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  • IPL 2021 Brandwagon: Ads that generated buzz

    IPL 2021 Brandwagon: Ads that generated buzz

    MUMBAI: It's not without reason that cricket is considered a religion in India – nothing can whip up mass fervour like this sport. And what could have proved this better than the opening match of Vivo IPL 2021, which clocked, believe it or not, a colossal 10 billion minutes of viewership on Star India network.

    Thus it’s a no brainer that ad spots for the cricket league are selling like hot cakes at up to Rs 14-15 lakh for 10 seconds. At last count, Star TV had roped in 18 sponsors. With the IPL now in full swing, life is good for the brands who have signed onboard, pandemic or no pandemic. The league has taken over people’s minds and hearts off the virus as the official national pastime… well, at least while the matches are on!

    The IPL also brings with it an assortment of marvellous ads every year, with brands trying to up one another’s creative game and exploit the full potential of this incredibly engaging event. 

    This year too has not disappointed ad-watchers.

    Here’s a list of brands who got it right and found ways to create and curate content that cut through the clutter:

    JustDial’s JDMart: India ka B2B marketplace

    Just Dial has dialled up its entertainment quotient, making full use of its brand ambassador, Bollywood actor Ranveer Singh’s skillsets. The actor, who is notorious for his repertoire of quirky looks and accents, brings on his talent to promote the company’s b2b marketplace JD Mart. Taking on various avatars and accents of a dealer, manufacturer and supplier of different goods he talks about how the app has made his life easy by enabling him to reach a wider audience and sell his products without any hassle.

    Dream11 : ‘Team hai toh mazaa hai’

    E-sports app Dream11 has also upped its IPL game this time around with a series of films released in the last two weeks. Featuring an array of Vivo IPL cricketers including MS Dhoni, Jasprit Bumrah, Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Hardik Pandya and Shreyas Iyer the adverts are rather interesting to watch. Each of the films showcases a couple or more of the professionals in endearing gully cricket scenarios. The cricketers show off their acting chops, in various situations playing cricket in their neighbourhood- on the terrace, on the streets, in pitch darkness on deserted alleys and even in a water-logged compound. Old popular film jingles play in the background  while the team gets around minor hurdles to their game. The message behind the fun-filled creatives: Team hai toh mazaa hai.

    Cred spills celebrity secrets:

    One player in the IPL brandwagon which has come out stronger and better than last year is the credit payment app Cred, which has been hogging a lot of attention for its campaigns. Previously, while the brand did get noticed for its distinctive ‘not everyone gets it’ ads featuring veteran celebs it did not win much favour with the audience, as this time. They got off on the right foot with their creative featuring ex-cricketer Rahul Dravid. The ad showing the mild-mannered cricketer losing his cool in the midst of Bengaluru traffic jam and proclaiming himself to ‘Indiranagar ka gunda’ got off to roaring start from the word go! It has sparked numerous memes and spinoffs and had everyone from Deepika Padukone  to Virat Kohli tweeting about it.

    Post this, the brand has released two more campaigns one after another, featuring actor Jackie Shroff and Kumar Sanu, the popular playback singer from the 90s . The films depict Shroff, in no way known for his dancing skills, taking Zumba lessons while Sanu tries his hand at selling insurance, albeit musically.

    Mobile Premier League (MPL):  ‘Hai Akal Khelo MPL’

    Cashing in on the IPL fever, skill-gaming platform, Mobile Premier League (MPL), has also launched its latest campaign around the game. With the tagline ‘Hai Akal Khelo MPL’, the campaign features a humanoid brain as the protagonist, driving in the point that anyone with ‘akal’ (brains) can play the game.  

    The three films released are a humorous play on the words of popular Hindi language idioms like ‘Akal badi ya bhains’, ‘Akal ke dushman’, and ‘Dimaag ghaas charne gaya hai’. The films push the central idea that one can create their fantasy team on the e-sports platform with basic know-how of cricket during the ongoing T20 tournament. MPL has roped in veteran actor Vijay Raaz for the films’ voice-overs.

    Since the campaign first went live with the start of the IPL, fantasy cricket app has already seen one million new app installs.

    As the marquee T20 tournament progresses, we cannot wait to see more brands get creative with their messaging.

