A prominent consumer goods multinational company Unilever Bangladesh Limited (UBL) has become the new sponsor of the national cricket team for a period up to January 2020.
The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) Chief Executive Officer Nizam Uddin Chowdhury and Unilever Bangladesh’s Finance Director Zahidul Islam Malita signed the sponsorship deal on behalf of their respective sides at BCB’s management office at Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadiumon Thursday.
Unilever’s journey with Bangladesh cricket is set to begin with the Asia Cup 2018 in Dubai later this month where the logo of its product Lifebuoy will be displayed on the national team kit.
According to the deal, Unilever will sponsor Bangladesh national cricket team (Men’s and Women’s), Bangladesh ‘A’ team and the Bangladesh Under-19 team tillJanuary 31, 2020.
“Unilever is an internationally renowned brand with a proven track record. On behalf of the BCB I thank Unilever Bangladesh for coming forward and taking the initiative to contribute to cricket.
This ushers a fresh promise and opens a new door of long-term cooperation and relationship,” said BCB’s CEO after signing the deal.
UBL’s Marketing Director Nafees Anwar in a statement said, “Unilever has a history of contributing to the country’s socio-economic development while establishing its own business footprint. We want to carry this philosophy with our association with cricket which is undoubtedly the most popular sport in the country. It gives us immense pleasure to become national team sponsor partners of the BCB.”
UBL was one of the sponsors of Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) T20’s ‘Dhaka Dynamites’ franchise in last year and had organised the Clear Men Under 17 Football Tournament across the country.
Earlier on August 26, a title sponsor of Bangladesh team Robi Axiata, a telecom company, surprisingly withdrawn its title sponsorship deal with BCB, releasing a statement saying, “The current deal falls short in upholding the spirit of the agreement.”
A problem arising out of individual players’ endorsements with rival brands was not solved and that eventually led Robi’s pulling out of a second time two-year contract, which was due to be extended until the 2019 World Cup.
However, BCB is no stranger to face such an unexpected incident. Its previous title sponsor Amby Valley, an affiliate of Sahara India Parivar, had also prematurely ended up their sponsorship contract before Robi signing a two-year contract with BCB first time in 2015.
