For cricket fans, Sachin Tendulkar is god. So is he for brands. The biggest Indian cricket star is on top of the product endorsement pile. Yet, ten out of the 16 brands that signed him as their mascot for at least $1 million per endorsement have failed to encash on the batting maestro’s huge marketing potential. It has nothing to with the talk of his possible retirement after the on-going World Cup. These brands failed to exploit their association with him owing to their own limitations.

Tendulkar represents Coca-Cola, Aviva, Canon, Boost, Reynolds, Adidas, ITC, Future Group, RBS, Toshiba, Ujala, Luminous, Amit Enterprises, Audemars Piguet, Jaypee and Castrol. “Only five of these 16 brands have been using the cricket legend actively,” said Harish Krishnamachar, VP - South Asia at World Sport Group, the agency looking after endorsement deals for Tendulkar. “The brands that have been using Sachin actively are Adidas, Aviva, Boost, Jaypee and Coke. Others use him on and off,” he added.

Citing an example, Krishnamachar said that just before the World Cup, Sony India roped in MS Dhoni to endorse its Bravia range of TV sets and launched a Rs 100-crore multi-media campaign featuring the Indian skipper. The campaign is all over TV. However, in the case of Sony’s competitor Toshiba, which is endorsed by Tendulkar, one does not see much advertising.

Toshiba India signed up Tendulkar in April last year but was not in a spending mode at that time. “We were not visible much last year as we were not spending on media then. But, beginning this year, we are reviewing our strategy. We have new launches planned and have started investing in media seriously,” Pranab Mohanty, head - consumer Product division, Toshiba India.

During 2010-11, the brand had a marketing budget of around Rs 30-40 crore, a major part of which was spent during January-March 2011. But most of that was focused on marketing in print media, radio and in-shop advertising. “We couldn’t do much during the World Cup as we are not a sponsor. But we have upped our budget and will be on TV after April,” said Mohanty.

ITC has an association with Tendulkar for the last five years for Sunfeast Dreamcream and Milky Magic. Media agency Zenith Optimedia says, the company spent 86 per cent of its media budget of Rs 199 crore on TV in 2010. Eventually, for promoting brands represented by Tendulkar, the brand is focusing on non-TV platforms. “Brand-building is not just carpet-bombing on TV. We believe in an all-round media approach,” said VL Suresh, GM, marketing & exports, ITC’s Foods Division.

Future Group which had tied up with the star to co-create brand Sach two years ago, has its own limitation in using the cricketer. “Sach is a private brand available only in Future Group stores and thus we look at focused marketing and not mass marketing. The Sach brand has toothpastes, toothbrushes and kids apparel and has been packaged with Sachin’s photograph and signature. Every quarter, we do in-store brand communication through the star,” said Future Group’s private brands head Devendra Chawla.

Jyothi Laboratories, which too has Tendulkar as its brand ambassador, declined to comment. Its PR team mentioned that right now the company is focusing on its new business and financial year closing rather than marketing initiatives.

On the other hand, Swiss watch brand Audemars Piguet uses Tendulkar in focused communication targeted at the super-rich. Amit Enterprises, a Pune-based realty brand, has a Pune-focused communication plan. Also, RBS did away with its India retail business during the 2009 economic downturn. However, Castrol and Luminous have been advertising with the cricketer during the World Cup.