India on Track Founder Vivek Sethia believes brands should form a partnership with sports teams instead of 'just plastering their logo'

India on Track Founder and CEO Vivek Sethia caught up with Sportskeeda recently and discussed the changes that the sponsorship section in Indian sports needs. He opined that the brands should expand their partnerships with the teams instead of focusing solely on advertisements.

In an exclusive live chat with Taruka Srivastava on Sportskeeda's Facebook page, Vivek Sethia spoke at length about the evolution of sports sponsorship. He felt that most of the brands in India have a narrow approach towards sports sponsorship.

Lots of organizations and brands are looking at sports as media assets: Vivek Sethia on sponsorship in sports

Vivek Sethia believed that financial backers in sports should not only care about the size of their logo but also build deeper relationships with the sporting entity.

"Lots of organizations or brands are looking at these assets as media assets and not looking at these assets as activation assets. So, unfortunately, in 80% of the conversations with brands that we talk to, they ask how big their logo is going to be on the shirt," Vivek Sethia said.

The CEO of India on Track agreed that the advertisement section should be the sponsorship deal's focal point. However, Vivek Sethia stated that advertising and marketing should not be the only objective,

"It is an absolutely fine question, but that should not be the only question or should not be one of the key questions only. So, thinking from the mindset of media and comparing a sports sponsorship to a pure advertisement or a pure print ad and looking at those metrics is where I think we are still stuck in lots of cases."

"And, we are not able to really exploit what a good partnership can look like. We still look at it as sponsorship and not a partnership. When there is a sponsorship, it basically means I am plastering my logo on my shirt or whenever on the LED or on the pitch, and you are going to get visibility for the brand." Vivek Sethia continued.

The India on Track Founder then used the example of Apollo Tyres' partnership with Manchester United, Chennaiyan FC, and ISL and hailed the brand for cultivating a deeper and more involved relationship with the sports organizations. He concluded by revealing that a majority of the Indian sports sponsorship market was stuck in a media mindset.