  • IPL 2020 excitement builds as final looms

    IPL 2020 excitement builds as final looms

    MUMBAI: Two hours to go. And the top two teams till the playoffs will be slugging it out with each other in the IPL final  as a billion cricket lovers watch the fierce competition on the field. Mumbai Indians and Delhi Capitals – two teams which impressed one and all on the way with their fighting spirit. Both the blues will be on the field.

     

    It was not an easy IPL and it went down to the wire, with five teams almost level, until the playoffs. Yes, there were no spectators. But the simulated audience cheers, encouraging roars, the instruments blaring away, did not make that apparent at all. The palpitating excitement kept you glued to your screen – whether mobile, TV or laptop. And the commentators, well, they surpassed themselves, and put in that extra effort they took to get the action seem more engaging.  

     

    Cricket lovers responded in droves: the opening match had 200 million viewers across TV and digital; with the fixture streamed behind the Disney+ Hotstar pay wall seeing a record 8.4 million viewers. Yes last year’s audience numbers on Hotstar were higher, by multiples, but it was a free AVod service. Star India’s goal is to go past a record 550 million viewers for the entire league, as it had elaborated at its start.

     

    Of course, the brands made merry: whether it was Dream11 or  Byju’s or Zomato, or Unacademy or  payTM or Cred or Ceat or Tata Motors (and its famous gold standard vehicle Altroz displayed during the matches at the three stadiums and being talked about by the commentators) or  Upgrad or Great Learning or  Usha fans or AMFI – the list could go on.

     

     Clearly, an association with the IPL helps get a tremendous recall value, and especially if the communication is humorous and brings a smile to your face – a tack many of these brands took. More than a hundred brands associated with the IPL, whether with the broadcaster or with the franchises or with the BCCI.

     

     Fortunately for them, the sponsorship ticket sizes were not as large as last year, giving them a fabulous return on their investments. Even as  broadcaster and streamer  Star India and Disney +Hotstar took a hit in revenue, they build a stronger bond with cricket lovers.

     

    Expectation amongst all is that the final telecast today is going to set new records in terms of viewership, even though tomorrow is gold buying time and the festival mood is in full swing.  It’s the classic old duel, Mumbai – the Indian commercial capital – vs Delhi – the political capital – though Delhi is led by a Mumbai lad. Who will triumph? Punters are betting it will be Mumbai Indians who have a better pedigree or track record, but who knows Delhi might spring a surprise.

     

    Whosoever wins, for audiences too, the IPL has been time well spent. The sixes have rained, the wickets and bails have been lit up very often, new players have emerged, records have been set and  there have been more than enough heart stopping super-overs. Clearly cricket has entertained, and how.  2020 will be known as the year when despite the most challenging Covid 2019 circumstances it was sport – namely cricket – which turned out to be a winner.

  • Great Learning places a great bet on the IPL

    Great Learning places a great bet on the IPL

    NEW DELHI: The outbreak of Covid2019 has turned out to be a watershed moment for the ed-tech sector, encouraging brands to acquire new subscribers and expand their business verticals. Both professional and school-level courses have witnessed a spurt in takers during the lockdown period.

    Currently, all ed-tech players are trying their best to leverage the situation and are focusing heavily on different marketing funnels geared towards new customer acquisition. A recent report revealed that popular Indian ed-tech firms have lined up a massive advertising warchest of Rs 500 crore which is being spent on various media outlets to lure and attract new customers for their courses. 

    Ed-tech platform Great Learning has placed a big bet on cricket by signing up with Disney+ Hotstar as a digital sponsor of  the IPL. It launched its first-ever TVC campaign ‘Power Ahead’ in August, highlighting the importance of lifelong learning. The ad film showcases how upskilling in a defined field at the right time can help professionals power ahead in their careers.

    In a big win, Great Learning also roped in Virat Kohli as its brand ambassador who has been featuring in a multi-ad campaign based on the ‘Power Ahead’ theme. The ad tagline reads, ‘Jo Seekhta Hai Wahi Aage Badhta Hai (He who learns, forges ahead)’.

    Great Learning co-founder Hari Krishnan Nair shares that the "Power Ahead"  campaign is playing out on  digital as well as TV and it will not just be limited to cricket. The ads are set to be  hit  40 national channels across categories such as sports, entertainment, news, and music to expand the ed-tech platform’s reach to new geographies and newer audiences.

