Cricket Australia (CA) has renewed and upgraded its association with Indian-specialist tyre brand BKT for Australia’s T20 competition, the Big Bash League (BBL).
The deal will see BKT become a ‘league partner’ of the BBL from the 2020-21 season, having previously been a ‘league supplier’.
The tyre brand, which specialises in off-highway tyres, particularly those used in agriculture and mining, will activate its sponsorship around the ‘BKT Golden Bat’ and ‘BKT Golden Arm’ caps, which were introduced in the 2019-20 edition of the league. The awards are given to the most prolific batsman and bowler in terms of runs and wickets, respectively, over the season.
BKT have been providing large-scale tyres to farmers and the mining sector in Australia for almost a decade, through its Australian distributor Tradefaire.
It has also expanded its presence in Europe, where it continues to increase market share with the primary goal of getting closer to European OEM (original equipment manufacturers) customers.
Earlier this week, BKT added Euroleague Basketball to its growing sponsorship portfolio in Europe, which includes a global deal with Spanish football’s LaLiga and title deals with Italian football’s Serie B, and French football’s Ligue 2.
Alistair Dobson, Cricket Australia’s head of Big Bash Leagues, said he was delighted to extend and expand the deal with BKT “after two years of excellent results for the brand and the league”.
He said: “The race for the BKT Golden Bat and BKT Golden Arm caps took on great significance in KFC BBL09 (the ninth edition of the league, held in 2019-20) and we look forward to their return this season, plus additional assets and activations with BKT’s support.”
Rajiv Poddar, joint managing director at BKT, said: “We have partnered with the BBL because it gives us the opportunity to strengthen our brand awareness in a very important market (Australia), but also because we share with the BBL, BKT’s philosophy of ‘Growing Together’.”
John Stephenson
john@cricketinvestor.co.uk
#Cricketnews #CA #BBL #BKT
