Tag: Pepsi

IPL teams keep their ‘core’ intact

MUMBAI: A total of 123 cricketers including players were retained by the franchises for the 2015 Pepsi Indian Premier season. Five Indian cricketers including Unmukt Chand and Vinay Kumar have been traded during the window for player trade this year.

The window for the franchises to extend the player contracts on existing terms for Pepsi IPL season closed on 15 December 2014.

The released players now have an option to register for the auction from where they can be picked by any interested club.

IPL chairman Ranjib Biswal commented, “Teams have the right, at their sole election, to extend player contracts for another season. This allows for teams to make any course corrections to their squads as a way to strengthen their team ahead of the next season. It is a way to balance the need for continuity whilst allowing for churn which is very important from the league’s perspective. The released players will have the option to put their names up for the player auction for the 2015 season.”

Teams have a total salary purse of Rs 63 crore for the 2015 season (5 per cent increase over the 2014 season purse). The salaries of the players retained will be deducted from this amount.

Here are the details of the retained and released players for 2015 season:

CSK (Retained Players): MS Dhoni, Ashish Nehra, Baba Aparajith, Brendon McCullum, Dwayne Bravo, Dwayne Smith, Faf du Plessis, Ishwar Chandra Pandey, Matt Henry, Mithun Manhas, Mohit Sharma, Pawan Negi, R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Samuel Badree, Suresh Raina, Ronit More.

CSK (Released Players): Ben Hilfenhaus, John Hastings, Vijay Shankar, David Hussey.

DD (Retained Players): Jean-Paul Duminy, Kedar Jadhav, Manoj Tiwary, Mohammad Shami, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Quinton De Kock, Saurabh Tiwary, Shahbaz Nadeem, Mayank Agarwal, Imran Tahir, Jayant Yadav.

DD (Released Players): Dinesh Karthik, HS Sharath, James Neesham, Jaydev Unadkat, Kevin Pietersen, Laxmi Ratan Shukla, Milind Kumar, Murali Vijay, Rahul Sharma, Rahul Shukla, Ross Taylor, Siddarth Kaul, Wayne Parnell.

KXIP (Retained Players): Axar Patel, Anureet Singh, Beuran Hendricks, David Miller, George Bailey, Glenn Maxwell, Gurkeerat Singh Mann, Karanveer Singh, Manan Vora, Mandeep Singh, Mitchell Johnson, Parvinder Awana, Rishi Dhawan, Sandeep Sharma, Shardul Thakur, Shaun Marsh, Shivam Sharma, Thisara Perera, Virender Sehwag, Wriddhiman Saha.

KXIP (Released Players): Cheteshwar Pujara, Lakshmipathy Balaji, Murali Kartik.

KKR (Retained Players): Gautam Gambhir, Andre Russell, Chris Lynn, Kuldeep Yadav, Manish Pandey, Suryakumar Yadav, Morne Morkel, Patrick Cummins, Piyush Chawla, Robin Uthappa, Ryan ten Doeschate, Shakib Al Hasan, Sunil Narine, Umesh Yadav, Veer Pratap Singh, Yusuf Pathan.

KKR (Released Players): Debabrata Das, Sayan Sekhar Mandal, Jacques Kallis.

MI (Retained Players): Rohit Sharma, Aditya Tare, Ambati Rayudu, Corey Anderson, Harbhajan Singh, Jasprit Bumrah, Josh Hazlewood, Keiron Pollard, Lasith Malinga, Marchant de Lange, Pawan Suyal, Shreyas Gopal, Lendl Simmons, Unmukt Chand, R Vinay Kumar.

MI (Released Players): Michael Hussey, Praveen Kumar, Ben Dunk, Pragyan Ojha, Jalaj Saxena, Krismar Santokie, Sushant Marathe, Apoorv Wankhade, Zaheer Khan, C.M. Gautam.

