Will TCS' big bet on New York City Marathon pay off?

Tata Consultancy Services is taking its fight right to the tiger’s den.

At a time when software outsourcing companies like TCS is facing headwinds in the western countries, the Indian company has signed an eight-year deal to sponsor the New York City Marathon from 2014.

For the last eight years including 2013, ING was the sponsor of the 26-mile run.

The deal was signed with New York Road Runner, the company which conducts the run.

[caption id=“attachment_322817” align=“alignright” width=“380”]  For the last eight years including 2013, ING was the sponsor of the 26-mile run. Reuters[/caption]

The company, however, has not yet disclosed how much the deal is worth. But it is reportedly more than the ING deal. And it is not new to marathon sponsorship as it already is a sponsor for the Amsterdam Marathon. It is also associated with New York, Boston, Chicago and Berlin runs.

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So what is the game plan behind the TCS’ move? According to a report in the Business Standard, the company’s objective is to change the perception of outsourcing.

“Offshoring and outsourcing have become pejorative terms in the US. Companies like TCS for whom the US is their largest market, at this point of time, need public opinion in their favour,” Alpana Parida, president, DY Works, a design consulting firm, has been quoted as saying in the report.

Parida is of the opinion that TCS is trying to reinforce its credentials as a global brand.

N Chandrasekaran, CEO and managing director of TCS, hopes that the move will help it get noticed among a wider range of people other than its customers.

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This is important for the company as what it ultimately wants is change its image among the larger public.

In 2013, the New York City Marathon had 2 million spectators and around 48,000 runners. In 1970, the corresponding numbers used to be just 127 and a few hundred, respectively.

The interest in the run is increasing by leaps and bounds. TCS might even succeed in its endeavour to bring about a change in perception.

But it remains to be seen just how much of this will return as business for the company. For ING, a financial services company, the sponsorship increased its visibility among its potential customers. So it made sense for the company to organise charity and kids’ events as part of its sponsorship.

But unlike ING, TCS is a software company and those who run and others who cheer the runners are not its potential customers. So chance of visibility turning into business is almost nil.

On the whole, TCS may get more brand visibility. And that is it.