ITH not-so subtle references to clich?s such as ?gentleman?s game?, ?apna game? associated with cricket in India the latest television ad from beverage brand Pepsi?s ?Change the Game? campaign puts the spotlight on football, instead of cricket.
Throughout the spot, Bollywood actor and Pepsi brand ambassador Ranbir Kapoor, on watching a young boy?s football skills, insists that he should definitely get into cricket. In the end, the boy outsmarts him by managing to get a bottle of Pepsi from a kiosk using his football and says that sometimes it is good to play football.
Times are changing and this commercial is a great example of that. It indicates that football is slowly gaining momentum in the country and youngsters are no longer obsessed with only cricket. In fact, not just soccer, but other sports such as hockey, F1, boxing, golf, etc., are slowly moving up the popularity chart in the country.
And with advertisers chasing a variety of sports, the sports sponsorship scene in the country is drastically changing.
Marketers are no longer putting all their eggs in one basket. Even though most brands are still investing a significant amount in cricket, some part of their sports sponsorship budget is now chasing other lucrative sports. The sports sponsorship market is valued at about R1800- 2000 crore, growing around 20-25% year-on-year, says Vinit Karnik, national director?entertainment sports and live events, Group M Media, part of WPP Group.
According to Prashant Singh, general manager, Octagon India, a global sponsorship consulting practice, the Indian sports sponsorship market constitutes 1% of the $119-billion global sports sponsorship market, as estimated by management consulting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers, and is expected to corner 5% of the global market by 2019.
Sports sponsorship in India has evolved in many ways over the years. One of the most important trends has been the increased investment in sports other than cricket. Says Singh of Octagon, ?Sports sponsorship has evolved in two distinct ways. One, is in the width of sports that brands are choosing to get associated with. Two, is in the width of brands that are now associating with sports sponsorships. And the third is the range of activation ideas that brands area deploying to maximise their RoI (return on investment) in sports sponsorships.?
The other interesting trend that has emerged in the sports and sports sponsorship area is the mushrooming of various leagues which have been inspired by the biggest and most successful sports league in the country?the twenty-twenty (T20) Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket tournament, a brainchild of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).
Says Karnik, ?The year 2008 was the game changing year for Indian cricket with the launch of IPL. IPL created history by getting capacity crowds at the stadium. The high entertainment quotient made sure that the female audience followed the league, adding to its fan base. IPL is an amazing package of entertainment and sports. Consumer engagement through glamour and entertainment powered by high quality sporting action is the way to go. India is now ready to look beyond cricket as well. With the success of the first Indian GP (Grand Prix) motor racing event last year, the next five years will see many more sporting leagues being launched.?
Some of the leagues that have come up following the success of IPL include World Series Hockey (WSH), Indian Boxing League (IBL), i1 Super Car Race Series and Premier League Soccer, World Series Boxing, Maharashtra Badminton League, Volleyball League, among many others (see box). Most of them follow the IPL format.
Even though it remains to be seen how most of these leagues perform, brands are evolving when it comes to sponsorships. Says Karnik, ?Choosing the right sport is directly linked to a brand?s communication objectives and target audience. There are many evaluation parameters that can assist brands in choosing the right sport. Today you see many brands looking at sponsorship as investment rather than just spend that will deliver RoI. While RoI is important, brands are fast realising the importance of taking sponsorship for longer terms (minimum 3 to 5 years) to be able to extract higher value and impact.?
Agrees Singh, ?There is no great effort that needs to be made. There are, today, more than enough case-studies of experiences of brands and sponsorship. In addition, there are metrics, qualitative and quantitative research, pre- and post-match evaluation experts, and so on. It is not difficult for brand, marketing and media professionals to find the right fit between the brand attributes and the attributes of a sport under consideration.?
Telecom brand Vodafone which is one of the sponsors of IPL, is also the title sponsor of the Vodafone McLaren Mercedes Team (F1) in the Indian GP and a sponsor for WSH. Vodafone India- Rajasthan circle, in collaboration with Rajasthan Polo Club, organises the Vodafone Sirmur Cup. Says Anuradha Aggarwal, senior vice-president?brand communications and insights, Vodafone India, ?We continuously evaluate all sponsorships on the basis of cost of reach, as well as quality of consumer engagement. Based on the current response of the tournament (WSH) our investment seems justified.?