    Explaining the rationale behind associating with the cricket tournament, Nair describes that the pandemic has fuelled digital and TV viewership, and experts are confident that IPL 2020 will be the most-watched season ever. “Betting on these estimates, we believe this is the right time for us to communicate and consolidate our leadership position through impactful brand communications,”, he says.

    Over the last few years, there has seen a shift in how brands assign their budgets to different mediums. Nair explains that IPL will bring the same ROI for brands because its digital viewership will rise multi-fold. “Depending on the audience one is looking to target, one can find the right balance between TV and digital. We feel that ROI will be leading the strategy as everyone will want more bang for their buck.”

    While a host of ed-tech players are pushing hard to reach the masses, ad creatives  are helping them break through the clutter. The audience for each one of them is not the same, and Great Learning’s target user comprises working professionals and students. “We believe our message of powering ahead and the relentless pursuit of excellence will resonate with our target audience, especially when delivered by our brand ambassador Virat Kohli. We believe he will encourage learners to chase career excellence and inspire them to achieve their goals through high-quality education provided by Great Learning,” says he.

    Over the last six months, the ed-tech firm has seen growth in the learner base on its platform with the launch of the Great Learning academy. There’s been a rise in demand for courses like AI, management, digital marketing, machine learning, cloud computing, and analytics as professionals and students of all hues look to find their footing in the new environment.

    The brand has also launched the Great Learning corporate academy for working professionals, and 700+ companies used it within the first month of its launch to train more than 10,000 employees. Some of the biggest names in the industry – Maruti, UST Global, HDFC Life, BPCL, ONGC, BHEL, HPCL, EcomExpress, EXL and Tech Mahindra – have flocked to the service to train their workforce.

    Nair shares that the pandemic has reinforced the importance of learning new skills more than ever before and has offered an opportunity to people to test the waters and see if online education works for them. During the lockdown period, the company registered a 5X growth in its learner base. And it’s just getting started.

    “We expect the surge to be even bigger over the next few months. It would not be an overstatement to say that the sector is all set to produce multiple unicorn companies over the next few years.”

    According to a media report, there was a 200 per cent increase in Great Learning app downloads in the month of April and May.

    The seven-year-old ed-tech startup has over 5,00,000 users from 140 countries across its post-graduate programme in FY20. Great Learning claimed that customer satisfaction rates remained over 90 per cent across 45 million hours of learning courses.

    It is stepping out from the shadows; hopefully like its brand ambassador Virat,  it will see its efforts being hit out of the park – for a six. 

  • IPL clocks 269 million viewers in opening week: BARC-Nielsen

    IPL clocks 269 million viewers in opening week: BARC-Nielsen

    NEW DELHI: Dream 11 IPL has started with a bang as the much awaited tournament clocked over 269 million viewers in its opening week, as per the BARC Nielsen data. The tournament clocked over 60.6 billion viewing minutes across seven matches and 21 channels.

    The viewership, this year, was higher despite one less match played in the opening week and also the tournament was showcased on fewer channels in comparison to 2019. As per the data, there are 21 TV channels presenting IPL in 2020 in comparison to 24 channels that showcased the matches in 2019.

    Interestingly, in 2020, the tournament also witnessed 15 per cent growth in the viewing minutes over 2019. There is also a growth of cumulative reach of one percent and 21 per cent growth in average impressions per match. In 2019, there were 32.2 million impressions per match whereas 2020 clocked 39 million impressions per week.

    Match 1 (Mumbai Indians vs CSK) clocked 11.2 billion viewing minutes along with 52 million impressions and a cumulative reach of 158 million. All the three parameters performed better than the last year as there was a growth of 65 per cent in viewing minutes, 29 per cent in average impressions and 21 per cent in cumulative reach.

    Match 2-7 clocked an average of seven billion viewing minutes with each match garnering at least 34 million impressions and a minimum of 100 million cumulative reach.

    44 per cent of the television households watched the game live with over 57 per cent of male audience in it. The data indicates that there were over 11 million more viewers per match when compared to the last year.

    Interestingly, the total advertising volume for IPL 2020 opening week was 15 per cent higher than the last year. There was a significant increase of 19 and 22 per cent in the advertiser and the brand count.

    And finally, on the OTT front, the overall user base saw a growth of 32 per cent. Disney + Hotstar user base grew by 99 per cent during this time and fantasy sport apps also witnessed a surge of nearly 80 per cent. The smartphone usage and video streaming went up by 8 and 13 per cent during this period.

