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International Journal of Research in Business, Economics and Management Vol.2 Issue 3 May-June 2018 www.ijrbem.com

“Social Media Marketing in Business: A Case Study of IPL”

ABSTRACT

In recent past online social media has played a pivotal role in sharing of information and opinions on real time events. In this study, we performed a detailed analysis of a sports event called the Indian for both and Twitter. Methodology:

The research aims to answer the question of how one business recognized for using social media to grow the business, uses social media to engage customers. The research used a qualitative approach and adopted the case study methodology. Exploratory work must be done in order to determine the nature of the variation in the situation.

Through thematic and content analysis the researcher aimed to acquire an initial understanding of the type of content shared by the business and for what purpose. Such information provides a thick description of the phenomena. The research is not argued as the absolute truth but an attempt to explain a particular phenomenon. Findings:

The study shows the importance of social media marketing and various successful campaign activities led by several well-known brands. It highlights how companies can connect with audience vide social media that provides instant feedback and direct connection with the target audience. The study evaluated social media campaigns and identified best-suited channel. Expected learning outcomes:

The study may be focused on understanding the dynamics of social media marketing. Management students would have a huge learning in terms of how social media campaigns are developed and effectiveness of social media campaigns. The study explains the metrics to evaluate the success/effectiveness of such campaigns. KEYWORDS: IPL, Social media campaign, Content Analysis.

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International Journal of Research in Business, Economics and Management Vol.2 Issue 3 May-June 2018 www.ijrbem.com

INTRODUCTION

Cricket, though played only in a very few countries in the world, is still one of the most followed sports on social media. , as the second most populous country in the world, has the largest fan base of anywhere in the world.

IPL is the most watched cricket league in the world and with its recent TV broadcasting deal worth $2.5 Billion with India; these stats are bound to grow.

During the years, Facebook has become an important platform for fans and teams to engage and interact with each other. Here, we take a look at the IPL teams with the biggest fan followings on social media.

The is a cricket league in India held every year during the months of April and May. Ever since its founding by the BCCI in 2008, it has become increasingly popular, turning even non-cricket fans to the sport.

Cricket enjoys the second largest fan base of any sport in the world and nowhere is that passion more evident than on social media. In fact, the Indian Premiere League (IPL) is one the first leagues to ever broadcast matches live via YouTube. So it comes as no surprise that social media has become the new playground for cricket’s massive community of fans. If the sizzling social stats from the start of the IPL are any indication, the flourishing online community is set to grow faster than Dhoni sprinting between the .

The official IPL website has a ‘Social’ tab which captures all online conversations including a leaderboard for Tweets and mentions related to the tournament and each IPL team. IPL

The Indian Premier League (IPL) is the most-attended cricket league on Earth. It ranks sixth among sports leagues, and became the first sporting event in history to be broadcast live on YouTube back in 2010.

Brand IPL is a beast. It was pegged at a whopping $3.2 billion in 2014, and BCCI claims the 2015 IPL contributed $182 million to the Indian economy.

In 2016, the title sponsor of the IPL is Vivo Electronics. That means the league is now officially known as the Vivo Indian Premier League. Just like the IPL, the history of IPL’s title sponsorship is also muddled in a bit of controversy, confusion and drama.

Back in 2008, DLF, Indian's biggest real estate company, paid a hefty sum of Rs. 200 Crores (around $36.25 million), to own the title rights for the first five years of the tournament. However, after the given period, DLF decided not to renew its contract. This forced BCCI to issue a new tender, with a base price of Rs. 300 Crores.

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International Journal of Research in Business, Economics and Management Vol.2 Issue 3 May-June 2018 www.ijrbem.com

This was also the time when the scandal struck hard, and there was widespread skepticism about the future of the tournament.

In the 2013 season of the IPL, , and S Sreesanth were arrested over charges of spot- fixing.

There were allegations that Super Kings team principle Gurunath Meiyappan and Royals co-owner Raj Kundra were involved in betting.

The BCCI banned the three cricketers for life, CSK and were banned from the tournament for two years and Meiyappan and Kundra, were banned for life.

Anyway, Pepsi struck a new title sponsorship deal in 2012. The amount was almost double the original title sponsorship deal DLF signed back in 2008, and everybody was happy. Officials were positive that despite all the negative colours IPL had been painted in, the league will endure.

The deal was clinched for a solid Rs 396.8 Crores (around $71.77 million) for the next five years (2013-17). Airtel, India’s largest telecom company also bid Rs. 316 crores (around $57.27 million), but was obviously outbid.

However, in 2015, the beverage giant pulled out from a five-year deal that was to end in 2017. PepsiCo's decision to end its deal with IPL was reportedly caused by the spot-fixing scandal which shook the game in 2013.

In 2016, mobile company Vivo replaced PepsiCo as the title sponsor of the Indian Premier League (IPL), and the game continues.

SOCIAL MEDIA ROLE

In India, Facebook usage by brands picked up in early 2008 when the latter started using the platform's 'Pages' to build a loyal fan base. The omnipresent 'Like' button was then called 'Become a fan'. Globally, there were a plethora of successful brand pages engaging with their fan base and Indian brands started following suit. "The focus then," says Rajiv Dingra, founder and CEO, WAT Consult, "was to build a community of consumers and engage with them." Brands concentrated on contests which were experimental and created engagement among consumers. Organic reach was at its peak and there was a mad rush from brands to garner the maximum number of likes which they wore as badge of honour. Telecom players were spending money on Facebook and creating interesting campaigns. Virgin Mobile's 'Indian Panga League' launched during the IPL 3 was one such. The campaign engaged the youth with new pangas and hatke takes on the game. Executed by WAT Consult, over 100 unique films of 15 seconds were created and promoted on Facebook. The mobile brand garnered over 3,000 fans on Facebook.

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International Journal of Research in Business, Economics and Management Vol.2 Issue 3 May-June 2018 www.ijrbem.com

Another popular campaign was Intel's 'Mueseum of Me' an interactive film that generated personal museum exhibits of the user by connecting to Facebook. It was done by visualizing elements such as your Facebook friends, photos and likes; it revealed who you are as a reflection of your social graph. The experience attracted over 10 million people globally. LITERATURE REVIEW

WEBSITES

Before facebook or twitter — there used to be something called a website — where people used to sign up, post things (usually forms) — and hoped someday someone would reply to them and hopefully get a discussion going. The job of a company, sports team was to make this platform available and move away from it — very static. But with the netizens growth and impact (refer egypt controversy on twitter later) — a website can’t stand be static any more. All IPL teams have a website — the team even have/had a website (http://kochiteam.com) even before having a name — and wore this on their t-shirts during the IPL 2011 — which just went to show how important it has become to get a word out — get the youth (majority of the netizens and customers/clients/audience of the IPL) engaged. Examples: Visit http://facebook.com/MumbaiIndians, http://facebook.com/RajasthanRoyals or and look at their latest and most frequent posts. KKR (.in) has even decided to go ahead and make their own social media platform. FACEBOOK

In 2008, 2009 there were many (actually too many too count) fan pages for various IPL teams on facebook — none official though — but they had a lot of fans — India had up with facebook but the IPL teams hadn’t. In 2010 suddenly these fan pages/groups started getting consolidated — all started becoming one — leading to 10,000+ fans for teams like Indians, Rajasthan Royals (others are still trying to keep up unusually) — why? — coz it was official now– the concept of social media pr / team had become popular — facebook was being contacted — to close all fan pages — get all the existing fans and add them to the official FAN pages. Facebook is being used by the teams to broadcast messages and create discussions — used a lot in 2009-10, but come 2011 the focus has changed to websites (see Website section above for why) — but still facebook is a popular platform for engagement — why — coz people are already there — it easy to “Like”, “Comment” or “Share” — or post a photo or video and share it with others — much easier process than going to a team’s website and doing this. Plus hey it’s in your face — who doesn’t spend half their days on facebook.

