Philips will be spending over Rs 6 crore during the three events - Rs 3 crore being spent at the Sahara Cup in September and the balance being equally spent during Cricket Week on April 8 and Pepsi Asia Cup beginning in September.

So what made the Indian subsidiary think of co-sponsoring cricket, when the Dutch parent company Royal Philips Electronics has adopted football as its image ambassador.

Explains Philips India senior vice-president (consumer electronic) Rajeev Karwal: "The company realised that cricket in India cuts across age, income, geographical and religion barriers and there is same passion for each segment of society for the game". Since cricket enjoys immense popularity, the company expects to create high demand for its products in the minds of consumers through sponsoring such events. "Keeping in mind the high viewership across TV channels, we intend to showcase our latest products. We have seen that products get a good launch pad during such events and there is good recall too about the products", said Karwal. The company intends to introduce new products, including 15 colour TVs, six VCD systems and a wide range of DVDs and computer peripherals, during the events.

Karwal said Philips' association with cricket, which is emerging as the world's most favourite game, began last year during the Cricket World Cup with the `third umpire' commercials. "We would like to continue our association with the game. The company will also be giving away the best batsman award for the Cricket Week tournament and will be looking at others too", he said. Philips also intends to hike the initial promotion budget of Rs 6 crore substantially in the future. "The company is in talks for sponsoring some other tournaments too", said Karwal.

Philips India also has a presence on various cricket specific sites such as `totalcricket.com' and provides an opportunity to interact with renowned cricketers such as Ian Chappel, Tony Greig and Ravi Shastri on this ongoing site.