  • Brands leverage Rahul Tewatia moment

    Brands leverage Rahul Tewatia moment

    NEW DELHI: Over the years, IPL has given birth to several big stars who haven’t just entertained the crowds but went ahead to become viral-sensation.

    The latest to be a part of that elite club is Rajasthan Royals’ Rahul Tewatia who smashed five sixes in one over in a match against Kings XI Punjab and turned into an overnight sensation.

    The 27-year-old all-rounder stunned the cricket lovers with his skills in Sharjah as he helped his team to score a win against Kings XI Punjab.

    Tewatia made his IPL debut for Rajasthan Royals in 2014, but never become a household name until Sunday when he changed the game. After signing up for Rajasthan Royals in 2014, he played only 1 game in IPL 2015. He was bought by the Royals for Rs 10 lakh.

    Netizens went crazy after seeing his performance and #Tewatia started trending on the platform. Rajasthan Royals changed its Twitter bio to pay tribute to the 27-year-old all-rounder.

    The team’s new Twitter bio now reads — “Hoping 2020 does a Rahul Tewatia”.

    It was an excellent opportunity for brands to chip in and leverage the moment. Several big brands joined the conversation and congratulated him in their own signature style.

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    One Tewatia Password for victory. #IPL2020

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  • Digital-first brands bet big on Dream11 IPL

    Digital-first brands bet big on Dream11 IPL

    NEW DELHI: Cricket is the by far the best media vehicle for any brand if it intends to connect with masses at a pan-India level. The game cuts across all socio-economic boundaries, age-groups, geogrpahies and reaches to 196 million households with television sets. The brand can further amplify its reach by connecting with its audiences on the mobile screens. Be it IPL, T-20 leagues, one day matches or ICC World Cups, all of them have been able to deliver great results for the brands.

    Currently, we are in the first week of IPL season 13 and going by reports, more than 200 million people tuned into watch the game on day one. The tournament has created  history and is already delivering reach for brands. While the bandwagon of the teams, BCCL, and the broadcaster has a large number of traditional players, an equal number of digital first new age brands are also on the roster.

    The count of the latter is growing year-on-year. These brands are spending big money around IPL to get more downloads, website visits, referals, impact, and what not. Spokespersons of many of these brands have mentioned that the viewership and reach of IPL is increasing year-on-year and the tournament helps them increase their brand recall and reach. IPL, which is also known as the advertising festival of the Asian subcontinent pushes the brand saliecy to the next level. It is important for these brands to strengthen their community and engage with newer audiences that sample its products or services

    Read more news on IPL.  

    Brands across edtech, fintech, food delivery, fantasy sports, financial accounting, and healthcare are advertising across IPL season 13. 

    Here are some of the campaigns released by the digital first brands that are running during IPL. 

    Dream11

    The fantasy app brand has taken the title sponsorship for the tournament. It has released a campaign #YeApnaGameHai that urges people to download the app, sample the game and continue with it. The brand leads the fantasy sports category with over 90 per cent market share. 

    Policybazaar 

    The fintech brand has launched its new television campaign “AapKiSideHai” that features its brand ambassador, Akshay Kumar highlighting the brand's promise of embracing a holistic customer-centric approach while helping to bridge the insurance protection gap in India. The new ad series also highlights the brands unparalleled support to customers, while providing them with the ease of comparing and buying term and health plans online with guidance at each and every step. 

    Swiggy

    The online food discovery brand is urging people to order more during the IPL times and is offering discounts around it. The brand is running a strong media plan and is known for coming up with interesting ads during the IPL.

    PhonePe

    The Bangalore-based digital payments company is running TVCs featuring Bollywood stars Aamir Khan and Alia Bhatt. It has released five 20-second ads that tied together made one complete story: The guide to PhonePe. The ads tell us the story of Alia Bhatt who’s at the police station for her brother Tyson who’s behind bars because of an ambiguous road mishap. Inspector Desai (Khan) instructs her to pay a fine and she uses the PhonePe app to do so; the conversation from Desai’s instruction to Bhatt’s action is the sum of the five ads.

    Khatabook

    Khatabook, a business app that helps MSMEs streamline business transactions online has released it ad on the IPL. The ad features M.S Dhoni in different attires from Sharmile Sharmaji to Techno Tawde in the ads and showcasing distinct features of the app.