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International Journal of Research in Business, Economics and Management Vol.2 Issue 3 May-June 2018 www.ijrbem.com

TWITTER

India doesn’t get twitter (yet!!)(It’s the same way India loves blackberry but no the iPhone — i mean cumon it’s an iPhone) — and this is why the IPL doesn’t (see how late IPL teams were to get on with facebook) — but they understand it’s important — so they repost everything they do on facebook to twitter (well some of them do) (see http://facebook.com/twitter to know how you can ;)). But twitter is about engagement much more than at a website or facebook level — it’s more at a personal level — connecting with the fans one by one — not as one unit — the celebs have got it (see http://twitter.com/warne888 or http://twitter.com/iamsrk) — but the IPL teams haven’t — neither should they — money and time is where the audience is — but they will have to one day not soon but later. I think the way ahead will be not the team but team players to interact personally with the fan for the sake (popularity/to sell) of the team. IPL rewind: A season-by-season look at the highlights of the Indian Premier League - IPL 2008 – Karmayudh The first season of IPL featured shots of cricketers from various teams and introduced the theme song, titled ‘Karmayudh’

Born out of pressure from the rebel (ICL), the Indian Premier League (IPL) could not have hoped for a better launch-pad than Brendon McCullum’s stunning 73-ball 158 in the tournament opener between Knight Riders and Royal Challengers .

The spectacular assault on made everyone sit up and take notice of the new T20 league. Though there was little cheer for KKR after the dramatic start, what added to the glow of the League was Rajasthan Royals’ titillating performance — the most underrated team going on to top the glamorous outfits. The Cinderella story of Royals was scripted by the charismatic . Captaining the franchise with the lowest budget, Warne led the team, mainly made of virtual unknowns, to glory. It got the Indian crowd hooked on to cricket’s latest showbiz. Controversies weren’t far away too, kicking off with ’ slapping Kings XI Punjab’s S Sreesanth during the routine of post-match handshakes in .

IPL 2009 – Ek Desh, Ek Junoon

The TVC showcased the passion of a billion people, how cricket and IPL are the unifying factors for such a diverse and huge country like India.

Buoyed by the unprecedented success of the first edition, nothing was going to stop a certain , the IPL head honcho, from taking on all odds. When the Indian government expressed its helplessness to provide security due to the general elections, the flamboyant Modi shifted the entire tournament to in a month’s time.

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The -led Daredevils set the tone in the league stage, but the star-studded finally played to their potential to canter to victory, beating Royal Challengers Bangalore in the final. Captained by , Chargers were well served by , and . IPL 2010 – Welcome Home

After being held in South Africa for the second season due to the General Elections in India, IPL returned to its home country for Season 3. The theme song roused the patriotic banner with the refreshed rendition of ‘Saare Jahaan Se Accha Hindustan Humara’ as the theme song for IPL 2010.

Sachin Tendulkar finally decided to make a statement that he remained the boss across all formats. Powered by his blistering assaults at the top of the order, Mumbai Indians decimated opposition after opposition to coast into the final. From the other side, gradually picked up momentum.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni seemed to have perfected the T20 model. He was at the peak of his power as and finisher. In a fitting final, it was Tendulkar versus Dhoni. The latter used his spinners astutely and came up with his trademark, uncanny field placements to stump Mumbai. IPL 2011 – trumpet tune

Featuring the peppy ‘Dum laga ke maara re’ theme song, the ad for IPL 2011 introduced for the first time the signature trumpet tune. The ad showed several celebs, including Navjot Sidhu, joining the crowd in an impromptu dance on the streets.

The 2011 final ended splendidly for India but left its audience so emotionally exhausted that IPL 4 was played to vast tracts of empty stands and dipping TV ratings. The T20 league was on within six days of MS Dhoni & Co raising the Cup at the on the night of April 2. It was a 10-team league with new entrants Kochi Tuskers and Warriors India eventually finishing eighth and ninth. The season though belonged to who led with 44 sixes in 608 runs at a of 183-plus in just 12 matches. But he failed in the most important game — the final where R Ashwin dismissed him for a . MS Dhoni, as a result, retained the IPL in front of a sea of yellow as Chennai produced a near-perfect game and mauled Royal Challengers Bangalore. IPL 2012 – Aisa Mauka Aur Kahan Milega

The ad spoke about an opportunity to step out of a cricket stadium and watch the IPL matches on MAX along with 100 crore people.

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International Journal of Research in Business, Economics and Management Vol.2 Issue 3 May-June 2018 www.ijrbem.com

The tournament was back to its full glory, topping the charts headlined by the flavour thanks to Chris Gayle’s and ’s bowling. Regardless of a few scandals, there were huge crowds at stadiums, who got to enjoy an extraordinary number of close finishes.

The IPL had a new champion in at the end of the nine-team league (after had been terminated).

Captain and Narine hogged the headlines of a successful campaign, with Gambhir’s passion trumping MS Dhoni’s cool in the title clash. Narine was the player of the tournament with 24 wickets in 15 matches at an average of 13.50 and economy rate of 5.47.

KKR had been among the poorest performing franchises, being the only constant in the bottom four in each of the first three seasons. So the title was a big relief for their actor co-owner . IPL 2013 – Jumping Jhapak

Featuring Bollywood choreographer and director Farah Khan, this campaign got everyone into the groove with some crazy dance moves to celebrate every time a 4 or 6 was scored, or a was claimed.

The most expensive franchise, Mumbai Indians, finally won their first IPL title, beating Chennai Super Kings by 23 runs in the final at .

