Mumbai: PUMA India and Nielsen Sport a reputed research & analytics firm conducted one of a kind survey focusing on a huge lag in inspiration in the country to pursue physical fitness, even as India is witnessing growth in the adoption of sports culture. The exclusive study was conducted to deep dive into the nation’s perception and extent of participation in sports and fitness activities among adults and kids in the country.

The survey threw up some shocking facts, in the last 12 months, 68 per cent of adults in Urban India claimed to have participated in fitness-related activities. Out of this, only 20 per cent of adults in urban India meet the World Health Organization (WHO) recommended index of a minimum of 150-300 minutes of physical exercise per week.

On the other side, kids spend a mere 86 minutes of the WHO-recommended 420 minutes or more on an average per week. Shockingly, this is lesser than that of adults who invest 101 minutes of fitness activity per week. The survey has also done a region-wise time spent by kids. In the East region kids spent the most time playing sport & fitness (125 minutes per week), vs the West at the lowest average (68 mins). The survey also indicates that there is a correlation between sports and academic performance.

The survey talks about female participation in sports and physical activities at 42 per cent as compared to men which is at 36 per cent. The survey goes on to add that adults who are fit and participate in sports are more positive in their outlook. Both kids and adults have cited a lack of time to indulge in physical activities or sports.

The ‘Let There Be Sport’ initiative has emerged as the catalyst for the country’s leading sports brand to become the driver of change and champion the cause of prioritising sport and fitness in the country. Based on the report findings, PUMA launched the ‘Let There Be Sport’ campaign featuring Virat Kohli, MC Mary Kom and Sunil Chhetri to question the conventional mindset that sports is a digression from academics.

Indiantelevision.com caught up with Abhishek Ganguly, Managing Director, PUMA India and Southeast Asia at the launch event in Bangalore, to talk about the survey and how Puma is taking the campaign to the grassroots to talk about the importance of sports and physical activities in daily life for both adults and kids…..

On the report and what were the factors on which you went ahead with Nielsen to do this survey?

The reason we did this report is that it's very important to understand where you are. It gives you an idea of where things are moving as a brand. As a business and as we are in sportswear, our business is a function of the market. The market is a function of consumers and their activities and their behaviour and that's very simple logic. So we track how people act or how much people are active, playing sports or not, for us, this is very important. We had done this survey, similar to some different research questions, in 2018. From then things have improved so that time I think the number was about 54 per cent, it's gone up to 68 per cent.

On the changing habits and was it due to the pandemic?

The pandemic was disastrous but if that has led people to realise the importance of taking care of themselves, then on this part, it has been good and it helps. Pre-pandemic to for all of us, we deprioritized physical activities among other things in life and this was about getting that priority right back. But I would also say that while 16 per cent is a good development, but if you look at what the WHO says the minimum number of minutes that one should exercise in a week is 150 minutes for adults and 424 minutes for children. But unfortunately, the numbers are very low for both adults and children in India.

There are still a lot of gaps. While people are doing it but they're not doing it enough, or it's not one of our priorities, we have a lot of excuses. But if you go to some of the other parts of the world, the more developed economies, people here have historically prioritised sport; it's just a part of their lifestyle. I think we need to pick this habit and the fundamental approach to sports has to change for all of us.

In India there is a dogma, people think that it digresses from good careers, good life, and good economic development, whereas it's the opposite. Economic development of countries is directly linked to sporting culture, sporting development, and academic performances of kids are linked as per the report. Everyone doesn’t become a sportsman but do go to other fields. Sports is super important because it teaches you all that that we spoke about. There is no way on earth we should deprioritize what we have and it has to be the main subject, sports today in school is just an extracurricular activity. I think for us this is the purpose, the campaign, is leading to certain outcomes and business.

On the line ‘Let there be Sport’, how did this come about?

I would say that it converges and encompasses all that we want to say.

On going down to the grassroots to talk about the importance of sports

We did what we needed to do and you heard Sunil Chhetri say that sports helped him and has given him an edge, but passion is required for everything. He said, when I started playing it was difficult to dribble and when you learn and master it, you enjoy it and you better yourself as you go forward. We need to shatter the dogma we have grown up with and look at how to develop sports in the country.

The problem is that we complain about no infrastructure and how can we develop sports, it's a chicken and egg story. If there is no awareness and people don't change their mindset, it will not happen overnight. We can’t just say, let us invest in infrastructure and next Olympics we will have champions. It's a process and the best everyone can do is to talk about it and build awareness. People have to talk about sports being critical for overall development.

On kids spending very little time in physical activities as per the report is it an urban phenomenon?

It's a phenomenon more in the urban area, but it is also something that is on the increase today because of screen time increasing. Smartphone penetration has huge advantages and there is a huge digression as well because it is addictive and then you fall into this zone where you keep on it. It's true for a lot of us and not just kids even in tier two and three markets. We all fall prey to doing something because it's convenient, it's within our reach and it is just so convenient. What we can do is talk about this and built awareness.

Including sports in the curriculum at the grassroots level

It is a bit beyond our scope to influence the academic curriculum. What we can do is get the campaign to the grassroots and there is a message, the kids will hear what Kohli and Chetri have to say. People will see it and that's why this research because research doesn't lie and it is a fact. The very fact is that it is also for parents to see that academic success and sports adoption go hand in hand.

The report also says; don't treat sports as an excuse and it can coexist between academic development, career development and personal life. The brand has affirmed to champion the cause of sport and advocate it as a life skill. The movement comes intending to disband the word ‘extra’ used typically for the subject of sport and integrate it into the main curriculum of educational institutions across the country.

On India emerging as a sporting nation in the past few years.

Today we are seeing OTT platforms and broadcasters. Also, there is more availability of live content and live sporting events. If you see from ten years back to today, how many sporting platforms are there where you can watch live content? I think that also has people investing a lot of money in and all of this to go together, one cannot follow the other. It has to happen simultaneously.

On the association for IPL and the marketing strategy for the campaign

We are associated with RCB and very excited about the association. We are trying to create content to connect with their fans. We have a very strong relationship with the team and a lot of the players use Puma products from the top level to the first timers, and we are happy with the kind of exposure we hav

On the reach and the brand available across the country

We have a multi-channel strategy we are there offline and online. We have our online platform as well. We have our own standalone stores, franchise stores and multiband stores. Our sales are coming from the tier two & three markets as well.