Case Studies and Management Resources
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Case Studies and Management Resources
Asia's Most Popular Collection of Management Case Studies |
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"We have enough of film stock for a whole year. Unfortunately we can't use them anymore."
- N Gangadhar, General Manager (Marketing), Siyaram Silk Mills, commenting on the withdrawal of the J Hampstead advertisement campaign, in April 2000.
In April 2000, the New Delhi police unearthed one of the biggest scandals ever to hit the world of cricket. While investigating a local corruption case, officials recorded phone conversations between Hansie Cronje (Cronje), the captain of the South African cricket team, and Sanjeev Chawla, a London-based Indian businessman. The conversation in the tapes seemed to implicate both men in illegal betting on a match played in February 2000 in India. After initial denials, Cronje conceded that he had accepted $ 15,000 to fix the match1.
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The news shocked both cricket fans and the media alike - Cronje's face was smeared with black paint on posters across the country. Siyaram Silk Mills Ltd. (Siyaram), one of India's leading textile companies, was also affected badly by this controversy. Hansie Cronje was one of the key celebrity endorsers for Siyaram's J.Hampstead brand of clothing. The campaign featuring Cronje had been running on the print, electronic and outdoor media from March 2000. Siyaram and its advertising agency, Percept, watched in dismay as their celebrity endorser turned into an internationally hated sportsman overnight. The issue raised a heated debate in corporate and media circles regarding the perils of using celebrity endorsement. Percept sources commented, "This mess is horrible." |
Siyaram pulled down all the billboards featuring the entire South African team across the country. The J.Hampstead campaign was completely withdrawn, almost 20 days before it completed its scheduled run on hoardings and television. The 'match-fixing' scandal seemed all set to force Siyaram – and other Indian companies – to rewrite the rules of using celebrity endorsement as an integral part of their media plans.
Siyaram was a part of the Siyaram Poddar Group of companies, which had a turnover of $ 209 billion in 2000-01. The group, founded in 1954, was into the textile (yarns, fabrics and garments), paper/paperboards and tyre (rubber tyres and tubes) businesses. While Govind Rubber Ltd. (GRL) was into the auto and bicycle tyres and tubes business, Balkrishna Industries Ltd. (BIL) was into the manufacturing of paperboards, tyres/tubes and synthetics. Siyaram's businesses comprised fabrics and readymade garments. Its popular brands included Oxemberg (shirts, trousers and jeans) and J.Hampstead (wool fabric). Siyaram was incorporated in June 1978 as a private limited company and was converted into a public limited company in 1980.
The Siyaram Celebrity Endorsement Experience - Next Page >>>
1] A match is said to be fixed when players deliberately throw a match because they have been paid to do so.
Case Code : MKTG018
Themes: Advertising and Promotion
Case Length : 7 Pages
Period : 1995-2001
Organization : Siyaram Silk Mills Ltd
Pub Date : 2001
Teaching Note : Available
Countries : India
Industry : Commodities - Traded Goods
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