – Times of India

MUMBAI: Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) will spend as much as $320 million on marathon sponsorships for the next eight years. This would make it one of the top spenders on the running event.
The Indian company’s association with the long-distance race format started in 2008 as a junior sponsor of the Mumbai marathon. Since then, it has emerged as the title holder of half a dozen running events held in New York, London and Sweden.
On Wednesday, TCS said it has retained the title rights for the New York marathon until 2029. It has been sponsoring the New York race, the world’s largest, since 2014. Significantly, the US is TCS’s biggest market, contributing more than 50% to its $22-billion revenues. “Marathon is an example of human potential and is closely related to TCS’s positioning,” said chief marketing officer Rajashree R.

A month ago, it won the headline slot for the London marathon, the world’s fourth biggest. The marathon association helps the Indian company in boosting its image and educating participants and spectators about its tech offerings. It is the technology partner of all the events it sponsors. Many of its customers, employees and other stakeholders take part in these marathons, entailing “community participation in the places we operate”.
Besides marathon, the company has sponsorship deals in motor racing, ice hockey and golf. “80% of our sport sponsorship budget is allocated towards marathons and the rest for other competitive games,” said Rajashree. It will spend up to $40 million per year on running race sponsorships from 2022 to 2029. The company is considering adding more marathons to its sponsorship list, especially those held in North America and Europe. Berlin and Chicago are two large marathons where it is not the title sponsor.
TCS, a part of India’s largest conglomerate Tata Group, is the second-most valued company (at nearly Rs 12 lakh crore) after Reliance Industries (RIL). Interestingly, RIL is the biggest Indian sponsor of sporting events though Tata’s connection with competitive games dates back to 1920.
Story has it that when Sir Dorabji Tata, the son of founder Jamsetji Tata and the second chairman of the Tata Group, noticed peasant athletes running barefoot but were clocking creditable timings close to international standards, he decided to finance the first Indian team to the Antwerp Olympics in 1920.
Over the decades, the group has been supporting hockey, football, archery, tennis and cricket. Another homegrown group that has emerged as a big sponsor of sporting events is JSW, owned by industrialist Sajjan Jindal.