BKT’s sporting calculus: How an Indian tyre brand went global off the beaten path
An Indian industrial brand has backed small-town leagues and rural audiences from Italy to Australia
Late March in Saskatchewan, Canada, the weather swung between snow and sun. In Moose Jaw, a prairie town of 33,000 better known for its grain elevators than global sport, 13 national teams gathered for the World Men’s Curling Championship. Awaiting them was an Indian tyre company.
BKT Tires had signed on as title sponsor, organised fan activations at the Temple Gardens Centre, and brought along Canadian curling legend Pat Simmons for meet-and-greets. The Mumbai-headquartered tyremaker was sponsoring a sport most Indians could not describe.
Six months later, BKT was conspicuous by its absence from the bidding to replace Dream11 as the Indian cricket teams’ jersey sponsor. Fellow tyre manufacturer Apollo Tyres won the prize at Rs 579 crore (about $66 million).
BKT has spent the past decade changing the way an industrial brand can use sport. Instead of chasing major properties like Formula 1 or the Champions League, it has focused on regional leagues and rural communities. What began as an experiment in Italy’s Serie B became a strategy centred on smaller leagues and regional sports.
