The Hindu Business Line : Big brand, big bucks

I t was an event conceived to reiterate India's economic superiority in the game of cricket and boy, has it been a success! The Indian Premier League (IPL) in three years has become one of the biggest brands in India. Every company in every sector wants to be associated with it in some form or the other. The reason is simple: IPL is the marriage of entertainment's two biggest money spinners, Bollywood and cricket.

The league has close to 94 brands associated with it, including the likes of DLF, Vodafone, Kingfisher, Hero Honda, Citibank, Adidas, Airtel, HSBC, Samsung, HDFC Standard Life Insurance, Reebok, Emirates, Ford and Ultratech. But despite the lack of success in the earlier editions, teams such as Kolkata Knight Riders and Kings XI Punjab have managed to bag the biggest sponsors purely on the Bollywood star power backing the teams. KKR and Kings XI have been two of the most profitable IPL teams. Team owners Shah Rukh Khan and Preity Zinta have helped the franchises bag global brands such as Nokia and Emirates Airlines as shirt sponsors respectively. Emirates, the shirt sponsor for Kings XI, usually sponsors the big European football clubs.

“It is interesting that franchises of two of the biggest Bollywood stars are the ones that are most profitable. This clearly shows that for an IPL franchise to be profitable it needs both success on the field and marketable names associated with the franchise,” said a sports analyst.

A valuation by Brand Finance says the IPL branded business value has doubled from $2.01 billion to the current $4.13 billion. According to Unni Krishnan, MD, Brand Finance India, the EPL is valued at $12 billion, to use an international benchmark.

Multiple Opportunities

With IPL coming back to India this year, the action is pitched at a higher decibel. The IPL this year threw up numerous advertising and sponsorship opportunities, ranging from television (Sony Max and Colors) and Internet (YouTube) to team sponsorships, ground sponsorships and theatre rights. At a time when online advertising is still in its infancy, Google has managed multi-crore deals for its live streaming of IPL matches through YouTube. It has roped in HSBC, Royal Challengers and HP as main sponsors. Among other top brands taking the sponsorship slots are Airtel, Coca Cola and Samsung. Sponsors' ads will also be featured on the IPL-branded Orkut community page, which will host team and player interviews, contests and match polls. Shailesh Rao, Managing Director of Google India and Media & Platforms, Asia Pacific, said, “The combination of on-demand access and interactive community featuring on YouTube provides a whole new avenue for advertisers to engage their audience.” The other major draw for IPL-3 was the growing popularity of bars and pubs screening the matches. In a masterstroke, the IPL sold rights for public broadcast of matches. While the IPL secured its income on one end, bar and pub owners were licking their lips at the prospect of another season of good business. UFO Moviez, which has exclusive rights for screening of matches at theatres and public places, is eyeing Rs 50-55 crore in revenues.

To bring in customers, multiplex owners are putting in a lot of effort to add the zing to these match screenings. “We are trying to create a stadium-like atmosphere in the hall. We'll be giving out placards and posters for 4s and 6s, and peppy music. We are also dividing the hall into two halves – one each for the two teams' supporters. There are also interactive games to engage the audience and add to the experience,” says Tushar Dhingra, COO, Big Cinemas.

Big Cinemas has also introduced a season pass for IPL with which a person can watch his favourite team play till the semi-final matches.

Multiplex operators are also betting big on revenues from food and beverage sales. Most are spicing up their menu by introducing full-fledged meals and combo meals including alcohol. UFO Moviez has signed up with almost 700 screens in the country and expects to add another 300 as the tournament progresses.

Screening of matches at public places has also given up-and-coming brands unmatched brand promotion. “We have tied up with some multiplexes where the matches are being screened and our brand name will be present on the screens showing the matches. We expect this to be a very successful brand promotion activity,” said Jasper Infotech's CEO, Kunal Bahl. Jasper runs the Web site SnapDeals.com as a platform for small retailers and food chains to undertake viral marketing campaigns.

Sponsors dictating the game

But as more and more sponsors are added to the burgeoning list of brands associated with the IPL, the game's format has started to be dictated by these very sponsors. The much criticised strategic time-outs have become nothing more than advertising slots to accommodate the numerous sponsors. The time-outs concept is similar to the American sporting leagues where the need to garner greater revenues resulted in multiple time-outs towards the end of the game when viewer interest is high.

“There are so many brands and sponsors that they all need to be given airtime. The latest innovation is the five-second advertising break just before the last ball of the over, which has been reserved for Karbonn Mobiles. As the stakes to hold on to the sponsors increase, you would see more such innovations to give the brands airtime,” says an analyst.

“The only problem is giving more airtime to sponsors takes away from T20's quickfire format. The five-minute break has come in for great criticism from viewers and cricket experts. But it is a brilliant marketing ploy,” he adds.

There is no doubt the IPL has helped generate immense amounts of money from cricket, but many believe the long-term future of the game has been put in jeopardy. Traditionally trained cricketers have shifted to the T20 style of cricket and tradition has gone out of the window.

The impact of IPL in its first three seasons has been greater than anyone expected. But the challenge for the league now lies in improving and continuing to set the benchmark for other similar sporting leagues. More importantly this has to be done by treading a careful balance between corporatisation while ensuring the essence of the game is not adversely affected.

Related Stories:
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