RR (Retained Players): Shane Watson, Abhishek Nayar, Ajinkya Rahane, Ankit Nagendra Sharma, Ben Cutting, Deepak Hooda, Dhawal Kulkarni, Dishant Yagnik, James Faulkner, Kane Richardson, Karun Nair, Pravin Tambe, Rahul Tewatia, Rajat Bhatia, Sanju Samson, Steven Smith, Stuart Binny, Tim Southee, Vikramjeet Malik.

RR (Released Players): Amit Mishra, Ankush Bains, Brad Hodge.

RCB (Retained Players): Virat Kohli, AB deVillers, Chris Gayle, Mitchell Starc, Nic Maddinson, Varun Aaron, Yuzvendra Singh Chahal, Rilee Rossouw, Vijay Zol, Yogesh Takawale, Abu Nechim Ahmed, Harshal Patel, Ashoke Dinda, Sandeep Warrier, Manvinder Bisla

RCB (Released Players): Albie Morkel, Muttiah Muralitharan, Ravi Rampaul, Sachin Rana, Shadab Jakati, Tanmay Mishra, Yuvraj Singh.

SRH (Retained Players): Shikhar Dhawan, Ashish Reddy, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Chama Milind, Dale Steyn, David Warner, Ishant Sharma, Karn Sharma, KL Rahul, Moises Henriques, Naman Ojha, Parveez Rasool, Ricky Bhui.

SRH (Released Players): Aaron Finch, Amit Mishra, Amit Paunikar, Brendan Taylor, Darren Sammy, Irfan Pathan, Jason Holder, Manprit Juneja, Prasanth Parameswaran, Srikkanth Anirudha, Venugopal Rao.

January 14, 2015
ChocOn the top brand on movie screens: CAM report

MUMBAI: Integrated entertainment and retail marketing company Interactive Television, in collaboration with IPSOS-MEDIA CT released its CAM report for November 2014.

CAM completed 16 rounds of audit with the movie Kill/Dil. With the report one can observe that a total of 270 brands were present in cinema during November 2014 of the audit. Out of these, 38 brands were screened in cinemas for the first time.

Further elaborating about the report, Interactive Television CEO Ajay Mehta said, “This is a growing trend as new brands are able to reach consumers with their differentiated offering through cinema advertising. Food and beverage categories continue to be at the top category present in almost all the screens.”

According to the report, chocolate brand ChocOn has maintained its top position consecutively in the last 11 months. It continues to be the top brand with presence in 4/5th of the screens followed closely by Parle Marie and Manyavar. Also, it continues to be the most recalled brand followed by soft drink brand Pepsi. Though ChocOn has the highest recall, Pepsi has the most effective recall.

New brands like Syska Gadget Secure Insurance, Lumia, and All Clean Wipe etc. tested cinema as an advertising medium for the first time with the movie Kill/Dil.

Food and beverage categories remain almost the same with their spending. Due to the brand Lakme, beauty and personal care category has its presence in 9/10th of the screens.

Another key point that the report observes is spending for accessories, electrical equipments and hardware products which are skewed towards south. Entertainment is equally distributed in north and south and almost all brands are skewed towards west.

The objective of the report is to understand the potential of cinema as a medium of advertising and track how is it moving over time. It examines advertising investments in Indian multiplexes or theatres and offers a comprehensive overview of where the money is flowing in cinema advertising.

January 9, 2015
Music is a natural fit for brands

MUMBAI: One cannot deny the strong connection between brands and music in the ever evolving music industry. More and more labels, artists and musicians are becoming aware about brand association that could help them attain a more successful outcome. The second day of the 6th edition of MixRadio Music Connects in Mumbai had CNBC TV-18 editor storyboard Anant Rangaswami lead a panel discussion called “The brand story”. Through this panel, the audience got to learn about the importance of brands in the music ecosystem. The invited panelists included Viacom18 EVP media and business head MTV and MTV Indies Aditya Swami, Bacardi India general manager marketing Ali Imran and Vivanta by Taj GM Manojeet Bhujabal.

