Big brands vie for Twenty20 title sponsorship

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Mumbai, Sep 25: When one is about to witness an event that will crown the champion of champions, it is only obvious that the best of the corporate giants will race to get associated with it. Industry sources disclose, brands including Nokia, Pepsi, LG and Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (ADAG) are in the race to win the title sponsorship for the upcoming cricket event Champions League Twenty20, which represents three cricket boards including the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), Cricket Australia and Cricket South Africa. Sources also disclose that brands including Videocon and Vodafone and other domestic brands could also contest for various sponsorship rights. The tournament which will be played in India between December 3-10 has already been tagged as the highest value cricket tournament on a per game basis.

During the official launch of the tournament and unveiling of the logo, Manu Sawhney, managing director, ESPN Star Sports, which has acquired the media and marketing rights of a tournament for a whopping $975 million (upwards of Rs 4,000 crore), told FE, “Since we hold all commercial rights for the tournament, we can sell tailor-made packages to advertisers depending on their need.” Since international cricket boards are participating in this tournament, a majority of the brands that will get associated with the event are of global stature. And so sponsorship rights will be sold at a premium price especially the airtime slots on the channel. Therefore, a domestic brand can skip buying the on-air ad slot and just stick to other sponsorship rights depending on their communication needs and the extent of visibility they need for the brand, said Sawhney. The different categories of sponsorships that the company will sell are title sponsorship, on-air, ground sponsorship, umpire sponsorship, and merchandise. The individual team sponsors remain unchanged.