However, the on-field action had been completely eclipsed by controversies by the time the final was played. S Sreesanth and his Rajasthan Royals teammates Ankeet Chavan and Ajit Chandila were arrested for alleged spot-fixing and were consequently suspended by the BCCI. Gurunath Meiyappan, son-in-law of then BCCI president N Srinivasan and a top management official of the Chennai Super Kings, was arrested on charges of betting, fraud and forgery. Raj Kundra, co- owner of Rajasthan Royals, too confessed to betting. Srinivasan temporarily stepped aside as president at a BCCI working committee meeting in Chennai. Mumbai Indians won by 23 runs with Srinivasan being ultimately booed at the prize distribution ceremony. IPL 2014 – Bulaawa Aaya Hai

The humour-laced campaign showcased the glamour, glitz and the razzmatazz of T20 cricket’s biggest extravaganza.

After a controversy-ridden edition the previous year, the organizers were relieved to go through an entire season without any scandal.

Since the early part of tournament clashed with the dates of elections, the event had to be shifted to the UAE this time. It got off to a subdued start with the IPL opening ceremony being a closed- door affair. But the best teams played the final which was an endorsement for the format.

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International Journal of Research in Business, Economics and Management Vol.2 Issue 3 May-June 2018 www.ijrbem.com

Kings XI Punjab, powered by ’s all-round hitting, decimated all opposition, while Kolkata Knight Riders peaked at the right time. KKR won their second title and were easily the best side. Well served by Sunil Narine with his death bowling, their batting revolved around , who had scored 10 successive 40-plus . IPL 2015 – India Ka Tyohaar

The peppy anthem was composed by Salim-Sulaiman and focused on cricket being India’s festival rising above caste, religion, age and stature. The song was sung by Shivam Pathak.

It was the most closely contested IPL ever with almost six teams having a chance to qualify for the knockouts. The uncertainty over the top four teams prevailed till the final league game. Ultimately, Royal Challengers Bangalore, Rajasthan Royals, Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings made the cut.

Mumbai Indians sensationally recovered from a poor start to clinch the title, beating hot favourites and table-toppers Chennai Super Kings. RCB and RR grabbed the third and fourth playoff spots. IPL 2016 – Ek India Happywala

The one minute video tells the story of a Happy India with the help of three different events portraying how the disparity and dissonance is won over by the innocence of children who want a better world for all. With music composed by Salim-Sulaiman, this version of the anthem is voiced by a chorus of kids.

The outcome of the 2013 spot fixing scandal put the BCCI in a fix with the Supreme Court ordering a two-year suspension for Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals from the IPL. New tenders were floated to ensure the IPL remains an eight-team tournament. Lions and Rising Pune Supergiants were the new entrants. The top five players from CSK and RR were traded through a system by the two new teams while the rest of their players went into auction. This, however, wasn’t the end of the BCCI’s woes. The Bombay High Court, acting on a PIL, ordered the BCCI to shift the IPL games in May out of due to drought crisis. It put the whole IPL schedule in a tizzy with the BCCI facing a logistical nightmare. As far as action on the field was concerned, RCB skipper was in the form of his life, accumulating 973 runs — the most in an IPL season ever. ’s Sunrisers , who had relaced Deccan Chargers in 2013, enjoyed their best IPL performance to lift their maiden title after beating Royal Challengers Bangalore by eight runs in a thriller at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium.

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International Journal of Research in Business, Economics and Management Vol.2 Issue 3 May-June 2018 www.ijrbem.com

IPL 2017- “10 Saal Aapkey Naam”

The fans who have followed IPL throughout nine seasons have helped build the league into a huge brand. In order to celebrate the 10th anniversary, Sony Pictures Network and the creative agency DDB Mudra created six ad films under its campaign “10 Saal Aapkey Naam” dedicated to its fans.

The 2017 season of the Indian Premier League, also known as IPL 10, was the tenth edition of the IPL, a professional Twenty20 cricket league established by the BCCI in 2007. The tournament featured the eight teams that played in the previous season. The 2017 season started on 5 April 2017 and finished on 21 May 2017, with Hyderabad hosting the opening match and the final. Mumbai Indians won by 1 run against in the final, winning their third title. OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

The growing sports industry in India provides a major platform for strategically planned form of Product placements, but there is little evidence in terms of academic research regarding the role of brand placement in creating premier sports tournaments like the Indian Premier League (IPL) as a successful business driven, corporate backed advertising platforms for brands.

□ Does the IPL provide a recognizable and profitable advertising and promotional platform for brands? □ Understanding the rational and motive behind brand placement □ Analyze the nature and extent of how brand placement has incorporated within premier sports tournaments like the Indian Premier League. □ To determine the effectiveness of brand placement as a promotional advertising tool □ To find out if brand placement has led to a desired change in the consumer’s attitude towards the brand □ To find out the consumer’s behavior towards product placement

Objectives of the case study are

□ To evaluate the IPL sports success and asses viability of the event

□ To analyze the financial, commercial and the business models used for IPL

□ To study various controversies and problems that have beset the event and to inspect the sustainability of the

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International Journal of Research in Business, Economics and Management Vol.2 Issue 3 May-June 2018 www.ijrbem.com

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

The research aims to answer the question of how one business recognized for using social media to grow the business, uses social media to engage customers. The research used a qualitative approach and adopted the case study methodology. Exploratory work must be done in order to determine the nature of the variation in the situation. Then the researcher may sample intense case of the phenomenon of interest. The sample has been collected through an Internet search using keywords such as IPL, business success, and social media marketing. From the search results, the researcher chose which sites to view based on relevance to the research question. The Facebook and Twitter account related to our study has been viewed. This has been done to determine how the business has been actively and frequently participating on the social media channels. The researcher scanned the posts to make sure that consumers are engaging the business as well. The researcher also noted the number of ‘fans’ and ‘followers’, recognizing that the higher the number, the more likely the business has something to offer consumers. The researcher also reviewed the business’s website and any online articles mentioning the IPL business, in order to confirm that the owner-manager was in fact in charge of the social media activity. Through thematic and content analysis the researcher aimed to acquire an initial understanding of the type of content shared by the business and for what purpose. Such information provides a thick description of the phenomena. The research is not argued as the absolute truth but an attempt to explain a particular phenomenon. The following data gathering methods will be used

Media reports of reputed publication houses will be accessed, reviewed and the contents analyzed and interpreted for the case study Reliable websites of public sector bodies such as IPL, BCCI and the Ministry of Sports will be accessed

Peer reviewed journals such as ProQuest and Emerald will be accessed to obtain articles related to premier league sports events and other such events ANALYSIS & FINDINGS

SWOT analysis

With substantial investments and mass marketing campaigns, the event has turned into a multi- million league and continues to spread its fan following. The SWOT analysis of the IPL can be concluded as under:

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International Journal of Research in Business, Economics and Management Vol.2 Issue 3 May-June 2018 www.ijrbem.com

• Strong fan following due to nature of sport. • Brand ambassadors are celebrities who up the glam quotient. STRENGTHS • Strong marketing strategies like merchandise. • Substantial investments in marketing strategies lead to innovation.

• It is losing its mass appeal due to controversies. WEEKNESSES • No innovation in the sport, although the marketing strategies are changing. • Price of tickets.