The panel discussed the role of brand partnerships within the music industry. The session started with Branded co founder and CEO and Music Matters president Jasper Donat and indiantelevision.com group founder, CEO and editor in chief Anil Wanvari present an award to Imran, for Bacardi’s excellent brand association with music.

The key point of the discussion began with understanding how brands develop their strategies when collaborating with music.

Speaking about Taj’s music connect, Bhujabal elaborated: “Music is a primordial expression for us. Our hotels are well-known but we want to present an alternative life outside the realm of hotels. It was tough to initially develop a notion for Vivanta. We started on a basic level through house music. We went onto present Urban Tease, Barn Fest, Divas of Rock and Urban Folk. We also developed the Vivanta Sound Lab series and we look forward to discover emerging talents with fresh content.”

Imran felt there is no straight substitute for music. He commented, “Music is like oxygen for us. It reaches humans in a way that probably no other passion does. For Bacardi, music is a natural fit considering what the brand stands for, its lineage of parties and celebrating the human spirit.”

Providing his perspective as a channel head on why brands get associated with a music channel, Aditya Swami explained, “Digital has become a key part of the consumer ecosystem. It has allowed brands to talk to consumers in the language of music. We have attracted brands that want to create conversations and we have successfully done so over the years”.

Swami added that the presentation of music is of paramount importance in the industry, today. He said, “With brands supporting us, we have managed to showcase original music in the best way possible. Today, a brand like Pepsi is a partner of MTV Indies, a dedicated destination for non-film, non-mainstream music. We have given Pepsi a great platform for people to talk about what the brand is doing for the youth. Music is the voice of youth. It’s not just TV ratings that matters now. Traditional metrics are changing and there is a need to build brand love. Platforms like music are fantastic for this”.

Swami elaborated further that the music industry has an opportunity to develop within the area of music and brand partnerships. He said, “In the last 12 months, every interesting music idea that we have taken to the market has had at least a brand that is interested, as opposed to taking an idea of a reality show or TV soap where the market has become very saturated. Today, retail and lifestyle products are also part of the music ecosystem”.

At this point, Rangaswami added that brands might have a set of guidelines that would help attain a more successful outcome. He asked the panel how do the brands decide what kind of music to select when working on a campaign?

To that, Bhujabal replied: “We initially work with content partners who know the domain well. We enunciate what are the idioms and what to bring on the floor. We look at the audience and decide who we are targeting. After that, it is the job of the content creator to curate”. Bhujabal also emphasised on the importance of social media and social engagement to see how many people are engaged and liking their association with that selected genre of music.

Ending the panel discussion with some food for thought, Swami commented: “Today, I do not see enough brands or content players doing interesting cuts of our pop music industry. The content guys need to come up with interesting ideas and content relevant for brands around pop music industry. That is a huge space for us to tap into”.

November 6, 2014
Pepsi and Vogue Italia showcase ‘Pulse of New Talent’ collection

MUMBAI – The culmination of a 10-month partnership program, Pepsi® today debuts its latest global fashion collaboration, “The Pulse of New Talent” collection in partnership with Vogue Italia. In celebration of Vogue Italia’s 50^th Anniversary, the two iconic brands have partnered to identify and showcase 10 cutting-edge, emerging design talents from around the world to create a 20-piece fashion collection featuring men’s and women’s clothing and accessories.

Presented in full for the first time today during the Vogue Fashion Dubai Experience 2014, “The Pulse of New Talent” collection captures the essence of youthful excitement, energy and self-expression through the fresh lens of 14 distinct personalities culled from six countries representing an exciting, international world-view. The designers include: Masha Reva (Ukraine), Stella Jean (Italy), Suno (USA), Little Shilpa (India), Plore (China), Madiyah Al Sharqi (United Arab Emirates), Au Jour Le Jour (Italy), Miuniku (India), Lulwa Al Amin (Bahrain) and William Okpo (USA).