    OkCredit

    The brand has partnered with Delhi Capitals and running TVCs with the tagline – ‘Digital India ka Digital Bahi Khata’. It is a free-to-use accounting and ledger app that helps small businesses in India keep track of their digital transactions. The brand aims to engage with small, local brands and entrepreneurs for its expansion.

    Byju’s

    Byju’s is pushing its new offering – Byju’s Classes – to parents across the country through their IPL campaign spearheaded by its long term brand ambassador Shahrukh Khan. The ad highlights the key features of the product and Khan plays the role of a teacher to a group of parents and discusses the common worries they have regarding their children’s after-school tutoring needs. The campaign aims at redefining the concept of tuitions in an otherwise fragmented after-school tutoring market.

    Great Learning

    This IPL Great Learning released its first ever multi-film ad campaign featuring brand ambassador, Virat Kohli consisting a series of films titled, ‘Power Ahead – Jo Seekhta Hai Wahi Aage Badhta Hai’. The ad focuses on the importance of lifelong learning, and showcases how upskilling is a necessary step for students and professionals to move ahead in their careers.

    MyTeam11 

    Their IPL campaign “India Ki Apni Fantasy App” aims to promoting the message of “Indian Brand for Indian People”. It aims to bring more people to commuinty and sample the game. The ads emphasize on taking pride in playing one’s favorite fantasy cricket game on a homegrown application which promises to bring the users closer to the experience of the actual matches of the league. The films witness several cricket experts recommending and creating their own teams in the MyTeam11 app.

    Jio

    Mukesh Ambani owned fiber brand Jio released its latest ad in the Jio Dhan Dhana Dhan series. This time it features Deepika Padukone and Ranveer Singh with several cricketers such as Virat Kohli, AB De Villers, among others. The Jio Dhan Dhana Dhan tune first arrived on the IPL advertising scene in 2017.

    White Hat Jr 

    The edtech app that teaches coding to children is in vogue. People have been talking about it on the internet and the brand was recently acquired by Byju's for 300 million dollars. The online learning brand is running a TVC campaign across IPL to increase awareness and create brand saliency. 

    MediBuddy

    The digital healthcare platform has launched its first TV campaign – ‘Aapka Health Buddy’ to communicate that MediBuddy is a friend that everyone can trust to address any healthcare need – 24*7, for the entire family. The TVC encapsulates the lives of families and seeks to impart the important message of not neglecting one’s health. 

    My11Circle

    The fantasy sports app endorsed by former Indian cricketer and BCCI president Sourav Ganguly is asking people to come on the platform. The campaign is aimed at increasing the size of the community and getting more and more people to sample the product.

    Amazon

    The online shopping portal has started its festive season campaign with IPL. Their campaign #HarPalFashionable is focused towards pushing people to start their festive shopping from the platform. Over the years, the brands has been clocking massive GMVs during this time. It will be interesting to see how people reach to this years festive season.

    Myntra

    One of the biggest online fashion brands of India has joined the IPL bandwagon for the first time and partnered with Mumbai Indians, Royal Challengers Bangalore, and Chennai Super Kings.

  • Online fantasy sports platforms & their IPL romance

    Online fantasy sports platforms & their IPL romance

    NEW DELHI: Ten years ago, if someone told you that you could create your own virtual sports team and win money, you would have laughed off the idea. However, a handful of techies believed in the possibility. They have not only turned it into a business but have developed an entire new category called online fantasy sports (OFS).  What seemed a laughable proposition a decade ago is now a passion for many consumers.

    The OFS category seems to be having a great run in India; there were just 10 players in 2016 today that have ballooned to 150. And there’s optimism all around especially in terms of advertising, funding, hiring, consumer sampling, and what not.

    There is no doubt that the front end of this revolution is Dream11’s founder Harsh Jain who saw the huge possibilities and opportunities in the western world and decided to implement the same in India. Once the brand tasted success several other players also emerged in the market such as MPL, My11Circle, MyTeam11, BalleBaazi, FanFight, Cricplay, Gamezy, Howzat and others.

