As the IPL fever catches on, brands are gearing up for marketing wars.
For one, the cola war is heating up with PepsiCo betting big on IPL as the title sponsor, official partner with eight of the IPL teams and expected to make a huge splash on SET Max as the co-presenting sponsor. Coca-Cola India, on the other side, has its association with Mumbai Indians and has picked up a significant inventory on SET Max to launch its campaign. The beverage major is also expected to make a big splash outside the IPL for the summer season.
Media planners believe PepsiCo latched on to the team sponsorship largely to protect its title sponsorship and fend off rivals taking the sheen out of its big-buck campaign. Shripad Kulkarni, CEO, Percept Media, said, “Brand wars tend to become ego trips, leading them to over-spend with an ineffective marcom (marketing and communication) channel mix.”
Take Star India, which has managed to grab the official partner slot at the Indian Premier League to promote its general entertainment channel Star Plus. This was even as Multi Screen Media. that owns channels such as Sony, SET Max, is the official broadcaster.
Though MSM India CEO Manjit Singh said that it does not impact the broadcaster and shows that Star recognises the popularity and power of IPL.
Consumer initiatives
Mona Jain, CEO VivaKi Exchange, said, that several telecom and mobile players are leveraging on the IPL through broadcast or team sponsorships, and competing to grab eyeballs. Aircel has launched a consumer initiative with Chennai Super Kings – Extra Talk Time with CSK. With its full talk time of Rs 164, the company will offer extra talk time whenever CSK scores above 164 runs. For example, in a match, if CSK scores 180 runs, the customers will get an extra talk time of Rs 16 (valid for 15 days).“We aim to leverage the great following that cricket and IPL have in our country. CSK is the most successful team in IPL and this year their success will bring a cheer to Aircel customers as well,” Anupam Vasudev, Chief Marketing Officer, Aircel, said. Videocon Group has also signed Mumbai Indians as the team’s official partner. The brand activation will create intermix of print, radio and electronic outreach. It aims to connect with every Indian through the Mumbai Indian association with its ‘Dil se Indian, Jaan se Indian’ campaign.
Vodafone has also launched Vodafone SuperFan contest in which during each of the 76 matches of the tournament, 76 lucky Vodafone customers will get a money-can’t-buy experience. The winning customers will get picked up at home in a luxury car, be driven to the match in style, sit in the hospitality box, get goodies and a match ball autographed by the winning captain on live TV.