“Pepsi goes beyond refreshment in a can — it is an iconic lifestyle brand known the world over with creativity and culture as a touchstone of our DNA,” said Kristin Patrick, Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer, PepsiCo Global Beverage Brands. “In keeping with that heritage, we want to reward, honor and showcase creativity in all its forms, as well as the people who make it NOW. This partnership with Vogue Italia is a perfect opportunity to support a whole new generation of talent.”

The 20-piece collection features inspired and inventive designs – from a visionary visor and imaginative tops and jackets, to youthful swimwear and architecturally inspired outerwear and accessories including bags.

Within a collection rich with talent and creativity, Pepsi identified one in particular – the Ukraine’s Masha Reva – as a designer destined for greatness. To help Reva continue on her design journey, Pepsi will support the development of her brand with a $50,000 investment.

Reva will join fellow “Pulse of New Talent” designers in Dubai, UAE for the Vogue Fashion Dubai Experience 2014, which returns to the United Arab Emirates metropolis for a second consecutive year to stage exclusive events developed to support emerging talents in fashion. The event, organized by Emaar in partnership with Vogue Italia, takes place at The Dubai Mall October 30 – November 1, 2014.

“Dubai is pulsing with energy and talent; a city truly emerging as a 21^st fashion capital. As a leader in the fashion industry, we continue our mission to support up and coming designers and are proud to partner with Pepsi to host these talented 10 on a global stage to share their creativity with the world,” said Franca Sozzani, Editor in Chief, Vogue Italia.

“We were incredibly impressed with the level of sophistication, vision and design capability that these young creatives brought to our partnership,” said Mauro Porcini, Senior Vice President and Chief Design Officer, PepsiCo. “Their re-imagination of our color palette and iconic logo put a refreshing spin on ‘The Pulse of New Talent’ collection and they are no doubt the talents who’ll be creating the designs and culture of our future.”

The Pepsi x Vogue Italia collection follows the success of the iconic cola’s first-ever global fashion capsule collection, the “Live for Now Collection,” which featured six global designers and was available at influential international retailers including Bloomingdale’s in the U.S., colette in Paris and Liberty of London. In addition, 2014 marked the brand’s exclusive partnership for fashion collaborations with Bottletop, a British luxury accessories brand, supporting the Narciso Rodriguez (heart) Bottletop Collection.

October 31, 2014
Trick or Treat: Bring out the troll in you

With just couple of hours to go before people dress up to trick or treat for Halloween, one thing that comes to mind is the Pepsi versus Coca Cola war.

So, what is new between the two cola giants taking on each other, which they have been doing for years now? Well, it is the response which the campaign by Pepsi generated.

Last year, Pepsi released a campaign during Halloween wherein a Pepsi can wore a red cape with “Cola Coca” written on it and with a tagline saying, “Have a scary Halloween”. Of course, the campaign went viral, but what was more interesting was the response from one of the avid Coca Cola fan.

The new tagline read, “Eveybody wants to be a superhero”, hinting that the red cape was that of the Superman.

Ambush advertising is nothing new, but it takes a lot of wit and guts for the players to take a jab at each other and take it in their stride as well. And not to forget, to make it worth a while for the costumers as well.

The objectives of ambush marketing are twofold: to get maximum returns on the marketing buck and to undermine the branding efforts of the rivals by stealing the attention, increasing the clutter and confusing the viewers.

Who can forget the Pepsi’s ‘Nothing official about it’ campaign during the 1996 cricket World Cup that introduced the concept of ambush marketing in India.

Indiantelevision.com takes a look at a few memorable advertising wars between brands in India.

Kingfisher vs. Jet Airways

In April 2007, Jet Airways had an image makeover and had released an outdoor campaign that stated, ‘We have changed.’ Soon, Kingfisher placed a hoarding above that which read, ‘We made them change’.

Samsung vs. Nokia

It was in 2012, in a packed theatre in New Delhi, as scores of excited movie buffs sat to watch an exclusive premier of SRK-starrer Ra.One for mobile phone maker Nokia’s premium users at PVR Select City Walk mall, what took everyone by surprise were the advertisements that had been running for the previous few minutes were of Samsung mobile.