• The cricket-crazy nation always brings in opportunity for growth. • Merchandising as a marketing strategy could bring in more revenues. OPPORTUNITIES • The growing number of teenagers in the country like T -20 concept and celebrities.

• There is threat of a competing T -20 league emerging any time. THREATS • Intervention of the government bodies may be a hindrance in its growth.

Source: Prepared by Author

IPL 5 2012

Hippo ‘Indian Food League’: Purpose of the campaign: Hippo a brand that is often a favorite example of pundits at seminars is back again with Indian Food League, a campaign crafted keeping in mind the ongoing IPL madness. Place: IPL Ideologies: Indian Food League (IFL) is funny and catchy and has been designed to capture the emotional rivalry amongst Indian cities that creeps in during the IPL. So instead of saying that today’s match is between Delhi and Punjab, IFL calls it Papdi Chaat Vs Aloo Paratha. A microsite followed with an amazing Twitter presence and a Facebook presence made sure that they spread the Hippo love everywhere.

Outcomes: The contest was a no brainer one but it’s simplicity and uniqueness inspired us a lot.

PEPSICO ‘Guess Whose Flavor’:

Purpose of the campaign: The aim of this campaign is to introduce new products with a simple guessing game, having cricket as the theme in a cricket-frenzy nation where snacking round the corner is also a national time pass. This is a neat contest for increasing the fan count as well as driving engagement.

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International Journal of Research in Business, Economics and Management Vol.2 Issue 3 May-June 2018 www.ijrbem.com

Place: IPL

Ideologies: ‘Guess Whose Flavor’: The chips giant from Pepsico inc., Lay’s had started the ‘Guess whose Flavour’ campaign in the beginning of April, where six new flavours were introduced. The contest roped in MS Dhoni, Rohit Sharma, , Christopher Gayle, Adam Gilchrist and , as the six cricketers who have co-created a flavor each and you have to guess which cricketer has created which new flavour.

Outcomes: 10 lucky guessers can win a trip with a friend to the ICC World Twenty20 2012 and enjoy the match from the premier stand plus a luxurious hotel stay. The contest had a dedicated website, a Facebook app as well as a wapsite. The overall concept, design and execution as well as the fun games in the app were worth a mention.

IPL 6 2013

PepsiCo

Purpose of the campaign: Brand managers at Pepsi plan to utilize the social media platform to its great potential during IPL. They know the fact that youth today are increasingly engaging on this platform.

Place: IPL

Ideologies: Pepsi, the title sponsor of the tournament and co-presenting sponsor on broadcaster SET Max, tied up with Twitter to allow the viewers to play cricket on the social media platform. They launched a Tweet20 tournament – a Twitter based application which allowed fans to play cricket on Twitter. Pepsi India Twitter handle tweets a particular type of ball, maybe a short pitched bouncer on the middle stump, and the users will need to reply with the shot they think is apt for that ball. If one tweeted the correct shots they scored runs whereas, wrong shots costed them wickets. Special shots had bonus runs linked to them. Very interesting, this tweet tournament hit the maximum attraction level in terms of the engagement.

Outcomes: Well, the winner of this Tweet20 tournament gets to watch IPL from the Pepsi VIP box. A dream come true situation for any IPL fan who felt like on cloud nine during those two and a half hours match.

Vodafone

Purpose of the campaign: Vodafone revisited this year with their ZooZoos, with a new campaign that hit social media even before it hit the Television. ZooZoos this time come with an

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International Journal of Research in Business, Economics and Management Vol.2 Issue 3 May-June 2018 www.ijrbem.com

army. Their new army will target first-time users of mobile internet and sensitize them on what all they could do on the internet.

Ideologies: On the other hand, Vodafone also launched a Super Fan Contest for the IPL 2013. It is a SuperFans contest that gives ‘money-can’t-buy’ experience where the winners of the contest would get special escort to the stadium, premium seating in the hospitality enclosure to get the best match viewing experience & an autographed ball from the winning captain.

In this contest 76 winners that means 76 lucky Vodafone customers would stand a chance to win an exclusive match ball autographed by the winning captain on Live TV during the 76 matches in the complete tournament. Vodafone has also partnered with IPL as the Official partner & on air co-presenting sponsor for the IPL for next 5 years.

Here, subscribers need to SMS Fan to 111 (toll free) to participate in the contest. This contest is available for Post-paid & Pre-paid Vodafone Customers with an active internet connection.

For each match, the Super Fan is selected centrally through a lucky draw, well in advance of the match date. (This is not applicable for customers in TN/Chennai). The contest is closing on May 20, 2013

Outcome: Vodafone has over 10 million fans on Facebook, and with this new campaign, it expects to add to that number significantly. They strongly consider IPL the platform to create a buzz around their campaign.

Goibibo

Purpose of the campaign: Generating the sales of travel plan with the help of this campaign.

Ideologies: Goibibo Launched Their IPL Promotion Called ‘Travel Premier League’ (something that is again very common among most brands). However, the way they implemented their campaign is more interesting than the name actually.

“Every time your city team wins an IPL match, you will get discounts on Goibibo. As and when your team keeps winning throughout the series, your discounts will increase.” If Chennai is playing with Mumbai, then there will be a discount on flights between these two cities on that day.

Initial discount for all teams is Rs. 200, but as IPL steps forward, the discount amount is bound to rise higher for the cities that end up in the finals. If a city loses a match, the discount will reduce by 10 rupees & increase by 10 rupees if the city wins. This is how the scorecard looks right now.

Outcomes: Well, it cannot be predicted how successful this campaign would be in generating sales, but it comes with a great amount of fun element for those who support this and are

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frequent travelers. Goibibo TPL is aimed at engaging with the consumers and leveraging Social Media completely.

Yes Bank

Purpose of the campaign: Value proposition offering the maximum return on saving accounts.

Ideologies: One of the official sponsors of IPL, YES Bank came up with ‘YES BANK MAXIMUM’. Basically, “Sixes” are the biggest excitement point in Pepsi IPL matches & in all 76 matches of the Pepsi IPL, “sixes” hit will be called “YES BANK-MAXIMUM”. This is complementary to YES BANK’s value-proposition of offering the maximum returns on Savings Accounts. Another section includes ‘Play and Win’:

Everybody is crazy about IPL! So, YES BANK branches planned to host a lot of games & activities during the league.

One could also win Pepsi IPL merchandise and tickets just by logging in to Facebook and Twitter.

Outcomes: YES BANK was honored with the award for the Best Social Media Campaign of the year, for the 360 degree campaign during the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2016. The awards reflect YES BANK&'s leadership in leveraging Digital and Social Media channels for Business Outcomes as well as creating Engagement and Brand Awareness amongst its target audience.

MakeMyTrip

Purpose of the campaign: They want to engage with the audience, get their content shared and improve the edge rank of Facebook. It is therefore, a complete win-win for IPL, MakeMyTrip and fans. Ideologies: MakeMyTrip has launched three different campaigns:

a. Aaj Ka Raja which translates to Today’s King!

