Meraki Sports & Entertainment: Building Athletes With Brands 

Meraki Sports & Entertainment: Building Athletes With Brands 

Sport unarguably has a positive impact on a country. Whether it is about helping children, communities or even nations, sport makes a difference on a daily basis. A country gets benefits from sports in many different ways. From aiding in a country’s economic growth to representing a billion-dollar business, the sports industry produces a number of jobs for people. Besides this, sport also provides a platform for people to come together and support their country. International events like the World Cups and the Olympics show national pride and unity. Meraki Sport and entertainment is one such organisation that is striving to work towards the upliftment of sports and sportspersons. 

Derived from the same Greek word, Meraki [may-rah-kee] is an adjective which means ‘doing something with soul, creativity, and love when you put something of yourself into what you’re doing, whatever it may be.’ With a belief that sport is powerful and its emotional connection with communities is unparalleled, the three founders of Meraki Sport & Entertainment, Toshan Patil, Namrata Parekh and Ajit Ravindran aim to harness that emotional equity to drive salience for brands, teams, properties and athletes. My City Links got into a conversation with Namarta Parekh, who has been  brought up in Cuttack, Odisha, about the journey of Meraki so far and the future prospects that lie ahead.

While Ajit is the only erstwhile sportsperson amongst the three, having played under-16 cricket in Karnataka, the other two have keenly consumed sport and are quintessential fans. With the belief that there was a definitive need of an end-to-end sports marketing organisation in the country, the trio left their prior careers to set up and organically sustain Meraki Sport and Entertainment in Mumbai. Meraki was established in October 2015 as a full service brand and sponsorship management company whose core expertise lies in leveraging the power of sports.

Throwing light on the venture, Namrata explained, “Meraki, for us, means putting a part of yourself in each and everything you do. Our team believes in bringing everything under one roof. Our solutions are fun and exciting. When we started, there was no such organisation that offered end-to-end solutions when it came to anything related to sports.” Namrata has been an RJ and creative producer with S FM (now Red FM), an MBA, a creative copywriter, dabbled in brand activations with the Jagran group and led the sponsorship management at Procam International, before she became a successful entrepreneur.

Standing strong on its three pillars, that is, sport, sponsorship, and society, Meraki is all set to create a positive impact on sports and lifestyle, using the former to break boundaries.  “Cricket is a religion in India. There is nothing bigger than that when it comes to sports. But our founding belief was that there is tremendous value in sports beyond cricket and we aim to help brands better leverage those sports and leave a lasting positive impact on society. Indian sports hold tremendous opportunities. It’s only about leveraging it aptly,” added Namrata.

Meraki is one of India’s leading sports marketing and consulting companies, enabling brands, athletes, teams and properties, leverage sports for social, cultural and economic progress; offering integrated solutions across six business verticals – consulting, rights, talent, experiences, digital and content.

Meraki also represents some of India’s finest athletes viz. Dipa Karmakar, Rohan Bopanna, etc. along with young rising stars from the ‘Sports of the Future’ like – Palak Kohli (para-badminton), Jehan Daruvala (Formula 2), Shrihari Natraj (swimming), Johanna Rodrigues (break dancing) amongst many others along with the office of Rahul Dravid.

Meraki also owns the commercial and marketing rights for the National Race Walking Championship. Along with the Athletic Federation of India, it partnered with Max Bupa Health Insurance to create the first edition of the Max Bupa National Race Walking Championships in February 2017. Race-walking is a foot race in which one foot should appear to be in contact with the ground at all times.

Meraki also collaborated with open-water kayaker and Asian Dragon Boat medallist Kaustubh Khade who kayaked from Mumbai to Goa in 15 days in 2015 and entered the Limca Book of Records. In 2016, he had an even more audacious dream to kayak from Kutch to Kanyakumari in less than 100 days. His girlfriend Shanjali Shah, an adventure cyclist, was to join him on the journey. As per the requisites, Meraki approached sponsors with ideas to create a story around their wondrous journey. Successful enough, Kaustubh and Shanjali finished the journey in 85 days, wearing SF watches and their journey was captured in a six-part web series branded by SF Watches, Titan.

While the core team believes that there is untapped potential in sport beyond cricket in India, they also believe you cannot, not, work in the sport of cricket and to that effect, one of their biggest retainer accounts is managing the content and digital and social media marketing mandate for Kolkata Knight Riders in the IPL. They have been working with the team since 2020.

Meraki brings sports and story together. Namrata elucidated this vision and said, “We believe that authenticity is paramount when brands communicate with their consumers. Through our experiential and content marketing verticals, we engage with brands to help them leverage the emotional equity that sports has. Our athlete management vertical is focused on collaborating with brands that have a value match with the athletes we represent, thereby allowing them to leverage storytelling to connect with their consumers.”

Meraki started with just 3 members and now it is a brand within its branches reaching out to 3 different cities. Now it is an organisation of more than 60 members with different dedicated verticals for each of its functions. Meraki’s portfolio boasts of over 60+ brands, 6 teams across IPL, ISL and PKL, 11+ athletes and 35+ live experiences and events

“When Meraki came into the picture, nobody really commercially represented para-athletes. However, in early 2016, we  structured a program with IndusInd Bank and Go Sports Foundation called ‘IndusInd Para-champions’ which supported 19 para athletes out of which 3 won medals at the Rio 2016 Paralympics. From there to the 2020/21 Paralympics, this sports ecosystem has seen a massive change not only in terms of acceptance but also in terms of perception of the sport and the athletes and thereby the support extended to programs and athletes by brands and CSR efforts. This is where Meraki has been a pioneer in not only representing para-athletes but also in terms of ensuring that there is a steady revenue stream for them from various fronts- endorsements, talks, appearances or even program scholarships,” enlightened Namrata.

Talking of being a pioneer in the industry, Meraki’s latest foray is interestingly into the sport of women’s cricket via a project called ‘Equal Hue-Cricket’, a pioneering initiative aimed at creating pathways for aspiring female cricketers from across the country. Equal Hue will be a pan-India campaign actively engaging over 30k aspiring female cricketers, through multiple touchpoints viz. academies, schools, housing societies, camps with IPL team(s) etc., enabling them to start, stay-in and succeed at the sport.

Apart from creating a funnel for Women’s IPL, state team/s and the Indian team, the initiative will be aligned towards the Sustainable Development Goals of the UN, contributing towards the development of society at large, through activities conducted. This year will be about raising the adequate funds from corporates/organisations or state governments for this initiative. 

Given that Namrata has grown up in Odisha, we asked her about her thoughts on the work being done by the government when it comes to sports. “The Odisha government has become a case study in itself on how a state government, when it decides to put its might, can transform perception, societal progress and impact the community at large at the back of sports. The state has done incredible and commendable work on sports across the board, especially hockey and athletics. I was so happy to know that there is even a facility for Sport Climbing, one of the newest additions to the Olympics. If given a chance, we would love to join hands with the Odisha government in the near future and do a lot of meaningful work together,” Namrata signed off.

Meraki Sport and Entertainment is a proper mix of youth and experience, a team that is passionate about sports, and always ensuring that they are ahead of the curve. It is one of India’s leading sports marketing and consulting companies, offering integrated solutions to brands, teams, athletes and properties.