HUL vs. P&G

Hindustan Unilever’s shampoo brand “Dove” and Procter & Gamble’s shampoo brand “Pantene” caught it out in 2010. P&G launched its intriguing ad campaign for Pantene with the tagline “A mystery shampoo. Eighty per cent women said it is better than anything else.” A few days later and before P&G could announce the launch the new Pantene, Hindustan Unilever ambushed the campaign by placing an adjacent hoarding with the tagline “There is no mystery. Dove is the No. 1 shampoo.”

The Hindu vs. Times of India

For its Chennai edition, Times of India in late 2011, launched a ‘Wake Up!’ campaign, provoking the readers (mainly targeted at Chennai readers) to shift from the newspaper that puts them to sleep with its boring and dreary news (indirectly pointing out at the Hindu). Soon afterwards, The Hindu hit back with the tag line ‘Stay Ahead of the Times’, telling the readers to move out of the Bollywood and Page 3 gossips and take up the news that is relevant to current affairs of the country and the world.

Flipkart vs. Snapdeal

The latest to enter the bandwagon is none other than the highly-competitive e-commerce sector. On 6 October, Flipkart announced its ‘The Big Billion Sale’ as a jacket ad in the Times of India, announcing, ‘Today Don’t Look Anywhere Else, India’s Greatest Ever Sale is here’. But the thunder was stolen on the page immediately following with a Snapdeal ad announcing, ‘For Others it is a Big Day. For us, today is no different’.

October 30, 2014
Shocked by the retrograde budget proposal, says Indian Beverage Association

MUMBAI: Taking a cue from Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan, who has been pushing for higher tax on tobacco products, the Finance Minister Arun Jaitley took a step further from not only increasing excise duty on tobacco, but targeted the aerated drinks as well.

With an eye oncreating a healthier India, the FM has taxed aerated drinks containing sugar, while exempting fruit juices and other aerated drinks like soda.

“I also propose to levy an additional excise duty at 5 per cent on aerated waters containing added sugar. These are healthy measures and I hope everyone would welcome them from the point of view of human and fiscal health,” Jaitley said in his speech.

However, the move hasn’t gone down well with the industry.

On the hike, an Indian Beverage Association (IBA) spokesperson says, “We are extremely shocked by the retrograde budget proposal of a 5 per cent hike in excise duty on aerated drinks with added sugar.”

The players point out that the soft drinks industry is already one of the highest taxed categories in the country. The combined impact of CENVAT and state VAT rates reaches 34 per cent in eight states in the country. “Coming on top of the current 12 per cent rate, the additional 5 per cent duty increase will be tantamount to a 40 per cent increase in the central excise duty which would hit the industry hard and cause a major slowdown at a time when demand growth for the industry has been sluggish,” elaborates the spokesperson.

The IBA rebuts the increase by saying that the carbonated soft drinks (CSD) industry is a key segment of the food processing sector in India. It is a significant user of agri products and, with its high labour intensity, contributes significantly to agricultural growth and employment. With a ratio of direct to indirect employment of 1:4, similar to that of the software industry, the industry’s developmental impact is not adequately appreciated. Currently, it employs over 300,000 people, and if there is a conducive environment for growth the industry has the potential to grow at double digit rates and can contribute more than a million additional jobs over the next decade.

“It must also be understood that in a country where options of safe, convenient and hygienic beverages are rather limited, CSDs play a very important role in meeting the hydration needs of people. With this hike in excise duty, the industry will have no option but to increase the price of its products. An increase in price will also fuel the growth of beverage options from the spurious and unorganised sector which, on the one hand, pose significant risk to public health and on the other, will take away tax revenue from the government,” adds the spokesperson.

