PMG forays into sports celebrity management; signs Virender Sehwag

Madison World's sports marketing company, Professional Management Group, has signed cricketer Virender Sehwag for a period of five years.

With the signing, PMG, which is chaired by cricketer Sunil Gavaskar and co-owned by Sam Balsara, chairperson, Madison World and Noomi Mehta, chairperson and managing director, Selvel One Group has announced its foray into sports celebrity management.

On the development, Balsara, who is also the director of PMG, says, "Sehwag is the epitome of aggression, confidence and resilience, has had a remarkable career and the best is yet to come. These attributes have helped him find his rightful place among all time cricketing greats."

"These are the very same qualities which today's brands want to project to find respect and admiration among their target audience and therefore, I am confident that there will be many brands which will want to associate with him and benefit from this association."

With the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 coming up soon in the sub-continent, the collaboration is seen as a significant one in the emerging sports marketing discipline in the country and PMG sees the association offering brands newer opportunities to maximise their impact on consumers.

"Our aim will be to enhance this appeal among existing fans, create new fans across geographies and provide brands an effective medium to reach out to their prospective customers," says Melroy D'Souza, chief operating officer, PMG.

On the reason behind getting into celebrity management, D'Souza tells afaqs! that after having been around for 25 years, PMG sees it to be the best time to get into this discipline. According to him, the foray makes sense as he sees many young and upcoming sports personalities not being professionally managed.

D'Souza adds that PMG will look at more sportspersons going forward - and not necessarily from the cricket arena.

"Since its inception, PMG has always done remarkable things for Indian sports and sportspersons. I am also elated that I will work with my childhood hero, Sunil Gavaskar. I am sure we are going to have a great partnership working together," says Sehwag in an official communiqué.

Sehwag currently endorses major brands such as Adidas, Hero Honda, Boost and Zandu Balm, among others.

An established player in the sports marketing industry in India, PMG specialises in syndicated articles, awards, ratings, consulting and sponsorship of sporting events and properties. Entering sports celebrity management, the company is looking at exploiting an industry that it sees as having high growth potential in the coming years.

While the monetary details of the deal could not be ascertained, PMG says that it puts the cricketer in the league of the richest ones in the world.