Chennai: A record 24 sponsors and partners have associated themselves with the much-awaited Aircel Chennai Open 2016, which will mark the 20th year of South Asia's only and India's premier ATP tournament in the tennis capital of India.
The bevy of sponsors and partners include new associations and existing partnerships led by Aircel, the title sponsor for the tournament, and supported by a consortium of sponsors in the Platinum, Gold and Silver category, headed by the Government of Tamil Nadu. While the existing Platinum sponsors including the Indian Bank, United India Insurance, and Murugappa Group continue to show strong support, the event has attracted top-notch brands in Hero Cycles as the Gold Sponsor, and the Shriram Group as the Silver Sponsor in new signings for the 20th year of the event in Chennai.
International brands such as FedEx and Emirates, who are ATP Partners, are utilizing their association with Aircel Chennai Open to leverage the value they derive from the tournament to further establish their brand with a unique audience here in India.
The new partnerships for 2016 include reputed brands such as Microsoft Lumia, Omnigel, Renault and Ola Cabs, apart from Hero Cycles and Shriram Group. These brands have been attracted by the novelty of the event, strong player line-up and exciting activations, including creating content for social and digital media which has become a pivotal aspect of the sponsorship mix.
Aircel Chennai Open also has brands such as Performax, The Hindu Group, Wilson, Hyatt Regency and Billroth Hospitals who continue to derive strong value from their ongoing partnerships.
One of the key aspects that make the event lucrative to sponsors is the strong marketing and promotional support, and the live coverage on Star Sports 4, Star Sports HD4, live streaming on Hotstar and starsports.com, all of which combined cater to the millennial generation. In addition, the print and radio promotions on the Hindu, Sportstar, Chennai Live and Radio City add immense value to each of the event’s sponsors and partners.
Ashu Jindal, COO, IMG Reliance, said: "We are extremely pleased and proud to announce the huge line-up of our valuable sponsors and partners for the Aircel Chennai Open 2016, which is a historic event as it marks the 20th year of the tournament in this city. We are overwhelmed with the response from the wide range of brands from multiple industry verticals that have been attracted to the tournament. We welcome these companies on board for this special occasion.
The continuing participation of our sponsors, and the addition of new ones highlight the value that this long-running event delivers to its stakeholders. We look for to a grand edition of the Aircel Chennai Open in the New Year."
ACO 2016 will witness an exceptional line-up of top talent at the US$480,000 prize money tournament. Cutting off at 98, the impressive player field for the region's most exciting and hard-fought tennis tournament will see World No. 4 Stan Wawrinka vying for a hat-trick of titles, Chennai-debutant World No. 12 Kevin Anderson, World No. 19, ATP's Comeback Player of the Year 2015 Benoit Paire, World No. 25 Roberto Bautista-Agut, along with Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, Gilles Muller, Vasek Pospisil, Borna Coric and Aljaz Bedene representing nine players from amongst the top 50 in the world.
