Why CEAT says consistency in cricket partnerships still delivers the strongest recall

When a brand in a functional and utility-led category builds cultural recall, the journey rarely starts with glamour. For CEAT, the tyre-maker with a three-decade-plus presence in Indian cricket, that journey has been slow, deliberate, and persistent.

In a conversation with afaqs!, Lakshmi Narayanan B, chief marketing officer of CEAT, explains why cricket has remained the brand’s most enduring asset and how its unwavering presence in the sport continues to anchor CEAT’s marketing calendar.

A functional category that demands high salience

Tyres are not a high-involvement purchase. They lie low in the consumer’s mental hierarchy, and only surface when the actual need arises. Narayanan recognises this reality and says CEAT learned early that visibility would determine survival.

“There is a certain element of functionality to the category,” he says. “Way back, it was pretty obvious for us that to win here we needed salience. In this category, it plays an extremely important role.”

This is crucial in a competitive market where CEAT’s biggest rivals include MRF Tyres, Apollo Tyres, and JK Tyres. CEAT today holds an estimated 13 to 14 per cent market share in the Indian tyre industry. For FY25, CEAT’s revenue from operations has grown 10.7 per cent to Rs 13,218 crore, up from Rs 11,943.5 crore in FY24.

IPL: The ritual that opens CEAT’s year

Cricket sits at the heart of CEAT’s marketing. The company has backed the sport for over three decades, and the IPL, Narayanan says, acts almost as a cultural reset for the brand each year.

“Every calendar year begins with the IPL,” he says. “Given our long-standing association, our first objective is always to ensure the platform is well utilised.”

CEAT’s branding on theIPL Strategic Timeout has become one of the tournament’s most recognisable integrations. Narayanan calls it “probably the biggest and largest out-of-home one could see in the country,” pointing to its massive presence across screens and stadiums.

The consistency, he believes, is what creates lasting brand-property linkage. “Consumers relate to a property as belonging to a brand. That pays rich dividends.”

Even when discussing Apollo’s recent acquisition of the India team jersey sponsorship, he remains unfazed. “It is good to have competition. It pushes us to make our properties more relevant,” he says. “But consistency pays the best reward, and that is where CEAT has the advantage.”

A travel-hungry India, and a brand positioned as an enabler

Over the last few years, Narayanan says CEAT has witnessed a significant shift in how Indians travel. “We have seen the overall interest in travel by road go up significantly,” he notes. He credits rising aspirations and improved infrastructure. “The ability to buy a larger vehicle, travel with family, and travel long distances has increased. It is a very good combination to have.”

The growth of SUVs sits at the centre of this trend. “When you buy an SUV, you are buying into a dream,” he says. Whether consumers head to beaches, small towns, or hills during the rains, CEAT wants to position itself as the enabler of those experiences. “Tires are a very powerful enabler when it comes to achieving this aspiration,” he adds.

This year, CEAT’s marketing leaned strongly into this narrative for passenger vehicles, particularly SUVs, while also reinforcing its monsoon-safety messaging in the motorcycle segment. “For a motorcyclist, the fundamental necessity is grip,” Narayanan says. “Roads are slippery and unpredictable, but today, consumers are more confident. We want to reflect that confidence.”

Where celebrities fit in

CEAT’s association with public figures has been long and varied. Over the years, the brand has engaged actors such as Aamir Khan and Rana Daggubati, along with an extensive list of cricketers including Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, Shreyas Iyer, Harmanpreet Kaur, Shafali Verma, and Mathew Hayden.

Narayanan says the brand debates ambassador choices intensely. “Celebrities play a very important role in shaping the positioning of the brand,” he says. But CEAT does not use them in predictable ways. “We have always ensured they appear as characters you can relate to, not as themselves. It just builds better connect and relatability.”

Media strategy

If ambassadors and storytelling shape the emotional frame of CEAT’s communication, the media strategy is where those narratives are delivered with precision. Narayanan says the brand’s choices are heavily influenced by how fragmented India’s media ecosystem has become, and this is where the work gets more complex.

“The media is highly fragmented,” he explains. “It is no longer just linear television. You have connected television, and then you have handheld. It brings ambiguity because the ROI of each platform is still something we are trying to figure out.”

This fragmentation forces CEAT to plan differently for each of its key product segments. Two-wheeler tyres require broad national visibility, particularly because rural markets still drive strong consumption in motorcycles and scooters. “In the two-wheeler ecosystem, the growth and consumption patterns are definitely far more visible in rural markets, so we need a far wider reach,” he says. 

Passenger car tyres, on the other hand, skew towards Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities. These markets are shaping India’s growing SUV ownership, and CEAT’s communication in this category aligns with that emerging demand. 

Geographically, the South continues to be a priority. CEAT has invested in the region consistently over the past few years, not to chase a single campaign spike but to maintain continuity. “We wanted to sustain all the markets where we have communicated earlier. It is primarily to build consistency, nothing more,” Narayanan says.

The brand’s media planning also tries to balance long-term salience with sharper targeting. High-reach properties such as the IPL remain central because they offer a nationwide burst of attention, but the brand complements them with region-specific and digital formats where community building and influencer content can deepen engagement.

About influencers

Speaking of influencers, digital content has become central to CEAT’s outreach. Narayanan says the brand began using social media as an amplification tool but soon realised its potential for original content creation. Today, it works with influencers but with one firm expectation.

“We do not want people to endorse the brand. We want them to use the product and be honest about what they liked or did not like,” he says. “Authenticity plays a very important role.”

This is particularly crucial in the automotive category, where credibility can outweigh glamour.

Looking ahead

Reflecting on the year, Narayanan emphasises one key learning. “Storytelling is very important,” he says. “Visual appeal can provide instant attraction, but we need very powerful storytelling.”

For the next 12 to 24 months, CEAT will continue building communities, strengthening its narrative in both the motorcycle and SUV portfolios, and expanding its digital content ecosystem. And, as always, another IPL season will mark the beginning of the brand’s next chapter in its enduring cricket journey.