Pepsi, which has triggered the conversation about football gaining momemtum in a cricket-obsessed country, is launching a football league format ? Pepsi T20 Football. ?It is a revolutionary new format for amateurs, which combines the excitement and fun of the T20 style of playing with the speed, thrill and spirit of football. This has just been launched in Chennai and will be staged across seven cities in India over the next two months, says Homi Battiwalla, category director, colas, hydration and mango based beverages, PepsiCo India.
However, Battiwalla is quick to point out that the association with cricket continues. ?We believe that football is an emerging youth platform in India and Pepsi being at the forefront of popular youth passions, was well placed to focus on the sport along with cricket, movies and music. Having said that, I would like to clarify that there is no shift in our support for cricket. Pepsi, as a brand, strongly identifies with cricket in India and last year?s Change the Game campaign cemented that association. We will continue to build on our association with cricket in future also, as we have a long-term commitment to the sport.? Pepsi is the on-air associate sponsor for the 2012 IPL series, and one of the global sponsors of the International Cricket Council?s Twenty20 World Cup in Sri Lanka this year.
As of now, cricket is holding on to its exalted position, but the growing interest in other sports such as soccer, F1, etc., will certainly force it to fight harder for marketers? monies. Singh of Octagon attributes this to a number of reasons. He says, ?The genesis is in the exposure that other sports have received thanks to the explosion in the number of channels, international travel, people’s exposure to other sports through conversations and experiences, easy-to-understand nature of sports such as football and F1 (no calculations to be made by consumer) and the coverage of these sports in Indian newspapers ? editorially.?
Karnik, however, is sure that the sun has not yet set on the sub-continent’s passion for cricket. ?Many other sports disciplines are being launched in India but that does not mean cricket is losing out. Cricket still accounts for around 80% of the Indian sponsorship market. It?s just that too much cricket is played these days and therefore the perception of cricket losing its fans to other sports. Cricket still dominates and will continue to dominate for at least another 3-5 years till other sports catch up with their fan engagement programmes.?
According to Karnik, football, hockey and motorsports are the sports that will gain momentum. Talking about the current leagues he says, ?The recently launched Bridgestone World Series Hockey created high interest level across the media fraternity and got a very encouraging response from the audience and the corporates. The Indian hockey team qualifying to the London Olympics will ensure media and audience interest in this. Mumbai Fighters, the Indian boxing franchisee performed very well and entered in the quarter finals of their inaugural outing in the World Series Boxing (WSB). We also recently saw culmination of Bollywood and sports at the launch of the Mixed Martial Arts league titled ?Super Fight League?. It?s been an encouraging beginning for these sports in India as they look to engage the fans and capitalise on the hype around the launch of these leagues.?
Singh predicts football, F1, tennis and golf to be the biggest gainers when measured by the size of investments in the near future. ?Badminton, and basketball will also see growth, but not at the same scale.?
The biggest writing on the wall is that more leagues are expected to be launched in India, thus resulting in more sports and formats for marketers to place their bets on. Says Karnik, ?We will surely see more leagues being launched in multiple sporting disciplines. We will also see a lot of international representation in terms of franchisee, licensing and merchandising in India.? According to him, a lot of focus will be given to build infrastructure for sports at the grassroot level and sports academies in various disciplines will grow.
According to Singh, within sports, depending on the maturity of the sport in India, there will be more innovations each passing year. ?For example, with the IPL, sponsors who have been invested from the earlier years are constantly trying to improve RoI as they get more familiar with the product and the experience. MasterCard experimented with advance bookings for IPL matches in close coordination to the team franchisees this year.? He also predicts that all the brands associated with F1 will find ways to amplify their association and deliver greater RoI through the use of digital and social media to involve fans earlier, to engage more with them ? and profit from this new engagement.