The post EXCLUSIVE: TPL gives Kia an opportunity to connect deeply with India’s evolving Tennis ecosystem — Mr Atul Sood, Senior Vice President – Sales & Marketing, Kia India appeared first on SportsMint Media.
As sports marketing evolves beyond traditional sponsorship structures, organisations are increasingly looking for meaningful partnerships that provide long-term engagement, cultural significance, and deeper consumer relationships. Kia India, which has a large worldwide sports portfolio that includes agreements with the Australian Open, NBA, and WNBA, has now expanded its influence in Indian sports with a title sponsorship of the Tennis Premier League (TPL).
The collaboration represents Kia India’s commitment to promoting tennis in the nation while engaging with a new generation of aspirational customers through experiential and community-led activities. In this exclusive interview with SportsMint Media, Mr Atul Sood, Senior Vice President – Sales & Marketing, Kia India, discusses the reasons for partnering with TPL, the changing dynamics of sports sponsorships, the importance of tennis in Kia’s brand strategy, and how the company intends to create long-term value for both the brand and the Indian tennis ecosystem.
1. What made Kia India identify Tennis Premier League as the right property for a title partnership at this stage of its growth?
What stood out to us about TPL was the strong alignment in vision and intent. Over the years, the league has evolved beyond just a sporting property into a platform focused on building greater visibility, participation, and relevance for tennis in India. Given Kia’s long-standing global association with tennis, we saw a natural synchronisation between the direction in which TPL wants to grow the sport and the kind of long-term, engagement-led associations Kia believes in. For Kia, the partnership aligns with our intent of not only contributing to the growth of tennis in India but also creating stronger and more meaningful connections with its target audience.
2. Kia has been associated with global properties like the NBA, WNBA, and Australian Open. How different is the TPL partnership in terms of audience, market strategy, and brand objectives?
Every sports partnership is shaped around local relevance and audience behaviour. While Kia’s global sporting associations are built around experiences and engagement, TPL gives us an opportunity to connect more deeply with India’s evolving tennis ecosystem through locally relevant initiatives, participation-led engagement, and grassroots development. The partnership also enables us to engage with a new-generation aspirational consumer base that closely aligns with Kia’s target audience. From a brand standpoint, this partnership enables us to move beyond traditional product communication and create stronger engagement through experiences, lifestyle and community-led conversations.
3. Sports partnerships today extend far beyond logo visibility. How does Kia evaluate ROI from a league like TPL, through brand awareness, premium positioning, consumer engagement, or a mix of all three?
Today, partnerships are evaluated through a much broader lens than visibility alone. For Kia India, the focus is equally on consumer engagement, premium brand perception, cultural relevance, and long-term association with meaningful ecosystems. Through TPL, the objective is to build stronger audience connections and deeper brand affinity through experiences, participation-led initiatives, and engagement driven by shared passion points around the sport. As the partnership evolves, the engagement framework and evaluation metrics will continue to be refined over time. However, the larger objective remains clear: to create meaningful long-term value for both the brand and the broader tennis ecosystem in India.
4. How important is associating with an aspirational and premium sport like tennis in shaping Kia’s brand identity in the Indian market?
With Kia’s long-standing global association with tennis through the Australian Open, the sport naturally aligns with the brand’s progressive and premium brand philosophy. Tennis represents ambition, discipline, performance, and global relevance, values that resonate strongly with us. At the same time, the sport is steadily building stronger aspirational and cultural relevance in India today. Through such associations, Kia India is able to engage with audiences beyond traditional product conversations while further strengthening its premium and progressive brand positioning. Having said that, this remains a part of Kia India’s broader multi-pronged brand and communication strategy, where multiple platforms and channels continue to play an important role in connecting with evolving consumer segments across the country.
5. Beyond branding rights, are there plans for deeper fan engagement initiatives and on-ground activations through this partnership?
Yes, the intent behind the partnership goes well beyond branding rights, with a strong focus on building meaningful fan engagement and experiences around the sport. One of the first initiatives being introduced in India is the Australian Open Ball Kids programme, part of Kia’s long-standing association with the Australian Open and aimed at giving young participants exposure to world-class tennis environments. Beyond this, we are also exploring opportunities around fan-led experiences, contests, VIP engagement formats, and participation-driven initiatives, while working closely with TPL to create a locally relevant engagement ecosystem across both on-ground and digital platforms.
6. Do you believe leagues like Tennis Premier League can eventually become commercially mainstream in India, similar to the growth journey of kabaddi and football leagues?
India’s sporting ecosystem is gradually evolving beyond cricket, with audiences increasingly engaging with a wider mix of sporting properties. Tennis already carries strong aspirational and global relevance, and platforms like TPL are helping make the sport more contemporary and accessible for Indian audiences. With sustained investment, stronger visibility, grassroots development, and continued ecosystem-building, leagues like TPL certainly have strong long-term growth potential in the country.
7. From Kia’s perspective, what would define success for this partnership over the next few seasons, stronger consumer connect, market visibility, or long-term brand association with Indian tennis?
For us, success would be defined through a combination of stronger consumer engagement, meaningful contribution towards the growth of tennis, and sustained long-term relevance for the partnership. The intent is not limited to short-term visibility but to build a deeper association with the evolving tennis ecosystem in India while creating stronger cultural and lifestyle-led connections with audiences through the sport. As the partnership evolves over the coming seasons, success will also be reflected in how meaningfully we are able to contribute towards greater participation, visibility, and engagement around tennis in India. Ultimately, we are looking at creating long-term value for both the brand and the broader tennis ecosystem.
The post EXCLUSIVE: TPL gives Kia an opportunity to connect deeply with India’s evolving Tennis ecosystem — Mr Atul Sood, Senior Vice President – Sales & Marketing, Kia India appeared first on SportsMint Media.