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Indian Premier League (IPL) 9th edition is underway and with only a week into the tournament, sponsors have begun ramping up their association with the league and its respective teams. The question remains how effectively have the brands used this platform & association to meet their brand objectives? With 100+ brands coming on board each year to associate itself with the tournament, it is very important for these brands to supplement such an association with an effective marketing campaign.
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VIVO who are a fairly new entrant into the Indian mobile handset market realized the significance of cricket in India and jumped on the IPL bandwagon by replacing Pepsi as title sponsors for the next two editions. VIVO aims to increase its current market share, which is currently 1-2%, to 5-6% in the next year. As part of their marketing strategy, VIVO have allocated INR 200 crore for a 360-degree marketing campaign during the IPL, which include all kinds of media – ATL, BTL, Print, TVC & on-ground activations. The VIVO sponsored Hi-Fi Box at all IPL matches’ gives the fans the best seats in the house (stadium). This is supplemented by their aggressive outdoor campaign that went live January end across the country. VIVO has further spent heavily on advertisement spots across television channels with their TV campaign, which went live a week ago, and is expected to run throughout the IPL. This aggressive marketing campaign that went live January end has gained pace in recent weeks and is expected to gain further momentum as the IPL progresses. (Source: BCCI)
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Each year IPL and its sponsors not only deliver 'cricket-ainment' but also make sure the fans are kept actively engaged with various innovative and fun activities. Vodafone, who have been associated with the IPL since it’s inception 9 years ago, have continued their association in this edition too. Each year Vodafone allocates a significant 20-35% of their annual marketing budget to IPL activations & campaigns. Vodafone SuperFan, an interactive on-ground activation by Vodafone was a huge hit last year. It gave a lucky Vodafone customer an opportunity to watch the match live & get the match-ball signed by the winning captain. Counting on this success, Vodafone have continued with Vodafone SuperFan along with other fun contests & activities like –Vodafone FanArmy, Dance to #HakkeBakke, Vodafone SuperCheer & Vodafone SuperAlbum. Saransh Gulati, part of the Onspon brand partnership team says that, ‘this is as close as it gets. Over the years, Vodafone has made sure that it’s customers & cricket-enthusiasts get to experience its association with the league in the best way possible. Such activations go a long-way in sustaining the consumer & fan connect and frenzy with the league. Nowadays, people actually look forward to seeing the Vodafone Army & Super Fan at each match.” (Source: BCCI)
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A similar trend can be seen with team-level sponsors as well. Each year on an average an IPL team attracts a minimum of 10-12 sponsors and partners. With over 80 brands associated with various IPL teams, it’s even more important for a team sponsor to supplement this association with effective marketing campaign & association. For example – Britannia, who have been associated through their various brands with teams like – Kings XI Punjab & Royal Challengers Bangalore, have continued their association this year as well, as an associate sponsor of Kings XI Punjab. The Britannia Good Day #FunjabiFunde digital IPL campaign last year was top 3 trending hashtags (national) for half a day. From digital, Britannia continued this campaign in their TVC as well which had multiple Kings XI Punjab players & Baba Happy Singh, the star of the #FunjabiFunde campaign. The objective of the campaign was to position Good Day as a fun spirited brand. According to reports, the campaign was such a huge success that Britannia Good Day was one of the top sponsors in terms of top of the mind recall & association with the IPL. (Source: BCCI)
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Similarly, Gionee, who came on-board as principal sponsors of Kolkata Knight Riders last year on a 3-year deal worth Rs 54 crore supported this association with a further Rs 20 crore expenditure on advertisement slots during the IPL season last year. This fiscal year, Gionee plans to spend a further Rs 150 crore in sync with the IPL season among its other marketing campaigns. Such activations and campaign helped Gionee improve its brand popularity and market share in the country. (Source: BCCI)
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Even niche and lesser-known brands like – CP Plus aggressively used their association with IPL (Principal Sponsor, Rajasthan Royals, 2015) last year by spending heavily on TV campaigns across various television channels during the IPL season to gain a high top of the mind recall. (Source: BCCI)
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Over the years IPL has attracted all kinds of brands, from new-age brands like VIVO, Oxigen, CP Plus, Freecharge to well-established brands like Britannia, Vodafone, Hero Cycles, Tata Prima Motors etc. Most of these brands have invested significant amount of effort and resources in and around such an association. Thus, even with it’s difficulties and headlining the newspapers and news channels for the wrong reasons, IPL remains one of the biggest and most trusted platforms in the country for all kind of brands to showcase their product, services and meet their marketing objectives. (Source: BCCI)
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