Monday, January 19, 2026
bigbasket Extends RCB Tie-Up to Women’s Team
The GMA Admin
bigbasket renews its quick commerce tie-up with RCB, extending the partnership to the RCB Women’s team and spotlighting women’s cricket.
Partnership expands to RCB Women
bigbasket, a TATA Enterprise, has continued its association with Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) as the official quick commerce partner, and this season the brand is putting a clearer spotlight on the RCB women’s team. The collaboration originally began in 2024 with the men’s team and has since developed into a deeper, multi-season association. The partnership was further strengthened in 2025 when bigbasket extended its association to include the RCB women’s team as well.
This renewed direction is framed as more than a logo-on-jersey sponsorship, because bigbasket is positioning the partnership around the momentum of women’s cricket and the way the women’s league is rapidly shaping modern fandom in India. In the brand’s narrative, women’s cricket has quickly become a platform for talent, ambition, and aspiration, and the league’s visibility is creating fresh role models for young women athletes across the country. That context matters because sponsorships increasingly succeed when they align with a cultural movement, not only a season calendar.
From a brand-fit angle, bigbasket is linking what happens on the pitch with what it promises off the pitch, especially around speed, trust, and consistency in a fast-moving India. The company is drawing a parallel between the women’s game, which it describes as redefining speed, skill, and competitiveness, and bigbasket’s focus on fast and reliable delivery for everyday essentials. That is a classic sports-marketing approach: connect a product benefit to a sporting attribute, then reinforce it repeatedly through match-season storytelling so it sticks in memory.
Leadership commentary also signals that bigbasket intends to treat the women’s association as a priority lane rather than a side extension of the men’s partnership. Hari Menon, co-founder and CEO of bigbasket, has said the partnership with RCB has grown meaningfully over the past two years and that the added focus on the RCB women’s team is a point of pride for the company. He also described the women’s league as an exciting new chapter for Indian cricket and emphasized alignment between the pace of the game and bigbasket’s promise of speed and convenience, while tying the association to a broader commitment to supporting women’s sport.
From the franchise side, RCB’s leadership has echoed the same growth narrative around the women’s game. Rajesh Menon, COO of Royal Challengers Bengaluru, has said women’s cricket in India continues to rise and positioned RCB as being proud to contribute to that progress. He also framed the bigbasket relationship as an enduring partnership rooted in performance, consistency, and a fan-first ethos, linking it to the sport’s strengthening season after season.
A practical reading of this announcement is that it formalizes a “multi-team, multi-season” approach that makes it easier for bigbasket to build continuity in messaging, rather than reinventing creative concepts every year. It also gives the brand a runway to create distinct narratives for different audiences: the men’s IPL following and the women’s league following, which overlap but are not identical in expectations, engagement patterns, and community conversations. The best partnerships avoid treating women’s sport as an add-on and instead build dedicated creative that respects the team’s identity, players, and fan culture, while still remaining unmistakably the sponsor’s voice.
At the campaign level, bigbasket and RCB have already shown interest in digital-first fan engagement during their earlier association, which provides a playbook for how this women’s-team focus can be activated. During the IPL 2025 partnership announcement, reporting noted that bigbasket launched a hyperlocal digital campaign tapping into Bengaluru’s culture, using the Kannada word “andre,” and featuring RCB captain Virat Kohli along with teammates, with Danish Sait appearing in his “Mr. Nags” persona as a bigbasket delivery partner to land the “10 minutes” quick commerce cue. While the women’s-team season will require its own creative language, the underlying method is relevant: localized cultural cues, a crisp performance promise, and content designed to travel on social platforms.
In many sponsorships, the biggest risk is generic messaging that could belong to any brand, any team, any sport. The opportunity here is specificity: RCB Women has its own tone, its own “Women in Red and Gold” identity in fan communication, and a growing base of supporters who want coverage that is not a watered-down copy of the men’s narratives. When the sponsor invests in that specificity, it usually earns deeper goodwill, because fans recognize effort. When it doesn’t, the partnership can feel transactional, and transactional sponsorships are the first to be ignored in crowded match-day feeds.
There is also a timing advantage. Women’s sport sponsorship is becoming more competitive, but it is still early enough that brands can win disproportionate attention if they commit consistently and show up with quality storytelling. That means not only match-day posts, but also behind-the-scenes content, training-day micro-stories, community initiatives, and practical fan moments that connect the sponsor to real life. For a quick commerce brand, those “real life” moments are naturally plentiful: last-minute match snacks, household essentials during a game night, early morning breakfast before a stadium visit, or the small rituals of fandom that happen at home.
Because bigbasket’s core proposition is convenience for everyday essentials, it can craft narratives that feel helpful rather than intrusive, as long as the content stays grounded in fan needs instead of purely sales-driven slogans. The most effective version of this partnership is not one where every post is a direct call to order, but one where the brand becomes part of the season’s rhythm. That rhythm is built by consistency: show up before matches, during matches, after matches, and in the quiet in-between days when audiences still want connection to the team.