Users and audiences will have to book a hotel or a flight with the deal code ‘AAJKARAJA’. A winner will be chosen everyday who will receive goodies. Goodies would be: Return flight ticket to Hyderabad, a corporate pass to watch sunrises Hyderabad match, airport transfer, luxury hotel stay and a lot more.

b. Be the

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In the campaign Be the Umpire, MakeMyTrip would post a picture everyday from the match & ask the fans to answer. “Tell us what happened next”!

c. Predict & Win

Every day, the social media team posts a link to a question that users have to predict and answer. Example: How much runs would Tendulkar score today?

Clicking on the link in MakeMyTrip’s Facebook page takes the user to a dedicated page in MakeMyTrip website where user will see the question and answer it.

Outcomes: This contest drives traffic to the OTA website, enables to sell their hotel inventory that again aligns with the MakeMyTrip vision for the next two years. Travel brands have leveraged time-bound or seasonal marketing for good. Brands are in constant look out of opportunities to earn that extra revenue, acquire new customers and engage existing customers.

Ebay

Purpose of the campaign: Around April 2011, eBay launched its 'IPL Battle of the Fans' Facebook App. The application was aimed at engaging with users through a game mechanic. Ideologies: Ebay gave its fans on Facebook a chance to take part in ‘Battle of the Fans’ this IPL. One is supposed to choose a team, predict the winner and invite their friends to be a part of it too. Everyone who takes part and wins would be entitled to amazing prizes and goodies! Outcomes: In an update of the popular team popularity barometer - Battle of the Fans - eBay revealed that 2009 Champions Deccan Chargers continues to lead at 29% with Mumbai Indians making their debut in second position at 19% and Kolkata Knight Riders slipping to third place at 13%. Muthoot Group

Purpose of the campaign: The campaign includes four new initiatives that are entitled as ‘Rs 6,000 for every 6 and Rs 4,000 for every 4’, ‘Golden Bat & Wishing Ball’ and ‘Muthoot Dus ki Toli’. Each initiative is dedicated towards the cause of education of the underprivileged children of our country. The core idea behind the campaign is to break the boundaries and build a positive and emotional connect with people across the country and join together in empowering the underprivileged through education. Ideologies: Muthoot Group launched CSR campaign during the IPL. They planned to leverage the association with Delhi Daredevils through this campaign.

The campaign is all about people willing to support the cause by playing ‘book cricket’ on Muthoot Group Facebook page and further compete with each other to earn Delhi daredevils merchandise followed by a golden opportunity to meet their players. The other campaign is the

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one through which slum children of Delhi will get a chance to become ball boys & ball girls for Delhi’s home matches.

Outcomes: The first initiative , ‘Rs 6,000 for every 6 & Rs 4,000 for every 4’ encompasses a donation of Rs 6,000 for every six and a donation of Rs. 4,000 for every four that a Delhi Daredevils player hits this IPL season. The amount will be donated by The Muthoot Group and given to an NGO that focuses on the educational development of underprivileged kids.

Twitter Magic Mirror

Purpose of the campaign: Twitter developed a series of applications and features around the T20 tournament in order to provide an interactive social experience to cricket lovers around the world.

Ideologies: There is this Twitter Magic Mirror introduced during the IPL this year. This application will be used worldwide throughout the IPL tournament. This mirror will basically, in select celebratory settings allow the cricketers and celebrities to tweet out candid pictures through the @IPL account.

The page includes a rolling ticker of tweets, curated especially by the Twitter India account, on the upper right of the page.

The IPL website is also all set to have a strong Twitter connect. When scrolled down to the end of the homepage, one will find a special section dedicated to Twitter based activities. The hashtag being promoted is #PepsiIPL & the website prompts you to choose your favorite team & tweet out a message in support for it.

Outcomes: Twitter has eagerly associated itself with the most important events in the world and with good reason. Due to the public nature of tweets, the micro-blogging website becomes a primary source of news of events for most people around the globe. With celebrities, sports stars and the common public being a part of the same platform, Twitter is the rope that binds them all with information. YouTube integrates Google+ Hangout with live IPL matches

Purpose of the campaign: Social media is a good insight tool and many brands are actively listening in to refine their strategy.

Ideologies: Google too has improved the experience of watching live matches on YouTube by integrating Google+ Hangout with it.

"For the first time at IPL, top cricket stars will be participating in Google+ Hangouts on key match dates, providing analysis between innings and the inside scoop at half time.

Outcomes: Provides a new platform experience to the viewers of watching live matches.

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IPL 7 2014

Pepsi India

Purpose of the campaign: The main purpose of this campaign is to create engagement on social media.

Ideologies: Pepsi India IPL7 @ThatPepsiIntern Pepsi, the official sponsor of IPL7 had brand ambassador and actor, Ranbir Kapoor join Pepsi as an intern to bring all the thrill and action from IPL to cricket fans. Beginning with the Twitter handle @ThatPepsiIntern, sharing live tweets on the IPL. Outcomes: The campaign went on to fire him and announced 15 internships through social media. These interns won an all-expenses paid trip to UAE, VIP access to the matches and close encounters with celebrities. Soaring mentions of @ThatPepsiIntern handle and #ThatPepsiIntern hashtag have bombarded the online space with selfies, questions, excited responses and exclusive content. As soon as a video or a photo showcasing the life of a Pepsi intern goes up, users begin to start interacting.

Nokia

Purpose of the campaign: Nokia India has recently unveiled its newest campaign, this time to leverage its association with the Kolkata Knight Riders. Also bring out the ease of accessing a person's favourite Android apps and activities via Fastlane.

Ideologies: Nokia X Fastlane ‘App coach’ During IPL 7, Nokia India had launched a campaign for the Nokia X Android phone focusing on Fastlane – a screen that gives you instant access to your most- used apps. Users were invited to suggest apps to Shah Rukh Khan, the owner of KKR IPL team and also the App coach, through the brand’s Facebook page. If their suggestions matched with SRK’s Nokia X Fastlane, they won a chance to meet the actor and his team.

Outcomes: Apart from being well-timed, the app coach campaign also help Nokia X reach out to the right target audience – the youth who prefer to live life in the fast lane. The campaign, however, needs to extend beyond the IPL season, if the range of Nokia X has to be popularized. Conversations could be more around apps on the Fastlane, which is there right now, but needs to be sustained. It helps that Nokia has regular apptasting events that help the brand do that. Britannia Purpose of the campaign: Britannia NutriChoice Nutrijig Britannia NutriChoice wanted to strengthen the brand’s proposition that good health can be fun.

Ideologies: The health snack brand teamed up with IPL team RCB for the Nutrijig campaign this IPL7. Cricket fans were invited to record a jig onto the webpage or Facebook timeline, while

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best jigs were rewarded with a chance to meet the team. Fans could get autographed RCB posters by simply tweeting about the hashtag or downloading them via the website.