    A Federation of Indian Fantasy Sports (FIFS)/KPMG report released earlier this year revealed that the OFS sector has been registering rapid growth for the past four years. The user base increased from just 2 million in 2016 to 90 million in 2019. Operator revenue almost trebled from Rs 924 crore in 2018-2019 to Rs 2,470 crore in 2019-2020. The report also estimated that the industry clocked contest entry amounts (CEA) of over Rs 6,000 crore in FY19, which more than doubled to about Rs 16,500 crore in FY20.

    Read more news on fantasy sports

    Even as the lockdown led to mainstream live sports dying, the OFS apps started tracking smaller leagues all over the world, and fans too followed. But not with the same frenzy or at the same scale as cricket. Now, with the return of the IPL, the action is becoming red hot. Some of the OFS platforms have opted for team and tournament level sponsorships while many others have simply opted for spot buys during the matches.

    The IPL attraction

    Most of the big guns have been training their sights on consumers, spraying them with ads promising to give them an opportunity to win big money in the hope that they will engage more or sign up to try their luck.

    For instance, the baton holder of the category, Dream11 took the title sponsorship of IPL for a whopping Rs 222 crore. A 2019 report by the Indian Federation of Sports Gaming (IFSG) and KPMG suggests that Dream11 dominates 90 per cent of the domestic fantasy sports market. It is also associated with several teams and has already released its IPL campaign.

    The Virat Kohli-endorsed MPL, another big player that offers fantasy cricket for its audiences has associated with the Kolkata Knight Riders and Royal Challengers Bangalore as a sponsor. The online gaming brand is saluting the spirit of Covid2019 warriors and telling their stories to people.

    Mobile Premier League senior VP – growth and marketing Abhishek Madhavan defines IPL  as the biggest television property in India. “The way fantasy sports companies are heavily involved in the IPL this year will surely help grow the market. We want to grow our brand even more among the masses and give MPL a mass appeal and recognition. It is also a great way for us to take our unique features and offers to existing as well as new users.”

    Delhi-based e-sports platform BalleBaazi has also got into the game with  #DumHaiTohYahanKhel and its BalleBaazi Fantasy Festival that offers users a chance to get heavy discounts on its reward stores and play more leagues.

    MyTeam11 has unleashed a campaign ‘India Ki Apni Fantasy App’ for the IPL season to promote the message of ‘Indian Brand for Indian People.’ It consists of a series of videos wherein cricket experts can be seen recommending and creating their own teams in the MyTeam11 app. And it also features MyTeam11’s brand ambassador Virender Sehwag along with other cricket experts like Jatin Sapru, Sanjana Ganeshan, Mayanti Langer, Suhail Chandhok. 

    My11Circle promoter Games24x7, which is endorsed by Sourav Ganguly, is going the whole hog on promotion. The company’s director – brand & marketing strategy Avik Das Kanungo explains that cricket remains the highest participated sports format in fantasy space in India. Thus, IPL comes out as the strongest event simply because of the viewership and interest it generates over 60 days. 

    He adds: “My11Circle has bought spots during matches both on Star Sports on television as well as on Hotstar. We plan to effectively utilise these inventories to put across the right communication to the cricket-loving the audience that helps us establish our brand proposition of 'Play With Champions'. In that regard, we have shot multiple interesting commercials to bring alive the fun and thrill of our core proposition, and we hope it will resonate with all fantasy lovers across India.”

    Why Advertise

    Playerzpot, an OFS platform established in 2015 avers that an IPL partnership’s effectiveness is not measured over a single season, rather the association is computed in terms of the long term impact and recall it has on viewers and users. “Each fantasy brand is trying to lure new players, bring back the old ones, and retain both in the longer run. A marquee tournament like IPL brings that possibility of moving a notch higher for the whole year. For us, our work the calendar starts with IPL,” says Playerzpot co-founder Mitesh Gangar.

    Fantasy Akhada founder Amit Purohit echoes this saying that the platforms particularly use cricket properties to build brand awareness and to get top of the mind recall with fantasy sports players. RoI is measured by the improvement in user acquisition and engagement per user before, during, and after the IPL.

    Read more news on IPL

    He explains that cricket in India is a religion and most sports fans believe they know the game well. “If there is a seamless way to leverage this knowledge of cricket and skill of selecting a team to beat your friends or make money, most fans would latch on to this opportunity.”

    Estimates are that the only 15 per cent to 20 per cent of the fantasy app players are paying to be on them. The platforms would like that paid subscriber base to increase; hence the marketing blitzkrieg around a high reach property like the IPL even though it is super expensive.

