Brands betting big on

Basudha Das and Anusha Subramanian

When Mahendra Singh Dhoni lifted Sri Lankan pacer Nuwan Kulasekara for that gigantic six a day after All Fools Day, it was not just the end of a victorious World Cup campaign for the Men in Blue. For advertisers - be they manufacturers of sports goods, television sets, T-shirts or even providers of Direct-to-Home, or DTH, services - the World Cup win was the ultimate marketing sixer.

Now, with the fourth edition of the Indian Premier League, or IPL 4, underway, brands are going overboard to put their money where cricket is.

Not surpising then that, SET Max, the broadcasters of the IPL, is expecting to make Rs 1,000 crore in ad revenue from the tournament compared to Rs 700 crore last year.

And the prominent gainers are obviously the Rs 800 crore ESPN's revenues teams associated with World Cup stars such from the World Cup as Dhoni's , Sachin Tendulkar's Mumbai Indians, man of the Rs 1,000 crore Revenues tournament Yuvraj Singh's King's XI Punjab, expected by SET Max from IPL and 's Delhi Daredevils. 4 Also, basking in the post-World Cup rush for ad endorsements will be young stars such as 23.21 per cent Total TV Rating Suresh Raina, Gautam Gambhir and Virat for World Cup Final Rs 1,000 Kohli. crore Sony, which signed on the Indian skipper as a brand ambassador and spent about Rs 100 crore on the World Cup campaign alone - all to promote its Bravia HD series of television sets - is set to ride the brand Dhoni wave even if it means some extra spend. Canon India has lined up a campaign featuring none other than Tendulkar.

According to media reports, consumer durables major LG, which kept away from the World Cup, intends spending Rs 30 crore on IPL advertising and Maruti Suzuki, which spent Rs 30 crore on the World Cup campaign, too, is betting big.

"Cricket is the most popular sport in India and is the best way to connect with the audience," says Tadato Kimura, General Manager, Marketing, Sony India. He adds the company saw the sales of its LCD television sets soar 40 per cent, or 200,000 units, between January and mid-March. There was another 40 per cent jump in sales of flat panel sets in the last two weeks of the World Cup. "Consumer sentiment is buoyant," maintains Kimura.

For Nike, too, the World Cup came as a money spinner, which saw "very encouraging sales" of the Team India replica jerseys, jackets, T-shirts and other merchandise. "Obviously, as the game reached the knockout stages, the sales surged," says a Nike spokesperson. For IPL 4, Nike has launched a creative range of cricket inspired footwear and sportswear.

Fresh from its successful World Cup venture, World Cup scorecard DTH operator DishTV is tying up with Kolkata Knight Riders for the IPL. "We will promote our 1. ICC World Cup 2011 has HD services as we had done during the World generated 69% more TV ratings Cup. The victory celebrations are going to last as compared to World Cup for sometime now and we think business will 2007 continue to be good in this season too," says Salil Kapoor, Chief Operations Officer, DishTV. 2. The tournament generated DishTV, which launched a 30-channel HD an average TV rating of 4.2 on bouquet on February 16, saw a 10-fold ESPN STAR Sports and 4.9 on increase in sales ahead of the World Cup. ESPN STAR + Doordarshan

"The Cricket World Cup 2011 has delivered 69 3. The nine India matches per cent higher ratings than the 2007 edition," delivered an average rating of says Aloke Malik, Managing Director of ESPN 13 on ESPN STAR Sports and Software India, which owns ESPN and STAR 16 on ESPN STAR + Sports. ESPN STAR Sports, or ESS, - along Doordarshan with Doordarshan - held sole rights to broadcast the tournament live in India. Though 4. The final between India and ESPN would not disclose numbers, sources Sri Lanka saw a record close to it claim it would have raked in close to viewership of 27.2 (ESPN Rs 800 crore in advertising revenues through STAR + Doordarshan) the tournament. This World Cup generated an average TV viewership rating of 4.2 (only ESS) 5. India-Sri Lanka finals saw a and 4.9 (ESS plus DD), he adds. In 2007, SET peak rating of 41.2 (ESPN Max had won the India rights for the broadcast STAR + DD), with a peak rating of the World Cup, played in the West Indies. of 32.9 on ESPN STAR Sports That tournament garnered an average TV rating of 2.5 (SET Max) and 2.7 (SET Max plus 6. March 30 semi-final between DD). India and Pakistan generated ratings of 20.3 on ESPN STAR "Thanks to Team India's win, more people are Sports and 4.4 on DD likely to watch cricket in the coming months," says Rohit Gupta, head of network sales at MSM India, which owns SET Max. Gupta, however, does not see the possibility of a serious spike in revenues with IPL 4 broadcasts because of the World Cup win. "Most of our inventory was sold out even before the World Cup began. We are just holding onto a portion of the inventory of the last few matches," he says.

Shashi Sinha, CEO of media buying agency Lodestar UM India, cautions: "India did well in the World Cup. But it takes only one bad game to spoil the party. We will have to wait and watch how India performs in England and West Indies… else it could just be a passing phase." India tours West Indies in June and England in July this year.

But then, as pundits love to put it, cricket is a game of glorious uncertainties and it takes just a few overs to change the course of the game.

Reproduced From Business Today. © 2011. LMIL. All rights reserved.