Why women’s cricket matters for brands
This announcement explicitly positions women’s cricket as a fast-rising platform with cultural weight, and bigbasket is choosing to attach its brand message to that rise. The company’s framing emphasizes that, in a short span, the women’s league has become a powerful stage for talent and ambition, inspiring fans and creating new athletic role models for young women across India. That is a meaningful statement for marketers because it points to a deeper shift: women’s sport is not only “another property to sponsor,” but a space where audiences often reward brands that show genuine respect, long-term intent, and thoughtful representation.
For years, sports marketing in India has leaned heavily on the gravitational pull of men’s cricket. That will continue, but the growth of women’s cricket opens up a complementary track where brands can shape perception early, build emotional equity, and reach communities that may be underserved by traditional sports advertising. Importantly, the creative expectations can be different. Fans who follow women’s cricket often notice when coverage is superficial or when the spotlight is only switched on for a few weeks. They also notice when a partner invests in storytelling that treats players as complete professionals rather than novelty.
This is where “multi-season” thinking matters. A brand can buy visibility for one season, but trust is built by showing up repeatedly. In the announcement, the partnership is described as having grown into a deeper, multi-season association that started in 2024 and strengthened further in 2025 by extending to the women’s team. That continuity lets bigbasket develop a recognizable presence around RCB’s cricket ecosystem, and it reduces the friction of reintroducing itself to audiences each year.
For brands, women’s sport sponsorship also offers a chance to modernize brand voice. The audiences engaging with women’s cricket content are often highly active on social platforms, quick to discuss storylines, and ready to build communities around athletes. This suits a digital-first partner, especially one in quick commerce where the purchase funnel can be short and mobile-driven. The sponsorship can function as a top-of-funnel trust builder while social content and app experiences handle conversion, provided the messaging stays consistent and the product experience delivers on the promise.
Another reason the women’s league is a marketing opportunity is narrative clarity. Many people still underestimate how much sports fandom is about stories rather than statistics. The stories in women’s cricket today often revolve around ambition, rapid growth, barriers being broken, and new identities being formed. bigbasket is aligning itself with that story by explicitly talking about women’s cricket’s impact and by expressing commitment to supporting women’s sport. The effectiveness of that alignment will depend on follow-through: does the brand invest in real visibility for the women’s team, provide equal creative quality, and show up across the season instead of just during peak moments?
From a brand-safety point of view, women’s sport has also tended to be less polarized than some other sponsorship categories, though that can change as viewership grows and stakes rise. Still, for many consumer brands, the tone around women’s cricket can be a strong match: aspirational, community-driven, and emotionally engaging. In such contexts, even small activations can earn outsized attention if executed with authenticity.
There is also a local identity layer in this partnership. RCB is strongly associated with Bengaluru, and bigbasket has previously leaned into Bengaluru-specific culture in campaign work around the association. That type of localization can work well for women’s cricket too, because it helps turn a national league conversation into a city-and-community conversation. When fans see their culture represented, the team feels closer, and the sponsor feels less like an outsider.
In practical terms, a women’s team partnership gives a brand more creative canvas: more players to spotlight, more match moments, more human-interest stories, and more opportunities to build micro-campaigns that don’t get lost in the louder noise of men’s cricket advertising. It can also enable a brand to build programs beyond match content, such as skill development, community sports initiatives, or collaborations that highlight women’s participation in fitness and sport. Even if those initiatives are not part of this specific announcement, the narrative language used by both organizations suggests an awareness of women’s cricket as a movement rather than only an entertainment product.
Ultimately, the brands that win in women’s sport are usually the ones that understand they are not just borrowing attention; they are joining a conversation. That means the partnership’s creative should avoid clichés and instead focus on what fans actually care about: excellence, preparation, pressure moments, team culture, and the emotional arc of a season. If bigbasket can keep its convenience message in the background while foregrounding the team’s story, it can build goodwill that lasts beyond a single campaign burst.
What bigbasket gains as a quick commerce player
The headline benefit is straightforward: by remaining the official quick commerce partner and renewing focus on the women’s team, bigbasket secures a high-frequency presence in sports content during a period when quick commerce brands are competing heavily for mindshare. But the deeper value sits in brand positioning. bigbasket is framing the partnership around shared values like high performance and consistency, while also mapping the sport’s speed to the brand’s delivery promise. That helps the brand communicate “why us” in a crowded market where many platforms offer similar categories and similar delivery timelines.
Quick commerce is, by nature, a category where consumer decisions can be habit-driven. People often open the app they trust most, not the one with the loudest ad. Trust is built through reliability, and reliability is reinforced when the brand consistently associates itself with performance-led stories. Sports is one of the few mass cultural spaces where “performance” is not an abstract marketing word but an observable reality. By tying itself to a professional team, the brand borrows that performance frame and uses it to anchor its own promise of dependable delivery.