    The OFS sector is having a beneficial rub off: the FIFS-KPMG report says that over 55 per cent of fantasy sports players said that they ended up consuming more real-life sports on the telly. That can be called a great symbiotic relationship. 

  • Leveraging the power of IPL with limited outlays

    Leveraging the power of IPL with limited outlays

    MUMBAI: Newspapers and online news media have been flashing headlines how this company or that brand has invested huge outlays to get associated with the Dream11 Indian Premier League (IPL) as a sponsor. These numbers could cue that the IPL is out of bounds for in brand managers in mid-sized and smaller companies or firms with limited budgets and lower amounts to spend on a high impact event like the IPL and possibly kept them from considering it as a property to be associated with.

    But, wait, the IPL is not a big spender’s game alone. As we analyse some campaigns and advertisers from previous editions we see that brands have chosen smaller outlay routes in line with their budgets, campaign timings and business agendas. For instance, brands can associate with the IPL for less than 10 matches – rather than all the 56 matches. Then, there is the option of tying up for the live programming before and after each clash, featuring sports specialists and cricketing experts who dissect the upcoming game as well as the result of the just concluded one.

    Experts opine that many a brand has opted for one of the two and hit their sales out of the park just like Pollard wallops many a bowler mercilessly for those deep sixes.

    Read more news on IPL 2020

    Take for example, Grofers.

    In 2019, online grocery ecommerce platform Grofers went in for a burst of sharp advertising for a limited time period. It aired its commercials for as little as a week during the IPL matches between 31 March 2019 and 7 April 2019. The reason: research had pointed out that family habits had evolved and they were shopping for the entire month in bulk in the first seven days. So, it was looking at opportunities to make Grofers the first port of call for this activity. It partnered with banks and credit card companies and announced its Houseful Sale offering discounts on purchases with specific plastic brands.

    The net outcome: searches on the market place surged 2.2x times at peak on 5 April and averaged a 50 per cent hike for the entire duration of the TVC.

    Grofers vice-president marketing Prashant Verma was delighted with the results. Said he: “Advertising during the IPL elevated the impact of our campaign and we saw great results on both brand and business metrics – in terms of organic reach, brand lift on consideration, growth in order volumes, and new user acquisition.”

    Cricket legend MS Dhoni has been associated with consumer electricals company Orient Electric as its brand ambassador. The CK Birla group outfit, which is known for its exotic fans, has also been a partner of the Chennai Super Kings team for several seasons now.

    It opted for the IPL’s team package and through it found a way to target audiences and followers of CSK matches and was able to build the association of Orient MS Dhnoi and CSK.

    It strewed its commercials featuring Dhoni in all programming related to the IPL and team CSK. And it worked wonders. According to BARC data, the brand’s reach not only increased in the urban markets in the 22-50 age group, – which was the brand custodian’s objective – but its business grew at a scorching 30 per cent in revenues – double its competitor’s ramp ups.

    Brands also have the option to choose feature properties, like the Orange Cap, the super sixes, or the fours, or the fall of wickets, or super catches. Just like, TooYumm – the healthy snacking brand from the RPG-Sanjiv Goenka group stable – did by becoming the fall of wickets partner and resorted to moment marketing successfully. You can find out more about what it did and the results it got by reading How Too Yum hit a Six with the IPL.

    For advertisers it’s a win-win all the way. Even as the outlays are smaller as they are for a limited quota of matches, they manage to get amassive bang in terms of impact intheir limited spots.

    BARC data highlights this.

    The reach for the first 10 matches varied between 345 million and 241 million in 2019’s IPL (U+R 2+). As compared to this, a top rated GEC show during the festive season generated a reach of 185 million on the higher side.

    The ad breaks during the IPL cricket matches are usually less than a minute long and do not show more than three to four ads at once, while in a general entertainment channel, the ad breaks are of five minutes duration with 14-25 ads in them, so the clutter is much higher. Also, due to the longer ad break duration attention (eyes on screen during ad break) in IPL is high – up to two times than in GEC breaks. 

    So with an imaginative and attention-grabbing creative and campaign, advertisers can but be sure that they will get a return for their hard earned buck.

    According to Group M entertainment and sports head Vinit Karnik the festival called IPL offers innovative ideas and smaller packages that the broadcaster’s sales team churns up. “Brands are willing to explore these opportunities and will find reasons to associate with them. In these Covid times, the Indian Premier League has become that little cheer which we will watch in our living rooms,” he says.

