Which is tougher? Competing on the cricket field with the hopes of 1.2 billion people weighing on one's shoulders, or ensuring that the huge share of marketing budgets invested in the game yield commensurate - or better still, disproportionate - returns? A super-simplistic answer can be found by counting the number of teams in the fray for the World Cup, or for that matter, the IPL, and the number of brands fighting for consumer attention while riding on cricket.

The estimated ad spend on official broadcaster ESPN Star Sports during the 2011 World Cup is Rs 700 crore. IPL 4 is touted to be even bigger. Common sense tells us that the returns on World Cup investments will hinge on the Indian team's performance. The Indian Premier League, with its shorter format, loyalty and interest spread across teams, and packaging that delivers reality show-like excitement, involves lesser risk in terms of viewership numbers (on broadcaster SET Max). But any which way one looks at it, the number of brands riding on cricket and the committed spends pose a huge challenge for marketers.

Given the intense battle for attention using cricket as a platform, on television and through other avenues, brands have to communicate and engage with telling effect to cut through the clutter. Over the years, some brands have done just that. The tougher the competitive scenario, the better the advertising - or so it seems. There is a consensus among marketing and advertising professionals on one such successful campaign: Pepsi's ‘Nothing Official About It' ambush at the 1996 Wills World Cup.

“The Pepsi ‘Nothing official about it' campaign was really the first big ambush marketing exercise in India. And it was hugely successful; it connected with the market. Another was the Nike film (street cricket), which captured the spirit and energy of cricket beyond cricketers, endorsements and sponsorships. “It got the pulse of a cricket-crazy country racing, refreshingly,” notes Lloyd Mathias, President and CMO, Tata Teleservices. “There were also some films for HSBC that I thought were outstanding. It's another thing that they were not really given enough mass media exposure.”

Ad veteran and communications consultant Ramesh Narayan concurs with the view on Pepsi's campaign. “There's such a lot of talk on ambush marketing now. Let's not forget that this was done way back in 1996,” he says.

The creative head for the Nike street cricket commercial, Agnello Dias, now co-founder and creative head at Taproot India, is in love with the Pepsi ambush too. “I remember Pepsi campaigns from the early years of brands using cricketers. From ‘Nothing official about it', to using Sachin and Shah Rukh at their prime, there is a good body of work by the brand. I also recall the ad with multiple kids wearing the Sachin ‘masks',” says Dias.

Dias also recalls commercials for adidas featuring Sachin, and Reebok work featuring ‘The Wall', Rahul Dravid. Among his favourites are a promo by channel Sony, featuring Kapil Dev and a little boy playing cricket, for its theme ‘ Deewana Bana De '. “It gelled well with what they were trying to do while using cricket and a cricketer.”

The hugely popular Vodafone Zoozoos were actually created to cut through the clutter of brands at the IPL, explains Piyush Pandey, Executive Chairman and Creative Director (South Asia), O & M. Marketers agree that it worked wonders, and is an example of what competition can do to generate great communication. Pandey says, “The idea started with this question: ‘What can we do for IPL?' We created a TVC for each day of the IPL with Zoozoos. And it lived on well beyond the tournament. It has also gone way beyond the television commercials, to on-ground, digital and social media. If you are going to advertise for 40 days on the trot, the viewer is going to get fatigued if you keep showing the same commercial every day.”

Pandey is of the view that the idea should be to use the popularity of the game to advertise the product. “The idea need not revolve around cricket,” he notes, citing the example of the popular ‘One black coffee please' campaign by handset maker Ericsson. The campaign was timed to release during the 1996 World Cup.

For S. Ravikiran, till recently CEO-South Asia and Emerging Market Leader-Specialist Solutions, Starcom MediaVest Group, and a few others, the most memorable brand associations with cricket start with Ravi Shastri's coming back home with an Audi after the Benson & Hedges Cup in Australia. “I would also name the Britannia 50:50 Third Umpire campaign and the ‘Britannia Khao, World Cup Jao' campaign of 1999,” he says. More recently, Aircel's association with the Chennai Super Kings for the IPL also finds favour with him.

Consistency in associating with cricket is critical, say brand watchers. Says Ramanujam Sridhar, CEO, brand-comm: “MRF has stayed with cricket for a while now. From Pace Academy to ‘Legends of Cricket' and more, it has continued to associate with cricket. The key to leveraging cricket association in marketing is a long-term commitment to the game or to the interest. Pepsi has also done it wonderfully well over the years. They also have the luxury of being on both platforms - cricket and entertainment. Not all brands can afford that.”

MRF hasn't allowed its consistent association with cricket since the early days to go unnoticed. India Cements' Head of Marketing Rakesh Singh notes: “MRF has always been associated with cricket. I recall their ‘ Kya bat hai ' campaign, which was interpreted by many as ‘ Kya baat hai '.” Singh also recollects one of the earliest brand associations with cricket, where Brylcreem roped in Farokh Engineer.

In one form or the other, brands in several categories, and of a certain scale, don't have the option of staying away from cricket. To entertainingly engage consumers is the challenge. In their quest to maximise visibility, some even rub viewers the wrong way.

While admitting that there is a case of overkill by some brands, marketers are quick to remind us that the game of cricket is as big as it is today because of television and the advertising it allows. Advertising in turn allows the viewer to watch the game at a minimal cost, further fuelling the game's popularity. But ordinary advertising, irritatingly and intrusively repeated, seems like a sure fire recipe for brands' failure.

As the curtains go up on the ICC World Cup on February 17, and the IPL soon after, we'll know which brands made the cut.

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