The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has onboarded Asian Paints, India’s leading paint and décor brand, as Team India’s new official colour partner.
Asian Paints’ cooperation with the BCCI will come to life with exciting on-ground and digital activations, like the first-ever Asian Paints Colour Cam, saluting the most vivid fans, and the Colour Countdown, displaying trending colours and home décor inspirations. The three-year alliance will include every men’s, women’s, and domestic series played in India, totalling 110 matches. This partnership enhances Asian Paints’ association with cricket, bringing together 1.4 billion hearts in every colour of cricket.
The brand’s association with the BCCI represents a significant shift in its brand strategy, combining cultural significance and economic ambition. To know more on the same, SportsMint Media got an esteemed opportunity to interview the Managing Director & CEO of Asian Paints, Mr Amit Syngle.
In this conversation, Mr Syngle elaborated on the strategic objectives behind the deal, its alignment with long-term business goals, and how the firm plans to maximise ROI by leveraging cricket’s unmatched reach.
1. What was the core strategic objective behind Asian Paints choosing to partner with the BCCI at this stage? What made this the right moment for such a collaboration?
As a brand, our focus has always been on strengthening our corporate positioning of ‘Har Ghar’. Cricket is one of the few mediums in India that truly cuts across geographies, languages, and cultures; it reaches every home. We believed this partnership would give us unparalleled access to Indian households by leveraging the emotion, celebration, and universal appeal of cricket. Becoming the Official Colour Partner of India Home Cricket perfectly fit our goal of being part of every Indian home.
2. The Har Ghar campaign was active during the recently concluded World Cup. How does this new partnership enhance that narrative?
This is the first time in the industry that a brand from the paints, home décor, and waterproofing category has partnered at this scale. The essence of Har Ghar is celebrating the Indian home, and cricket celebrations naturally happen inside every home. As India’s definitive colour authority across art, design, and décor, this partnership allows us to integrate our storytelling with the emotions cricket evokes. It strengthens the Har Ghar narrative by connecting the joy of the game with the joy of beautifying one’s home.
3. How did this partnership come together? Could you walk us through the strategic planning that shaped the deal before it was finalised?
This partnership wasn’t a standard, off-the-shelf sponsorship. We weren’t looking for a conventional jersey placement or in-stadium branding opportunity. Instead, our team went through an extensive ideation process to identify a space where Asian Paints could bring something differentiated and emotionally resonant. That exploration led us to the idea of becoming the Official Colour Partner, a role that goes beyond visibility and taps into the emotional power of colour. Colour isn’t just visual; it represents expression, optimism, celebration, and joy. We wanted to create a partnership that could connect with people at a deeper level, touch their everyday lives, and feel meaningful far beyond the cricket field. In that sense, the deal was built on strategic alignment, linking the cultural force of cricket with the universal language of colour.
4. Where does this partnership fit within Asian Paints’ larger marketing strategy and overall brand architecture?
Colour is central to everything we do, in art, design, décor, and home improvement. We run major properties like ColorNext, which forecasts national colour trends, and we’ve recently launched Chromacosm, the world’s largest colour system. This partnership syncs naturally with our long-term strategy. It elevates our identity as India’s leading colour authority and ties in beautifully with the emotional journey of making every home special.
5. Asian Paints has previously associated with Star for the World Cup and IPL and has Virat Kohli as a brand ambassador. In that larger ecosystem of cricket-linked marketing, where does this new BCCI partnership stand?
This partnership complements every other association, ambassador, tournament sponsorship, and media collaboration. Colour cuts across everything. The innovations we introduced, like the Colour Cam and Colour Countdown, show how seamlessly cricket and colour-based storytelling can coexist. So rather than sitting alongside our other partnerships, this BCCI deal strengthens and unifies the entire brand ecosystem.
6. Commercially, what are the core business metrics you expect this partnership to influence, ROI, category expansion, or growth in tier-2/3 markets?
Our visual identity, AMP, stands for infinite. That’s how we view this partnership’s potential, reaching infinite homes and driving infinite ROI. The aim is to strengthen brand awareness, widen consideration, and deepen penetration across Tier 2 and Tier 3 markets. Cricket’s scale allows us to reach audiences we may not reach through traditional media alone.
7. How do you plan to activate and leverage this partnership across the country?
First, initiatives like the Colour Cam ensure the partnership reaches every Indian during live matches. Beyond that, all our colour-led properties, ColourNext, Chromacosm, and retail innovations, seamlessly integrate with the “Official Colour Partner” positioning. Whether through store branding, channel activations, or digital experiences, this partnership strengthens our status as the definitive colour authority in India.
8. From a financial standpoint, how do you justify the scale of this investment and balance its immediate cost with the long-term business returns you expect it to generate?
These decisions always involve careful ROI evaluation. Since the partnership spans multiple years, we assessed long-term media value, brand lift, and business outcomes. By consolidating our presence across major cricket properties, we reduce fragmentation in our marketing spend. In the long run, this deal enhances efficiency while maximising reach and brand impact.