Parle Agro CMO and JMD Nadia Chauhan says, “In the wake of current hike, we will be evaluating our cost efficiencies for Cafe Cuba, whilst closely observing the change in dynamics of the CSD market. Our immediate focus is to work out a strategic approach that works best in serving consumer interest as well as maintaining the organisation’s operational cost. Whether we will be adjusting our price points, reworking volumes or fine-tuning marketing expenses is a key decision that will be taken basis analysis of all the key factors that determine our pricing strategy.”

As per a report by Euromonitor International, soft drinks off-trade value sales continued to record further growth in 2013 in India. The year also recorded many new launches in flavours across categories including juices, powder concentrates, and carbonates. Leading companies such as Coca-Cola India and PepsiCo India introduced various new flavours across the year. Smaller domestic companies including Hector Beverages and Pioma Industries also followed the suit.

The IBA has urged the government to reverse this hike as it will retard the progress of an industry which can have a significant positive impact on India’s development, particularly in the changed governance scenario in the country.

July 10, 2014
Yatra.com is Rajasthan Royals’ official travel partner for IPL

MUMBAI: Yatra.com has announced its partnership with the Pepsi Indian Premier League (IPL) team Rajasthan Royals as official travel partner.

Through this association, Yatra.com aims at reaching out to millions of IPL fans by leveraging the cricket fever in the country.

Commenting on the association, Yatra.com CEO Dhruv Shringi said, “We are delighted to partner with Rajasthan Royals and ride the IPL wave this season. Yatra is about creating ‘happy travelers’ and offering complete commitment and dedication to customers and partners. This partnership is a great fit as the Rajasthan Royals brand ethos resonates closely with our own.”

The name ‘Rajasthan Royals’ is inspired by the former princely states of Rajasthan and Gujarat. It was born from the commitment to entertain cricket fans and unearth new talent across the globe, with a sharp focus on India. As a brand it stands for resilience, commitment, intensity and never say die attitude. With roots in the culturally rich state of Rajasthan, the Rajasthan Royals are impassioned by indomitable qualities of strength, courage and fighting prowess, which personifies the brand.

Commenting on the partnership, Rajasthan Royals CEO Raghu Iyer said, “Rajasthan Royals is pleased to partner with a leading online travel company like Yatra.com, as the team’s official travel partner. We trust that this will mark the beginning of a long and fruitful journey for both organisations in the time to come.”

April 24, 2014
Kings XI Punjab gets 14 sponsors on board, this year

MUMBAI: Starting the upcoming IPL season on a positive note, Kings XI Punjab, has announced Tata Motors Prima as its title sponsor.

The franchisee has also on board Trip Factory, McDowells, Britannia, Pepsi, Flying Machine, Prayag Bath Fittings, Frontline Securities, R N Sports and Amazon as their new sponsors, while it continues its existing relationship with Arise India, ACC Cement, Kingfisher and TK Sports for this year.

Kings XI Punjab COO Fraser Castellino said, “I am pleased to have Tata Motors Prima as our title sponsor and look forward to a long and fruitful relationship with them. I would also like to welcome our other partners on board and thank them for putting their faith in the team. With such associations this year, the franchises’ excitement and energy levels have further been boosted for the tournament. I am hopeful that these partnerships will be mutually beneficial to all the parties involved.”

“Tata Motors Prima is delighted to sponsor the Kings XI Punjab team, one of the most exciting franchises in the Indian Premier League for this upcoming season. We bring the same passionate commitment to our customers as this star line-up brings to their cricket. We wish “The Lions” the very best for this season of IPL,” said Tata Motors commercial vehicles executive director Ravi Pisharody.

Tata Motors Prima is the title sponsor while Trip Factory and Prayag Bath Fittings are official team sponsors. Arise India has come on board as the mobile handset partner and Kingfisher as the good times partner. Britannia is the official goodness partner, while Pepsi is the official beverage partner. It has associated with Flying Machine as the official style partner, Frontline Securities as the official security partner, RN Sports as the official talent hunt partner, TK Sport as the official kitting partner and Amazon as the official online partner. McDowells and ACC Cement continue to be the official team partners.