The partnership also provides an ongoing stream of content triggers. Every match offers pre-match anticipation, live moments, post-match reactions, and behind-the-scenes narratives. That steady content engine is valuable for social algorithms, especially when the brand can integrate itself without hijacking the moment. bigbasket’s earlier RCB campaign approach shows it understands social-first creative, using culturally familiar language and well-known personalities tied to the franchise ecosystem. Translating that to the women’s team could mean spotlighting players and fan rituals in a way that feels native to the team’s voice.
The “fan-first ethos” mentioned by RCB’s COO is also significant, because it suggests the partnership is being framed around fan experience, not only sponsorship inventory. For a quick commerce brand, fan experience can be made tangible. It can mean enabling watch-party readiness, last-minute essentials, or even small convenience moments that reduce friction on match days. When the product is integrated into lived routines, the sponsorship becomes more than awareness; it becomes a mental shortcut: match day equals bigbasket, because bigbasket is the brand that helps match day run smoothly.
Another advantage is that the partnership allows bigbasket to build segmentation in its messaging. Some audiences may respond to the speed narrative. Others may respond to the commitment to women’s sport. Others may respond to the city pride angle around Bengaluru and RCB. bigbasket can rotate these themes across the season without diluting the core message, as long as the brand voice stays consistent.
This is also a moment for bigbasket to communicate modern brand values without drifting into performative messaging. In the leadership quote, Hari Menon explicitly linked the partnership to supporting women’s sport and being part of platforms shaping the future of Indian athletics. When a brand says something that direct, audiences will look for proof points in execution: equal creative quality, meaningful airtime, and real engagement around the women’s team. If the brand delivers, the statement becomes credible. If it doesn’t, the statement becomes a vulnerability.
From a marketing operations standpoint, multi-season partnerships can also improve efficiency. Creative teams can build reusable templates, tone guides, and content pipelines. Media planning can be optimized over time. Measurement frameworks can become clearer because there are multiple seasons of data to compare against. While those operational elements are not part of the announcement, they are often the hidden benefits that make a sponsorship more valuable over time than a one-off media buy.
For RCB, having a quick commerce partner with a clear promise of speed and everyday reliability can complement the franchise’s broader ecosystem of fan engagement content. For bigbasket, the women’s-team focus offers an opportunity to stand for something beyond delivery. The brand can position itself as a supporter of a cultural shift, while still keeping its product message relevant and practical.
There is also a strategic alignment in how both sides talk about “consistency.” In sports, consistency is what separates occasional brilliance from championship-level performance. In commerce, consistency is what turns trial into habit. The partnership language uses that shared value explicitly. That kind of value-based messaging can be more durable than promotional messaging, because it holds up even when the season has ups and downs.
The biggest challenge will be execution in a saturated sponsorship environment. Fans see many logos and many “official partner” announcements, and their default reaction is often indifference. The brands that break through are the ones that create repeatable moments fans actually want to watch, share, and remember. bigbasket’s prior use of entertainment-led content and local flavor suggests it has a creative direction to build on. The women’s-team focus gives it a chance to refresh that direction with new faces, new stories, and a new season arc.
What to watch next
The announcement clearly frames this as an ongoing relationship entering another season, with women’s cricket receiving greater spotlight through bigbasket’s partnership focus. The next phase to watch is how that spotlight translates into tangible visibility: the frequency and quality of women’s-team content, the balance between product messaging and team storytelling, and whether the partnership builds distinct creative assets for the women’s squad rather than reusing men’s-team formats.
Another key area will be the tone of communication. In many campaigns, brands default to generic “cheer for the team” messaging. That tends to fade into the background. The stronger approach is to commit to specific storylines: preparation, training, leadership, resilience, and the human arc of competitive sport. If the brand’s creative choices reflect a real understanding of the women’s game and the team’s culture, it will feel earned.
It will also be worth watching whether the partnership creates fan experiences that are genuinely useful. Quick commerce is a practical category, so activations that solve real problems can perform better than purely flashy branding. The most effective ideas are often simple: timely reminders, match-day bundles that feel curated, or experiences that connect the sponsor to real match rituals without being intrusive.
On the business side, the partnership language leans heavily on speed, convenience, and reliability as the shared connective tissue. That suggests the campaign narratives will continue to lean on “fast” as a creative anchor, just as earlier RCB partnership communications emphasized the “10 minutes” promise in campaign storytelling. If bigbasket can communicate speed while also emphasizing dependable service quality, it can avoid the common quick commerce trap where speed claims become interchangeable across brands.
Finally, there is the broader cultural dimension. Both sides have explicitly spoken about women’s cricket’s rise and the role the partnership can play as the sport grows stronger each season. That puts an implicit responsibility on the partnership to treat women’s sport as a main stage. If the execution matches the language, bigbasket can build a strong reputation not only as a quick commerce platform, but also as a brand that invests in the future of Indian sport in a consistent and visible way.