    Clearly, that’s a thought to ponder upon.

  • Disney+Hotstar taps 13 sponsors for IPL 2020

    Disney+Hotstar taps 13 sponsors for IPL 2020

    KOLKATA: Disney+Hotstar has bolstered its sponsorship portfolio for IPL 2020 with 13 sponsors. The brands which have onboarded for the largest cricket showbiz span across categories.

    The start-up unicorn Dream11 is the co-presenting sponsor and Boost is co-powered by sponsor. The 11 associate sponsors include Acko, Maruti Suzuki, KhataBook, Flipkart, Swiggy, Ace23, HDFC Bank, Great Learning, MX Player, Kingfisher Calendar and AMFI (Association of Mutual Funds in India).

    “Dream11 IPL 2020 will be a major catalyst for viewers and fans, who are longing to see their favourite stars back on the field. We have created avenues for interactive advertising innovations which enable brands to engage with their audience more effectively," Star and Disney India ad sales president Nitin Bawankule said.

    Read more news on Disney + Hotstar

    "This has resulted in interest and investment from prestigious brands across categories as varied as auto to e-commerce to banking. All of this, coupled with enormous interest from viewers and fans, makes us confident that this year’s Dream11 IPL will be a resounding success,” he added.

    Considerably, Disney+ Hotstar recently decided to take IPL matches behind paywall this year. It has struck deal with Jio and Airtel to boost the subscription too. Hence, the bold move will allow brands to reach high spender quality audiences.

    Read more news on IPL

    Earlier, the platform has also announced the addition of new features to the interactive Watch’N Play social feed. Replicating the exhilarating roar of the stadium, fans will be able to use an interactive emoji stream.

  • Dream11 educates players on how to use the app

    Dream11 educates players on how to use the app

    New Delhi: Last month, the fantasy platform Dream11 made headlines for bagging the IPL title sponsorship for 2020 at a whopping Rs 222 crore. It outshined Unacademy, Tata, Byju's and piped the Chinese smartphone maker VIVO, who was the title sponsor until the last year, to grab the top spot. For the last two years, Dream11 was making its presence felt by being the associate sponsor to several IPL teams. 

    The tournament is just a week away and the title sponsor has already begun its marketing activities. It has released videos on the social media platform to educate fans on how to play, select teams, score points, and other important details about Dream 11. The videos are created with cricketers such as  Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Rishab Pant, and Hardik Pandey.

    In one of the content pieces, the protagonists explain, how to create your Dream11 team by selecting any of the impending matches from the ongoing cricket series. The user can do so by using his/her sports knowledge and skills in selecting key players within a budget of 100 credits. Afterward, join any Dream11 free or cash contest to win cash and the ultimate bragging rights to show off your improvement in the Free/Skill contests on Dream11!

    The third step asks users to follow the match and track their fantasy scorecard. The scorecard is updated every 2 minutes. Once the match is concluded, the fantasy team’s final ranking and winning amount will be visible on the leaderboard.

    Read more news on Dream11 

    The videos are a part of the brand's ongoing content marketing strategy where it aims to educate the audiences about the brand, what is fantasy cricket, how it is played to the consumers. The brand is doing it with the help of simple, easy, and entertaining content around cricket. Dream11 has released relatable videos in past also on subjects such as Understanding Fantasy Cricket, How to Play, How to refer your friends, How to add cash, how to verify your account, How to join a cash contest and others.  

    Dream11, cofounded in 2008 by Harsh Jain and Bhavit Sheth, leads the fantasy sports category in India and is funded by the likes of Kalaari Capital, Think Investments, Multiples Equity, and China’s Tencent Holdings. The duo has had a long journey of ups and downs before making Dream11 a unicorn company. It can be safely said that Dream11 is the leading gaming company in the country. The fantasy gaming app has diversified and is offering multiple sports to the people. However, cricket by far has the highest number of takers on the app. The company has also diversified with multiple offerings such as Fancode, DreamX and Dream Sports Foundation. 

    Read more news on IPL

    The brand, in past, hired MS Dhoni as the brand ambassador and launched several campaigns with him. One of the most popular campaigns of Dream11 was 'Yeh Game Hai Mahaan'. The film was well-received by the audiences.