Domino's: Mirabai eats the pizza & has a deal too! | Economic Times

It began with Mirabai Chanu’s comment after winning a weightlifting silver at the Tokyo Olympics that she would love some pizza. That spawned a tweet which went viral and has eventually led to a commercial deal. Domino’s, India’s largest organised food services brand, has inked a digital activation pact with Chanu. It’s the first brand deal the 26-year-old weightlifter has signed after getting on the podium at Tokyo. It will involve Chanu associating with the brand on social and digital media platforms such as Twitter, where she now has about 190,000 followers. Domino’s had offered the Manipur-based athlete free lifetime pizza through a tweet after she said last Saturday that the first thing she wanted to do was have pizza after winning the medal. Hundreds of Twitter users noted that Domino’s latched on to Chanu’s comment with alacrity, and then wondered whether the athlete had benefitted in any way.“We have entered into a commercial engagement with Domino’s, for associations with Mirabai Chanu on digital platforms. It is a digital activation deal,” said IOS Sports & Entertainment managing director Neerav Tomar. IOS represents Chanu’s commercial and endorsement businesses. Jubilant FoodWorks, the India franchisee for Domino’s, didn’t respond to queries.“Being an athlete, she didn’t want to sign a regular endorsement deal with a pizza brand, because it isn't considered healthy. However, Domino’s will most certainly benefit from the association with Chanu, even if this is not a conventional endorsement deal,” said another executive aware of the development.84878759‘Digital-only Associations Here to Stay’Given cricket’s dominance, any deals with those pursuing other sports should be supported.“As far as non-cricket athletes are concerned, they usually have a small window of commercial opportunities such as these,” said brand specialist and social commentator Santosh Desai. “More brands need to come up and support athletes like Chanu, who come from humble backgrounds and prove themselves."Industry executives said there is an increasing trend for large brands to sign popular talent or influencers for digital-only, tactical endorsements, given the traction platforms such as Twitter and Instagram have, especially among younger consumers.“Digital-only associations are absolutely here to stay. These neither need to be very long term, nor have to involve expensive shoots, and can get immediate short-term traction,” said Vinita Bangard, founder of Krossover Entertainment, which has worked on deals with Priyanka Chopra Jonas, among others.“While the conventional endorsements with the big celebs continue to have their place, there is a rapidly increasing parallel trend among brands, specially those with a youth-focus, startups and direct-to-consumer ones, to sign deals for digital and social-only engagement,” Bangard said.Tomar said talks are on with other brands for endorsements, appearances or digital associations as well, but declined to mention specifics since these are still being finalised.Before the Tokyo Olympics, Chanu has had endorsement deals with Adidas and Mobil Oil.