Shah Rukh Khan (left), Bollywood Producer and Actor, at XXX Launch

Makers of SJ XXX energy drinks are moving beyond sponsoring cricket and boxing and are now on the hunt for adventure sports like ultimate fighting and extreme skiing to tie up with.

In Mumbai, India, JMJ Group, has learned a lot since the launch of its new energy drink brand, SJ XXX (not to be confused with Triple X), in 30 cities in early 2010. JMJ Group has traditionally a real estate and hospitality firm, but Sachiin Joshi, vice-chairman and inventor of SJ XXX, helped steer the company towards energy drinks and they are  aggressively marketing their new brand.

SJ XXX was associated with Kolkata Knight Riders, the Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket team co-owned by producer and actor Shah Rukh Khan, when the quick-format cricket tournament —defined by its power hitting—was being played across India in March and April.

Cloud 9, which has been primarily associated with cricket, is among the brands such as Red Bull, Power Horse, Burn, Romanov Red, and SJ XXX that have flooded the Indian market. SJ XXX has since become the lead sponsor for the Commonwealth Boxing Championship, part of the Commonwealth Games to be played in New Delhi in October. For JMJ Group, adventure sports are next.

“It’s a bit of a challenge,” said the 26-year-old Sachiin Joshi, who is exploring the idea of launching fight nights, modelled around the Ultimate Fighting Championship in the US.  This is partly due to the competition from competing energy drinks: Red Bull, from Red Bull India Pvt. Ltd, intends to launch the Red Bull X-Fighters Jams exhibition tour, a competitive exhibition version of the global Red Bull X-Fighters property.

“It involves stunt bikes,” said Rohan Vyavaharkar, national communications manager at Red Bull India.  But Red Bull is already looking past ultimate fighting: Red Bull Air Racing, its world championship and cliff diving event, will also come to India by 2011-12. Globally, the Red Bull brand is already associated with adventure sports such as Formula 1 and Alpine skiing.  It makes sense that JMJ Group would be following in Red Bull’s footsteps.

Like Red Bull, JMJ wants to create a market for extreme sports through XXX. “We are keen to set up a winter sport like skiing,” said Joshi, but the market is already flooded with brands such as Cloud 9 from Goldwin Healthcare Pvt. Ltd; Power Horse of Austria’s Spitz KG, locally owned by Power Horse India Pvt. Ltd; Coca- Cola’s Burn, launched late last year; and Romanov Red from the UB Group, launched this year.

Cloud 9 is keen to sponsor the cricket World Cup 2011 and the next season of IPL, said Priyesh Ganatra, chairman and managing director of Goodwin Healthcare. Cloud 9 has been associated primarily with cricket, sponsoring the Chennai Super Kings team during IPL 2009, the India-Australia series in October and the India-South Africa series in February.

“Our investments in cricket have paid off. We got huge mileage because of Sachin Tendulkar’s double century in the India-Australia series,” said Ganatra. “We applauded his success through hoardings later. It was greatly beneficial in brand recall.” Hiren Pandit, managing partner (entertainment sports partnerships) at Group M, said Red Bull’s global success on the back of extreme sports meant it was natural for other firms to copy this strategy.

But Indians traditionally are not too fond of extreme sports, so could this marketing strategy backfire? “Apeing international brands is perhaps not the best way to go,” Pandit said, adding that the challenge for most energy drinks would be to find a niche of their own. Nanda said they could look at opportunities beyond sports. “As the market grows, one would see these brand filtering into other areas such as fashion, lifestyle, etc. The strategy should be to cover as many consumption occasions as possible to build sales,” he said.

Romanov Red from United Spirits Ltd is focused on sports and music-related activities, said business head Debashish Shyam. “Besides owing a team, we’ve also been part of sampling and promotional associations with other teams,” he said. Like anything else, diversification is key, even when marketing energy drinks.