by 
Chennai: Boost, one of GSK’s leading brands in the Health Food Drinks category has taken a unique initiative to foster upcoming sports in India like Badminton by tying up with two of the leading teams from Premier Badminton League – Chennai Smashers & Hyderabad Hunters, which boasts of stars like Carolina Marin (Olympic Gold Medalist) & PV Sindhu (Olympic Silver Medalist), as their “official Energy Partner” for PBL 2018. Interestingly this comes at a time when sports like Football, Tennis, Badminton are fast becoming popular in a country that has been a fanatic cricket follower since time immemorial. This uprising is supported by popular tournaments like Premier Badminton League, Indian Soccer League, etc.
As part of the association, Boost, a brand for kids and loved by them, will bring to life the platform of Play A Bigger Gamewith a LIVE activation called Play The Pros @ PBL’18 wherein select kids will get a chance to Play A Bigger Game by rubbing shoulders against international badminton stars PV Sindhu & Carolina Marin. The initiative will kick off on the 18th of December 2017 with a campaign, inviting entries from aspirant kids to participate in “Boost- Play the Pros Contest”.
Culminating on 7th January 2018 in Chennai and 10th January in Hyderabad, with LIVE session in both these cities that will see the shortlisted kids participating in a training camp with leading players and coaches from across the world followed by select kids getting a chance to take on the Pros, Carolina andSindhu. 2 of the best performing kids will also get a chance to hone their skills at the Pullela Gopichand academy in Hyderabad with an exclusive one year training scholarship from Boost.
Talking about this partnership, Vikram Bahl, Area Marketing Lead, GSK Consumer Healthcare said, “Boost is known for its energy proposition which we have been bringing alive through Boost’s association with cricket and cricket superstars. While cricket continues to remain India’s most loved sport, there are other sports like Badminton, Football, Tennis to name a few which are increasingly becoming popular and taking increasing share in sports conversations and action in the country. We felt it was the right time for us to extend our touch points beyond cricket and move forward with country’s sports evolution to stay connected with kids through other endurance sports.”
He further added, “We felt PBL is the right platform and Chennai Smashers’ & Hyderabad Hunters the right partners in our endeavor to join the Badminton revolution unfolding in the country over last few years. Through this partnership, we intend to take our communication platform ‘Play the Bigger Game’ beyond TV and give kids the opportunity to “Play with the Pros”. The activation platform of ‘Play the Pros’ was launched in 2017 wherein our first association was with Chennai Open. This year we plan to take it forward with PBL & a couple of other popular sporting events that have the right fit for the brand. With this, I am confident that we will make the brand even more popular among the kids, which in turn will help continue the strong growth momentum on the brand.”
About GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare Ltd
GSK Consumer Healthcare Ltd is the category leader in Indian health food drinks industry. Our flagship product Horlicks leads the market, while Boost is among the top three health food drink brands that India prefers. Our manufacturing plants are in Nabha, Rajahmundry and Sonepat. In India, we have an engaged workforce of over 4700 employees. GSK also markets and distributes a range of everyday health products such as Eno, Crocin, Iodex and Sensodyne. Our marketing and distribution network comprises over 700 distributors and a direct coverage of over 8 lakh retail outlets.
GSK Consumer Healthcare Ltd is an associate of GlaxoSmithKline plc. of U.K, one of world’s largest consumer healthcare companies. We have a heritage that goes back over 160 years. Our purpose is to help more people around the world to do more, feel better and live longer with everyday healthcare products. Our goal is to build a global, growing business – we call a Fast-Moving Consumer Healthcare (FMCH) company – dedicated to everyday healthcare with all the scientific expertise and quality guarantees that demands, working at the speed and with the genuine consumer understanding the modern world expects.
GSK Consumer Healthcare globally owns some of the world’s best loved healthcare brands, successful in over 100 countries. These include Sensodyne, Voltaren, Theraflu, Paradontax, Panadol, Polident, Otrivin, Horlicks and Physiogel.
