TCS renews New York Marathon sponsorship for next eight years

Mumbai-based IT major Tata Consultancy Services (TCS)  has signed an eight-year contract with the New York Road Runners (NYRR) organisation to become the title sponsor of the New York City Marathon till 2029, the company said in a statement.  

As part of the contract renewal, TCS will invest anywhere between $30 million to $40 million annually in global running sponsorships and community initiatives from 2022 till 2029, this also includes sponsorship for the 2022 London Marathon, which TCS had announced in June 2021. 

The total money that TCS is expected to spend over the next eight years is pegged at around $320 million. 

"We sponsor running events across the world because we want to inspire local communities to live healthy and active lifestyles, and also because of the obvious parallels between marathons and the growth and transformation journeys,” Surya Kant, Chairman, North America at TCS, said.  

Additionally, TCS will also launch a new application for the TCS New York City marathon. The application will include augmented reality features, which were used previously for virtual races for the pandemic.  

The 2022 app will allow users to access how their runners are performing in real-time, while also having a finishing-time predictor and digital cheer cards.  

TCS also said that it will debut a new advertising campaign for global running events from Wednesday.  

The new advertising campaign, titled ‘We Believe’ will utilise the marathon supporters to promote TCS. The ad is centred around a runner’s journey and how his peers help bring his dreams to life.  

Apart from the sponsorships, TCS will donate about $4million to NYRR’s youth and community programs, including a marathon for school children, the Rising New York Road Runners group. Along with this, TCS will on the sidelines promote a Stem education app building contest, with the theme around promoting active lifestyles and inclusivity. 

Focusing on the teachers, a TCS Teachers Programme will select 50 teachers from across North America who will receive VIP race day tickets. 

TCS has already been sponsoring the New York Marathon since 2014.  

The NYRR group, which organises the event, has been in existence since 1958. The first official New York Marathon took place in 1970.    

TCS’s association with marathons can be traced back to 1919, when Dorabji Tata, the second Chairman of the Tata Group, noticed that participants at an annual sports event were all participating bare-footed.  

However, their timings were on-par with European Standards. Shortly after, an Indian Team first participated at the Antwerp Olympics in 1920, according to a report by the Hindu.