Tuesday 28 April 2015

IPL: Super Bowl for Advertisers

Cricket is most watched game in India. It may be because of famous cricketers like Sachin, Kapil Dev, MS Dhoni and others or it is due to back to back cricketing action. Despite five months of regular cricket, the hype around the sport is far from waning. Advertiser’s interest in the Indian Premier League (IPL) is proof of this. There were many successful campaigns launched between these time periods including the most successful #MaukaMauka campaign in India. 

IPL tournament is similar to Super Bowl in US, the annual championship of the National Football League (NFL), which is known for Brands showcasing of their biggest campaigns of the season. There are some of the big spenders in on advertising in the popular cricketing league this year. Amazon India latest campaign and its biggest so far have managed to capture the attention of audiences with its catchy jingle and tag line: ‘aur dikhao’ (show more). The advertisement has been created by Orchard Advertising.
Hector Beverages Pvt. Ltd has rolled out its first television and multimedia campaign for its range of Indian ethnic beverages under the Paper Boat Brand. Vodafone India has chosen to lead its biggest campaign so far this year by highlighting the speed and efficiency of its 3G network. The mobile commerce firm Paytm continues with its advertising spree on television and other mediums. The company has said it is setting aside Rs 50 Crore just for this season of IPL out of total advertising budget this year.

The cola brand has taken to crowdsourcing for its latest campaign for IPL crash the Pepsi IPL. As part of the global Pepsi Challenge Program, the company is asking consumers to make a 30 second advertisement showing their love for brand. Winners will get exciting prizes. Snapdeal has roped in Hindi movie actor Aamir Khan for its latest campaign, with the tagline, ‘Dil ki Deal’. These advertisers are spending Crore in outreaching customers and compete with their competitors.

There are other advertisers who are not spending in TV ad but are spending in getting their names placed on Players jerseys and caps. Mankind, Rupa, Nokia, Aircel, Hero Honda, Royal Challenge, Videocon, UltraTech, WHSmith, Spice Jet, Just Dial are among the ones. In my opinion it is a tournament where advertisers are spending around 1000 crore this year. This is a good symbol for Indian Economy and other leagues in different sports will make companies to spend more money on advertisement.

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