Outcomes: To start with the RCB branded content (downloadable posters) got the brand the much needed eyeballs and the necessary site traffic. The big contest prize lured fans into participating actively in the contest and sharing content socially, increasing the campaigns reach.

A total of 200+ jig videos were uploaded on the website itself with 22k posters were downloaded and the social pages received around 1400+ user comments.

IPL8 2015

Vodafone – #vodafonespeedquiz

Purpose of the campaign: Catch the audience right when they were tweeting.

Ideologies: The telecom brand took a break from the Zoozoo’s that has been their key mascot in many of their previous IPL campaigns. Vodafone’s TVCs this year was themed on “Speed is Good”. The extension of the campaign on social media did include the TVCs being simply added to YouTube, but took a creative turn on Facebook and Twitter. Outcomes: Using an interactive quiz to stay with the campaign theme, the brand scored high audience engagement. The brand tweeted over 550 times about the campaign with the hashtag #VodafoneSpeedQuiz. These tweets combined garnered over 32,000 Retweets and 26,000 Favorites. The Twitter community used the hashtag close to a quarter of a million times. The match related question and real-time tweeting helped the brand catch the audience right when they were tweeting. Kingfisher – #unitedbygoodtimes #oolalalaleo

Purpose of the campaign: On Facebook, Kingfisher leveraged multimedia content to engage fans. Though the brand had contest and multiple other initiatives to complement their IPL , the familiar and trademark jingle is what engaged best with their social community.

Ideologies: The King of Good Times partnered with 7 of the 8 participating teams. This made their campaigns and the campaigns of the partnering teams that much more engaging. Their campaign hinged on the brand’s instantly recognizable tune (“Oolalalaleo”) which united the fans, the teams and cemented the campaign. On Twitter, the brand sent out 1,000 tweets for the campaign which in turn brought in 10,000 Retweets and 18,000 Favorites. The hashtags #unitedbygoodtimes and #oolalalaleo combined were used close to 25,000 times by the brand’s followers. This was also popular among the teams that Kingfisher partners with since most of them were seen using the hashtag #UnitedByGoodTimes while posting behind the scenes photographs, videos etc. where the players were seen having a good time. So combined the brand’s campaign hashtags were retweeted over 19,000 Retweets.

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Most of their tweets contained the campaign video with the players singing the tune. They encouraged followers to Dubsmash their own version and share it with the brand. We even made our own version in the office!

Outcomes: Social media is one of the very few mediums that allow alcoholic beverages to show their products in India. Kingfisher smartly leveraged this on the right platform – Instagram. Their home-made images of a variety of their beverages made it to the social network. Using the image based platform and reminding match watchers of their favorite drink right before the game is a sure shot technique to increase brand recall and sales. They got even better engagement than the rest of the industry. Yes Bank – #YesBankMaximum #GuessTheTeam

Purpose of the campaign: An integrated IPL sponsorship will bring about massive growth in community sizes.

Ideologies: Yes Bank’s contest required fans to identify team logos for a chance to win amazing prizes.

On Twitter the brand tweeted over 350 times and garnered over 16,000 Retweets and 7,000 Favorites. The hashtag was used over 32,000 times by followers. The hashtag usage spiked during match days.

On Facebook, Yes Bank adapted the contest to the social network. The contest related posts performed much better for the brand than any other type of post. They also included moments from the ceremonies of the matches where players were honored and awarded.

Outcomes: To measure the impact this had, YES BANK tracked performance across several KPIS and Mehta went on to say that it “resulted in our Twitter follower base touch 5 lakh and Facebook fan base cross 21.5 lakh. On the back of innovative content formats, we saw 45% growth in Twitter and Facebook followers with ten-fold increase in engagement rates.” Proof then, Pepsi – #crashthepepsiIPL

Purpose of the campaign: Pepsi challenges consumers across India to stop being spectators and uncork their creativity through “Crash the Pepsi IPL”. Indian consumers will have control over a brand’s advertising on a massive platform and with a tremendous global audience.

Ideologies: Being the title sponsor of the entire tournament, Pepsi took their campaign to the next level and actually made it about their fans. Especially while watching sports, most audiences really don’t appreciate commercial breaks. To change that, Pepsi invited fans to create their own ads to play during the breaks. The campaign received an overwhelming response and to give it the perfect end, Pepsi asked its social community to vote for their favorite ads.

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Outcomes: On YouTube, thanks to these user created videos, Pepsi experienced a views growth of 44% which was close to 5 times the telecom industry average. The videos from the finalists and winners of the #CrashTheIPL contest contributed over 12 million new views in the time period of the IPL.

ShopClues – #roarwithshopclues

Purpose of the campaign: The main purpose of this campaign is to create engagement on social media.

Ideologies: Shop Clues supported the Chennai Super Kings and everything about their campaign was rooted in the team. They used the hashtag #RoarWithShopClues for their IPL campaign contest. The brand itself used the hashtag over 180 times while the Twitter universe used it close to 16,000 times. Tweets with hashtags were the ones that performed best for the brans.

Outcomes: Since the commencement of IPL 8, Shop Clues has tweeted over 180 times for this campaign and received 4,000 Retweets and 3,500 Favorites.

IPL 9 campaigns 2016 VIVO Purpose of the campaign: As a young brand, it is imperative to create a bond with existing and potential customers. That was the idea behind the IPL title sponsorship. Ideologies: The title sponsor of IPL 9 might have not spent as much as others on TV advertising but it have been quite aggressive on the digital platform. It has been engaging with fans since the start of the IPL, both on Facebook and Twitter, which revolves around their online property - #VIVOPowerPlay. Outcomes: Facebook – 2.1 million Twitter – 116,000 followers

VIVO received excellent response from TVC campaign launched during the IPL season with brand ambassador Ranveer Singh. All these catapulted the brand recall of Vivo to an all-time high in India, resulting in increased interest in and sales of our products. Vodafone India

Purpose of the campaign: Vodafone partnership with Twitter and the customized brand emojis was yet another step in ongoing endeavor to make mobile internet more fun, smart, engaging and easy. This innovative initiative to engage with social media savvy customers saw much success and the company will be further integrating these ZooZoo emojis into their marketing and ad campaigns on social media.

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Ideologies: Vodafone has already announced that IPL 9 will be its “strongest” association with the cricketing property since its inception 9 years ago. With over 30-40 per cent of the annual marketing budget kept aside for the IPL, Vodafone has made its presence felt in a huge away.

Most interestingly, the telecom operator has partnered with Twitter to launch the ZooZoo emoticon, thus becoming the first Indian corporate brand to do so (The first Indian brand to have its own emoticon was Make In India).

