After the legendary Amitabh Bachchan's services for BPL, it is now the turn of Sachin Tendulkar to be the brand ambassador for the newly-minted Sanyo-BPL joint venture.
According to industry grapevine, the deal has been inked and is expected to announced soon. No comments were forthcoming from the company. The financial details were not available.
Sachin's five-year Rs 100 crore (Rs 1 billion) contract with WorldTel came to an end in 2005. This is the first new deal Sachin has entered into.
Sanyo-BPL is the 50:50 joint venture between the beleaguered BPL Group, which has under its belt a Rs 1,400 crore (Rs 14 billion) debt restructuring plan, and Sanyo for colour televisions.
BPL has transferred to this JV its colour TV business, including manufacturing, sales, service, marketing and distribution infrastructure. Sanyo, on its part will bring into its cutting-edge technological know-how, the benefit of established R&D and globally-proven expertise in the consumer electronics business. Sanyo paid close to Rs 350 crore for the JV.
The company plans to implement a dual brand strategy, and will enter the market with both BPL and Sanyo branded products.
While the Sanyo brand will cater to the high-end technology connoisseur, the BPL brand will address the mass colour TV segment, which had been BPL's forte for years.