Bridgestone's media agency, Mindshare, brings on board a strategic approach to Bridgestone's brand communication objectives, while GroupM ESP (Entertainment, Sports and Partnership) is a specialist unit of GroupM, which offers consultancy in the business of entertainment and sports. GroupM ESP's sports team worked closely with Mindshare to help Bridgestone secure title sponsorship of this tournament.

Commenting on this association, Vaibhav Saraf, General Manager Marketing & Sales, Bridgestone India said: "We have a legacy of associating with sports; we have been associating with various sports from Ice-Hockey to Formula 1 to the Moto-GP and Rugby in some nations. We started advertising in India last year and tied up with the Mumbai Indians to begin with. Mindshare and GroupM ESP recommended WSH as an opportunity to us and helped us understand the media deliveries and valuation of the league."

"The sports genre has been integral to Bridgestone's target audience and we needed a platform that would help build saliency for the brand. With this sponsorship, Mindshare takes another small step in forging a partnership with hockey, but in fact a giant leap in propagating something other than cricket, yet getting entire focus, drive and visibility for our client. We are glad that by this sponsorship Bridgestone is reinforcing its commitment to its growth in India," added Anita Kotwani, Principal Partner - Client leadership, Mindshare.

Dainik Bhaskar has also entered into a strategic alliance with Bridgestone World Series Hockey and has signed on as the global partner for the team, Bhopal Badshahs. Dainik Bhaskar entered into this strategic alliance since central India, Punjab and Haryana is a strong base for hockey, besides which, most of the group's footprint has many cities where hockey is very popular. Hence, it was a natural extension to promote hockey, thereby providing residents with a heightened excitement through WSH.

Also read: Wizcraft organises World Series Hockey opening ceremony