Apart from the ZooZoo emoticon, Vodafone is utilizing social media platforms to promote its IPL- specific properties like #SuperFan. In another unique move, Vodafone has partnered with popular online platform Terribly Tiny Tales to promote content related to core property. Outcomes: Facebook – 1,376,704 likes Twitter – 361,000 followers

The company stated it has generated an estimated 90 million impressions in just 2 days of its launch on Twitter. Zoozoo fans across the world shared their emotions, using specially designed emojis linked to two hashtags - #BeSuper and #HakkeBakke. Amazon India

Purpose of the campaign: The main purpose of this campaign is to create engagement on social media.

Ideologies: Even though Amazon emerged as one of the biggest spenders on TV this year for the IPL, but they have not leveraged the brand association online to the same extent. This could be because it has been focusing on different occasions and launches at the same time. For example, the recent launch of Emraan Hashmi’s novel, Mother’s Day, Star Wars Day, an upcoming event with Motorola, which is currently being teased through Facebook and Twitter. The retail giant’s efforts seem to be more spread out than other brands. In fact, one can notice the same thing with Flipkart online.

Outcomes: Facebook – 5,225,559 likes Twitter – 6,385 followers OPPO India “Game On, Selfie On” Purpose of the campaign: The campaign by OPPO aims to bring hope and light to society by helping the foundation in facilitating cancer screenings for maximum people. By associating with ‘YouWeCan’, OPPO wants to expand horizons and spread the message of hope via an influential platform.

Ideologies: Oppo has been the biggest on-air advertising spender in IPL 9 and it is also highly aggressive on the digital front.

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Apart from the usual contests like match predictor etc., it launched an interesting campaign online with , which saw some select cancer patients getting the opportunity to meet the cricket star.

Outcomes: Facebook - 11,692,595 likes Twitter - 264,000 followers (approx)

This is a great step taken by OPPO in launching such an initiative and the fact that they are not only donating to the ‘YouWeCan’ Foundation, but are also committing themselves in being actively involved in spreading awareness.

Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezza

Purpose of the campaign: Maruti Suzuki is also using the IPL to promote its new launch- Vitara Brezza on social platform.

Ideologies: Maruti Suzuki is also using the IPL to promote its new launch- Vitara Brezza. The company’s campaign centres around the concept of #PlayGlamorous.

Interestingly, on Twitter, the brand is making use of the live nature of the feed to tweet constant match updates to their followers. Outcomes: Facebook - 194,756 Twitter - 33,000 followers

First time ground sponsor Maruti Suzuki had a similar reach of 268 million with 235 spots in IPL’s first week.

Freecharge launches 'Lo.Do.Khatam.Karo'

Purpose of the campaign: The new campaign is aimed at bringing exciting activities, contests and prizes throughout the entire Vivo IPL 2016 season, which starts April 9 and runs through May 27. With this campaign, the company aims to showcase how digital wallets make one's life simpler and can be easily adopted in daily life activities,

Ideologies: Another big spender on TV, Freecharge is also using the digital medium to further amplify its messaging, including contests where users can get cashback on the platform.

The brand is also using the medium to talk cricket trivia with its followers

Outcomes: Facebook - 1,359,050 Twitter - 67,700 followers

Online payment platform Freecharge, which is the official on-ground partner of the tournament, garnered a reach of 197 million from 193 spots, through its campaign ‘Lo.Do.Khatam.Karo’. IPL 10 campaigns 2017 1. Vodafone Zoozoos

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Vodafone scores a Perfect 10 with IPL Vodafone @ IPLs Year 1: 2008:: Happy to Help

Year 2: 2009:: Vodafone introduced ZooZoos

Year 3: 2010:: Campaign: Launch of IVRS (Zoozoos)

Year 4: 2011:: Vodafone 3G: Faster, Smarter, Better (Introducing Super Zoozoos) Year 5: 2012:: Internet is Fun Year 6: 2013:: Mobile Internet: Faster Download, sharing, online recharges, games etc Year 7: 2014:: Superior Customer Experience Year 8: 2015:: Speed is Good

Year 9: 2016: #BeSuper

Other initiatives in IPL

2012 – Vodafone launches Super Zoozoo comic series (The Adventure of Super Zoozoos, New Year videos, Christmas Carols, Diwali & Valentine Day greetings) 2012- Vodafone SuperFan launched

2013 – Vodafone Facebook ZooZoos page crosses 10 million fans 2014 – Vodafone FanArmy 2016 – ZooZoo Emoji on Twitter – India’s first corporate brand emoji 2016 2016 – Cheer Slogan – #HakkeBakke – 2016 – Vodafone Super Album (75,000+ photographs were collated in an Online Album)

Celebrating a decade of its association with the Indian Premier League, Vodafone India has announced to make the 2017 edition as big as it gets. This year, even as Vodafone and IPL commemorate a decade-long partnership, Vodafone customers and IPL viewers can look forward to many new initiatives.

Purpose of the campaign: After enjoying the success in last few seasons of IPL, this year Vodafone is going to be bigger, better and even more action packed.

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Ideologies: Vodafone lit up a glimmer of hope for Indian Cricket fans, offering them a chance to rub shoulders with their cricketing heroes from around the world, watch the match from an exclusive vantage point, and lots of other perks by being the #VodafoneSuperFan and #MakeMostOfNow.

The Vodafone Super Fan that offers Vodafone customers to get the match winning ball signed by the winning captain on live television, takes on a larger avatar in IPL 2017. Then there will be the Zumi Cheer films with the little characters displaying their signature steps.

Another engagement exercise is an opportunity for aspiring Vodafone SuperFans to experience the unique feel of cheering for their favourite team from the front row of the stadium, even if they are not actually in the stadium, but are watching the match from a Vodafone store anywhere in the country. Outcomes: Vodafone and IPL together have offered unique and engaging experiences to cricket followers and sports enthusiasts over the last decade.

2. Vitara Brezza

Purpose of the campaign: The purpose is to extensively showcase Vitara Brezza as a glamourous, fun and dynamic product that is performance-oriented.

Ideologies: With a sports themed campaign, Vitara Brezza combined automobile luxury and the Indian Premier League for their campaign, #PayGlamorous

Outcomes: Over 3.20 lakh clicks generated More than 2.7 lakh game plays Over 72,000 people became a part of the league Total time spent: Over 34,000 mins More than 24 million media impressions

3. Amazon Purpose of the campaign: Through this campaign the company wishes to celebrate the ‘aspiring Indian’. Amazon wants to show their support to millions of Indians who have dreams and the passion to pursue their dreams by being their partner in this pursuit.

Ideologies: Combining the Indian Premier League and Amazon’s impeccable service, the eCommerce giant’s Chonkpur Cheetahs campaign comes with an absolutely delightful video. The online marketplace along with its advertising agency Ogilvy & Mather created a fictional cricket team called Chonkpur Cheetahs for this IPL season. Through a series of films, the campaign portrays the journey of this aspiring team to reach their goal of playing T20. It also communicates how in various small ways Amazon enables them to get a step closer to their

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dream of playing T20. The dreams of the Chonkpur Cheetahs is a metaphor for the dreams of millions of Indians and how Amazon can enable them by providing access to different products.

