Chandni.Mathur@expressindia.com
The ninth season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) will be more than just a cricket tournament, as Sony Pictures Networks India (SPN) will use the property to ‘spread the message of happiness and cheer’ to create an atmosphere of dignity and harmony in the country. Titled Ek India Happywala, the IPL campaign comprises seven films created by DDB Mudra. Using kids as the campaign protagonists, it seems that IPL has moved to a more socialistic theme as compared to its earlier campaigns revolving completely around the tournament. In Ek India Happywala however, the concept of IPL is in the background, while the socialistic theme takes centre stage.
NP Singh, CEO, SPN says that from programming content to contribution to society, the network wants to make Ek India Happywala its call-to-action. “Hence, our CSR initiatives in Sony Pictures Networks India will be cascaded under the aegis of the tagline. This is our way of ensuring that the ethos of the campaign stays alive much after the season is over,” he explains.
Over the last nine years, IPL’s marketing campaigns have become cultural mnemonics in household conversations right from the first campaign in 2008, Manoranjan ka Baap to India ka Tyohaar in 2015. The creative agencies too have been shuffled over the years with TBWA kick-starting the IPL campaigns for two years, followed by JWT for four years; Havas Worldwide came in for one season and DDB Mudra has been the incumbent agency for 2015 and 2016.
“DDB Mudra was selected essentially because they have good Hindi talent, which is a big problem in ad agencies which do presentations for Hindi channels in English. It has taken us and DDB Mudra around 16 meetings to put this whole campaign together,” says Neeraj Vyas, senior EVP and business head, Sony Max cluster, SPN India.
Sources indicate that the marketing spends are in the range of Rs 20-25 crore, a 10% increase as compared to the previous year. The campaign will be launched in three phases and all seven films will be out by the end of March. A lot of advertising is being done on channels across all genres outside SPN, and there are also different plans based on India’s performance at the World T20 tournament.
The films have been dubbed into regional languages as well for the South and Bangla feeds, to be showcased on Sony Six. The Hindi feed, commentary and graphics will be on Sony Max, the English feed on Sony ESPN and the Telugu, Tamil and Bangla feeds will be on Sony Six. Additionally, there will be a lot of film promotions on Extraaa Innings this year. SPN has sold almost all its ad inventory, except some spots in the HD feed which are being sold at a premium of Rs 1,50,000-1,75,000 for 10 seconds. Rohit Gupta, president, network sales for SPN India says that the rates have doubled this year and the network has got a good response as HD viewing is growing in India.
In terms of the airtime, this year the network has reserved 60% for sponsors and 40% for spot buys, which will be sold at Rs 5,50,000-5,75,000.
@chandni_mathur