April 17, 2014
What makes IPL click with brands?

MUMBAI: Indians love for cricket is inevitable. And nothing can come between the fans and the most-awaited entertainment tournament in the country: The Indian Premier League (IPL). But that’s not all, like honey to bee; brands too get attracted to it.

Year after year, controversies galore, nothing has deterred brands from putting their money on IPL.

Over the years, while the experts have debating that the overdose of cricket will make people lose interest in the game, but the fact is that even controversies – Lalit Modi fisasco, slapgate or even match-fixing – hasn’t affected the tournament when it comes to sponsorships. The Rs 2000 crore plus property has many lining up to sign deals.

With the expected ad revenue from this year’s IPL to be Rs 900 crore, the official broadcaster of the tournament, Sony Max and Six, have already brought on board, Perfetti Van Melle, Havells and Amazon as on-air associate sponsors while Vodafone and Pepsi will be the co-presenting sponsors.

So why do brands jump into the IPL bandwagon. The reason is simple: it is the biggest visibility platform in the country for brands.

Many in the industry feel that IPL helped its first title sponsor DLF become a household name.

“DLF was known in the north among the upper class, but today the name is known at every corner of the country,” says GroupM ESP Sports and Live national director Vinit Karnik.

The sports and entertainment arm of GroupM, in its SportzPower-GroupM ESP India sports sponsorship report 2014 reveals that Indian sports TV broadcasting was, is, and will continue to be dominated by cricket for the foreseeable future, contributing to 80 to 85 per cent of the total television sports media revenues.

In 2008, when tire major Bridgestone considered IPL as a medium for brand communication, it was put off by the price tags for premium rights. For example, real estate company DLF, at that time, was paying Rs 400 million per year for the title sponsorship of IPL. So, Bridgestone made a modest entry into cricket as a co-sponsor of IPL franchise Mumbai Indians.

The cricket tournament is a perfect platform to not only increase visibility but it also enhances the brands’ customer engagement. For instance, Karbonn Mobiles which, till a few years back, was fighting to make space in the market which was ruled by Nokia, entered the tournament through ‘Karbonn Kamal Catch’ and IPL Nights.

The deal helped the mobile company engage with its customers through the programme wherein spectators were selected and had to catch a ball. If they caught the ball, during a match, they would receive a ball signed by a player.

Similarly, Citi Bank’s ‘Citi Moment of Success’ helped the brand come out of the dark period it was witnessing because of the slowdown. “Citi’s initiative helped it rise above negative PR, especially what it was going through in the US. It used the platform well by associating itself with the ‘successful’,” points out Karnik.

Agreeing and adding on the subject, Madison Media COO Dinesh Rathore says, “IPL is one property which everyone knows will deliver for those 45 days consistently and hence, it increases the recall value of brands too. Why else would we see so many new launches (campaigns and products) during this time-frame?”

How can one forget the Zoozoos? Telecom giant, Vodafone, every year launches a new campaign during IPL. Vodafone India was one of the first few brands to get associated with the IPL and continues the relationship even in the seventh year. Zoozoos were launched in the second season and since then have helped Vodafone to establish a strong connect with the customers and enhance brand recall. One can even say that Zoozoos and IPL are inseparable today.

“Our experience so far has been that if you do things that are truly innovative and cutting edge during the IPL then the impact multiplies and bang for the buck is unmatchable. For example, apart from the ZooZoo campaign, our customer connect initiative ‘Vodafone SuperFan Contest’ has also received positive response from our customers,” says Vodafone India Brand Communications and Insights senior vice president Ronita Mitra.

She adds, “This year Vodafone customers can help a cricket crazy friend to get a dream come true opportunity to be selected as ‘Vodafone SuperFan’ and win all the privileges that go with it. While the friend gets all the privileges available for ‘Vodafone SuperFan’, Vodafone customers, as the nominee also gets hospitality ticket to watch the match live.”