Outcomes: 37959 engagements per activity on an average was what Amazon gathered during IPL Season 10, this was third highest for any brand sponsoring in IPL.

4. Reliance

Purpose of the campaign: The brand is making all efforts to ensure that it is present in a big way and is able to reach out to the audiences.

Ideologies: Newsmaker Reliance Jio joins the Indian Premier League bandwagon in their first year with their IPL campaign, Jio Dhan Dhana Dan, something Jio encourages, and Jio users have been doing for months. Reliance Jio got a large number of people to come to the ground with Jio t-shirts and merchandize on and seated them in such a order that together they created a larger than life brand’s logo. It caught everyone’s attention present both on-ground and on-air.

Outcomes: The idea was clearly to ambush Vodafone’s marketing efforts. Vodafone is spending huge amounts of money both onground and on-air to reach out to its audiences talking about its network and features. It has also brought back its flagship characters ZooZoo’s to grab the attention and is offering a huge platform for people to connect with them. However, in this round, Jio emerged as the winner. Things worked well for Jio and it was not behind Vodafone with 18542 engagements per activity on an average.

5. Vivo India

Purpose of the campaign:

Ideologies: The title sponsors for the Indian Premier League have been making the most of their association with the grand tournament, offering Cricket fans a chance to win an all-expense paid trip to the Indian Premier League Final.

Outcomes: Enter Vivo’s Indian Premier League (IPL) gambit. In the first two months of this year, the Chinese smartphone maker leapfrogged its market share to 6.6%, making it the fourth- largest handset player in India, according to CyberMedia Research, a market research firm. In smartphones, Vivo cornered 15.49%, making it second-largest brand after its South Korean rival Samsung.

6. Pepsi

Purpose of the campaign: This season Pepsi associated with Kolkata Knight Riders. Under this campaign, the company have rolled out Pepsi cans with their official theme ‘Korbo, lorbo, jeetbo’ written on it which will help fans in cheering and supporting the team.

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Ideologies: The previous title sponsors for the Indian Premier League, Pepsi as a brand has been associated with Cricket and youth for years, and are continuing their tradition with #SochaNahiJiGaya with Virat Kohli at the heart of the campaign. PepsiCo India’s cola brand launched its summer campaign during the IPL, featuring Indian cricket team’s captain Virat Kohli. Made by advertising agency JWT India, the spot features Kohli giving it back to Australian fans by stopping a during an intense match. Outcomes: Increases the market share of pepsico in FMCG sector.

Summarized Outcomes for Businesses

How brands are making money on Twitter, Google+ and Youtube IPL striking gold on social media The TV ratings may be wavering a bit, but cash-rich IPL seems to be striking gold on social media with corporate advertisers this season. From title and presenting sponsor PepsiCo to others like telecom services provider Vodafone, to personal care maker Garnier, and multi-business Muthoot Group, most big advertisers are leveraging social media with incremental budgets to connect with their audiences.

Companies leveraging social media for branding

While Pepsi has tied up with Twitter to allow viewers to play cricket on the social media platform, Google+ is doing special Hangout sessions that will generate post match conversations.

Youtube has made the experience of watching IPL more social with the ability to chat live and has integrated Google+. Vodafone, too, is running its new ZooZoos campaign online.

"The product, IPL, has become more social, and so have the consumers.

Social media is a strong indicator of engagement with content and brands are leveraging the same connection," says Tushar Vyas, managing partner of media buying giant GroupM.

Pepsi's Tweet20: Allows you to play cricket on Twitter

As title sponsor of the tournament and co-presenting sponsor on broadcaster SET Max, Pepsi has launched a Tweet20 tournament on Twitter - a Twitter API-based application, which allows people to play cricket on Twitter. Here, the Pepsi India Twitter handle tweets a particular type of ball (for example, short pitched bouncer on the middle stump) and users have to reply with what they think is the most appropriate shot for that ball.

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Tweeting the correct shots fetches runs and the wrong shots cost wickets. Unlocking special shots gets users bonus runs.

Tweet20 winner gets to watch IPL from Pepsi VIP Box

There are two two-hour matches daily, with each pool winner getting a chance to watch matches from the Pepsi VIP Box. "

Our spends on digital media are incremental. As the IPL progresses, we will be scaling up activation on this media.

The youth are increasingly engaging on social platforms," says Deepika Warrier, vice president, beverage marketing at PepsiCo, which is spending 160 crore on IPL-6.

'Social media has become neighborhood cafe'

"Social media has become the neighborhood cafe, where people come together to discuss and share ideas and opinions on topical events," says Sidharth Rao, chief executive officer and co- founder of Webchutney.

For Vodafone, the ZooZoos return this year in a new avatar and the new campaign hit social media a day before it hit television screens on Sunday.

Vodafone already has over 10 million fans on Facebook, and with this new campaign, it expects to add to that number significantly.

"IPL is a place for us to catch the consumer and create a buzz around our campaign. We are where our consumers are and these consumers use our service to access social media, which works great for us," says Anuradha Aggarwal, senior vice president - brand communications & insights at Vodafone India.

Suggestions for making ad campaign more effective on social media platform:

• Hashtags are everything. Successful campaigns have short and relevant hashtags that encourages followers to join in on the conversation. • It’s not just the contest with an attractive prize that works. Timing, interactivity and level of challenge must be taken in to account as part of the contest. • More people view your content social media content on a mobile rather than a big screen. Don’t forget to keep the images and content mobile friendly. • Don’t shy away from using the campaigns and techniques that have worked well for your brand in the past. Familiarity and recall helps audiences engage with brands better. • Audiences are eager to participate and win a chance to showcase their skills. Social media is a great place to encourage user generated content.

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As brands keep pushing the envelope in terms of innovation and creativity, we can only expect the campaigns of next IPL season to be bigger and better CONCLUSION

We have realized that India is a very complex market and it is totally different from any other market we are in. Localization is the biggest challenge here; we are trying to cater to the needs of the Indian customers through our services, products, branding promotions and everything else.

The massive effort and thought put into these campaigns has some important lessons for all of us:

• Social media has become a force to reckon with, and is increasingly being seen at par with traditional media when it comes to reputation management.

• No matter how big your brand, social media is not going to work unless you offer something exciting and keep the conversations going, day in and out. Sorry, but, it’s an impatient world out there!

• The best form of publicity is word of mouth, of which social media is the direct proof. People see others doing something fun and they want to join in – it’s as simple as that.

As a matter of fact, I can confidently predict that very soon, social media will surpass all other available channels as it increases reach, especially in highly niche campaigns.

Also looks like many of these brands loves to Buy Twitter Followers with lots of freebies and contests integrated.

Research Limitations

The paper used the secondary research method with a review of documents and reliable websites available in the public domain. Company financial documents of franchises and advertising agencies were not available for research.

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International Journal of Research in Business, Economics and Management Vol.2 Issue 3 May-June 2018 www.ijrbem.com

REFERENCES

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