WHSmith comes on board as ‘Principal Sponsor’ for Sunrisers Hyderabad

With the stage set for the 7th season of IPL, WHSmith-India’s leading retailer today announced its association as the ‘Principal Sponsor’ for the SunRisers Hyderabad.

WHSmith, best known for its chain of Convenience Stores at Airports, Railway Stations, Metro Stations, High Street, Hospitals and Motorway Service Station shops selling Books, Stationery, Magazines, Newspapers, Confectionary, Beverages, Travel Essentials and Entertainment products will be seen adorning the remarkable team jerseys, in stadia branding, in-store branding and offering memorabilia signed by the players.

WHSmith is a world leader in convenience shopping with more than 1000 stores worldwide. Its convenience format has something in offering for everyone.

With an aim to highlight WHSmith’s presence amongst all stakeholders, including customers, suppliers, business partners, employees and the communities in which they operate, it has tied up with the SunRisers Hyderabad to keep them engaged in the most awaited tournament of the year.

As part of its promotions strategy, WHSmith along with SunRisers Hyderabad will initiate a slew of in-store activities, on ground promotion and provide merchandises and customized gifts in order to reach out to the cricket fans in India and Middle East.

Commenting on the association, Mr Arun Barathi, Group CEO, Aventus Retail, said: “We are highly honoured to be associated with SunRisers Hyderabad in this season of the IPL. We couldn’t have asked for a better partnership to embark into our IPL journey and act as the building pillar to make a mark in this series.

“We will be undertaking lots of marketing initiatives at our store in order to reach out to our target audience and make the game more interesting. We have plans of getting digitally signed bats, balls, caps and other merchandise in our stores for cricket aficionado. Apart from this we will also provide customized T-shirts, jerseys, players posters etc at our stores. We wish SunRisers Hyderabad all the luck for the upcoming tournament and hope this association can reap benefits for both the partners.”

WHSmith currently operates nearly 34 Stores in India spread across Airports, Metro Stations, Hospitals and 10 Airport/High Street Stores in the UAE. WHSmith has the ability to mould its services and products according to the needs and diversity of the country. In this current season of IPL, it is determined to show the same flexibility thus catering to the needs of the team. For stadium branding, WHSmith will be offering branding in team dugouts, Ads for giant screen, in stadia booth, placards etc.

In its stores across metro cities, WHSmith will offer players pictures, posters, signed gift products, jerseys, customized t-shirts, bats, balls, caps signed digitally.

WHSmith sells a tailored range of Newspapers, Magazines, Books and other Impulse category products for people on the move at airports, railway and bus stations and a broader convenience range in hospitals.

Commenting on the partnership, Mr. K. Shanmugam CEO, SunRisers Hyderabad, said, “We are glad to have WHSmith as our lead sponsor on board with us. We take this opportunity to welcome them for partnering us and looking forward to a great season ahead.”

SunRisers Hyderabad will make their grand entrance at the pitch with the retailing giant WHSmith which caters approximately 320 million customers every year at their high street stores and over 240 million travelers come into contact with WHSmith brand every year. Leading the team will be cricketing stalwart Shikhar Dhawan along with famous players like Dale Steyn, Darren Sammy, Irfan Pathan, Ishant Sharma to name a few.