Highlighting that new brand launches have gained tremendously, particularly in the segment of auto, brand consultant Harish Bijoor highlights that the format is dear to not only men, but women and children alike. “IPL is today a family sighting and outing. Therefore, anything that attracts family eyeballs is a marketing opportunity not to miss for brands.”

Not only this, but established brands too have jumped on the bandwagon. Pepsi, for instance, has been associated with cricket per se for years now. The cola giant taking the IPL title rights has been a huge brand lift for the IPL. That time, the move surprised many market watchers because they thought that a brand that needed to build a national brand recall as well as presence, would bid for the IPL rights.

PepsiCo India EVP Homi Battiwala has been quoted in the SportzPower-GroupM ESP report saying, “We are delighted that we have succeeded in rebranding the tournament as Pepsi-IPL, thus cementing a five-year partnership between two brands which enjoy an iconic status not only in India but globally. With our continuing sponsorship of the ICC World Cup, we are now the biggest supporters of the game of cricket.”

The cola giant also feels that the timing of the tournament is ideal given that packaged beverages is an impulse category and nearly 50 per cent of consumption happens in these months.

However, the controversies related to the tournament have left a dent in its sheen. Last year’s match-fixing fiasco hit it bad. And with elections coinciding with the tournament, many feel that it can impact the tournament’s TVTs and brand value.

“This year due to the various reasons the on-ground sponsorships may witness more desperation and many marketers may not invest for the long run. The revenue for the franchise is also hit due to the shifting of large part of tournament to UAE as 35-40 per cent of revenue comes from tickets for these franchises,” points out IPG Mediabrands branch head Mukti Kumaran.

She adds, “Also, brands are more conscious as the money will get fragmented between IPL and elections.”

Similarly, Red Fuse Communications India CEO Shubha George says, “IPL is now a standard media property that will broadly fluctuate as it has in the past. The fact that it will be partly played outside India will affect viewership to an extent. Over the years, advertisers have a good pulse of what to expect from IPL and so it is no longer the imponderable it used to be.”

Others argue and believe that even though overall brand value might get impacted but the property will continue to attract not only brands but fans and players too. “There are always two sides of a coin. If we take the case of Rajasthan Royals, one set of people can say that RR’s management failed and hence we don’t want to get associated with it while others might feel that why penalize the whole team for the wrong of a few,” says Karnik philosophically.

The biggest sporting property is all set to start soon and the brands aren’t shying away from queuing to hit a six with IPL, yet again.

April 10, 2014
Pepsi Launches @ThatPepsiIntern

MUMBAI: Bringing the thrill and action, from Pepsi IPL 2014, to cricket lovers Oh Yes Abhi!, Pepsi has offered Brand Ambassador Ranbir Kapoor a nifty new career opportunity as @ThatPepsiIntern. Starting this exciting job with a bang, Ranbir Kapoor is at the Pepsi IPL 2014 Player Auctions in Bangalore today. From getting the scoop at the player auctions to hanging with team owners, Ranbir Kapoor looks set for a new milestone in his career,Oh Yes Abhi! What’s more, this new job puts Ranbir on the Twitter bandwagon for the first time as@ThatPepsiIntern.

@ThatPepsiIntern is the most exclusive and awesome job at the Pepsi IPL! With access to events and activities, @ThatPepsiIntern will not only attend the matches but also get an exclusive first-hand experience of the glamour and excitement of the Pepsi IPL, bringing it to the fans Oh Yes Abhi!

@ThatPepsiIntern will generate exclusive content from the Pepsi IPL 2014 and will be the link between the fans and celebrities, thereby bringing the Pepsi IPL experience alive. Through @ThatPepsiIntern, cricket lovers can directly interact with or send their message across to celebrities. They can ask @ThatPepsiIntern to complete unique tasks for them in the stadium and even win tickets to the matches through contests.@ThatPepsiIntern gives people a chance to not just be AT the Pepsi IPL, but BE the Pepsi IPL.

February 13, 2014