Project Title: The Advertising saga on the

Reigning
.(Indian Premier League (IPL

Student Name: Sehaj Singh

Course: Bachelor of Arts (Journalism and Mass

(Communication

Year : 2008 -2011

Supervisor Name: Mr. Ratnesh Dwivedi

.University Name: Amity University, Noida

Department Name: Amity School of Communications

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Introduction

The advertising saga on the reigning IPL-Cricket is the sport

which I fancy the most. Cricket is played by many nations, mainly the
Asian subcontinent i.e. India and Pakistan. It is also the second largest
watched sport by spectator's . Currently, Cricket is being played by ten
test playing nations namely, Australia, Bangladesh, India, South Africa,
West Indies, Pakistan, England, Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe. The top team
in the One day format is South Africa and Test format is Australia.
Especially in India, the sport cricket is followed religiously, since the
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British era. Today, people worldwide play cricket, because people are
getting to know the game through advertising by mainstream media
that includes, TV ,Newspaper, Sports magazines, Radio Jingles and
mostly brands which rope in the famous cricketing icons as their brand
.ambassadors

Relevance

I have tried to portray the glamorous side of Cricket .This game is

popularized by advertisements which have the popular personalities of
the game for example, Indian players like Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul
Dravid, Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Yuvraj Singh. This game has many
.formats like the Test format and the One day format
Advertisement for the IPL were designed to generate mass audience
through creations and reinvention of the Cricket with their brand Image
:of the following teams

1) Bangalore Royal Challengers: The Bangalore team was bought

by Vijay Mallya’s UB Group for $111.6 million to own the team for 10
years.

2) Kings XI Punjab: The Mohali team was bought by Bollywood diva

Preity Zinta, her industrialist beau Ness Wadia, along with renowned
industrialists Karan Paul and Mohit Burman for $76 million for a period
of 10 years.

3) Chennai Super Kings: The Chennai team was bought by India

Cements for $91 million to own the team for 10 years.

4) Kolkata Knight Riders: The Kolkata team is owned by Bollywood

actor Shah Rukh Khan, actress Juhi Chawla and her husband Jay Mehta
for $75.09 million for a 10-year period.

5) Deccan Chargers: The Hyderabad team was bought by Deccan

Chronicle, a media house, for $107 million for a 10-year period.

6) Mumbai Indians: The Mumbai team is owned by Mukesh Ambani’s

Reliance Industries Limited for $111.9 million for a period of 10 years.

7) Delhi Daredevils: The Delhi team is owned by GMR Holdings for

$84 million for a period of 10 years.

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8) Rajasthan Royals: The Jaipur team was bought by UK-based
company Emerging Media for $67 million to own the team for a period
of 10 years.

The above teams were sponsored by esteemed companies like IPL

DLF Ltd, Hero Honda, Kingfisher Airlines Ltd and Pepsi, MRF Tires,
Emirates Airlines, HDFC Banks, Watches brands like Rolex, Timex etc.
while Sony signed Hyundai Motor India Ltd, Vodafone Group Plc., Max
New York Life Insurance Co., Godrej Appliances Ltd, Coca-Cola India
Inc. and Citibank.

Many of these companies were sponored several properties across

multiple IPL platforms.
For instance, Kingfisher was the official umpire sponsor for all
matches, the airline partner for IPL, the owner of the Royal Challengers
Bangalore team as well as co-sponsor for the rival Delhi Daredevils
team. Similarly, Hero Honda was the official team sponsor for the
Delhi team, in addition to being one of the ground sponsors for IPL.

Today, hand in hand with the advertising industry for the T20 format,
the cricket mania has gone a step further in drawing more audience
into the game .Since the introduction of the IPL, the cricket fever grips
.all around the globe
The mega event gained viewership of close to 82 million on television
in the first 20 days of the season — much higher than a 30-60 million
viewership for other cricket tournaments

:Objective

To connect to the mass audience through the world of

.advertisement

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To broadcast the game credentials to the mass population through the
mainstream media like TV, Advertisements, Bill Boards, Hoardings,
Mobile Ads, and Radio Jingles etc which is extremely pervasive in
.contemporary society

To increase the TRP (Television Rating Points) with the help of

.Advertising Media

The second edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) has seen the
introduction of several innovative initiatives to keep viewers engaged
with the tournament, be it contests, computer and mobile games or
various promotional activities.
6UP, a SMS-based game, was recently made available only to Indian
mobile subscribers, where fans were asked to predict the scores of a
live match. Winners would get cash rewards for correct predictions.
Mig33, a social networking platform accessible via both computer and
mobile phone, engaged its members with real-time chats with players
from the five DLF IPL teams – Kings XI Punjab, Delhi Daredevils, Royal
Challengers, Deccan Chargers and Chennai Super King..
In terms of innovation, first of all the IPL content was of very high
interest and the short breaks held consumer attention, and at the
same time, it gave scope for advertising in some form.
IPL Season saw some form of innovation and that, too, at a higher rate,
especially as the tournament progressed. Since the game was held
outside the country, almost every medium and every brand aimed at
connecting their consumers with the game or their team or even the
player through their advertisements.

Research
Methodology

:The Working of IPL

Masterminded by Lalit Modi, chairman of the marketing sub-committee
of the BCCI, the Indian Premier League was launched on 14th
September 2007 on the lines of English Premier League (Football) and
National Basketball Association. Studded with the starry glitz of
Bollywood and backed by the money-power of Indian business tycoons,
the IPL is all set to the change the face of international Cricket in 21st
century that was redefined by the Kerry Pecker's World Series Cricket
in late 1970s.

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Redefining the current face of Indian cricket on Wednesday, 20th
February 2008, it rained millions of dollars within ten hours in
Mumbai's Oberoi Hilton's auction room, as 77 cricketers went for
bidding in the player auction of the IPL.
the eight IPL teams, to bid from the world's best cricketers who were
put on the show.

The Economics of the Indian Premier League

Money really matters and the IPL is no exception to it. The IPL
or the richest cricket league so far would fetch big bucks for the
BCCI, IPL and all the eight franchisees. There would be four
major sources of income for the IPL:-

• The sale of media rights for broadcasting of the IPL

matches would get in Rs. 4,000 crs. Sony Entertainment
Television (SET) and Singapore based World Sports Group has
got the global TV broadcasting rights of the Indian Premier
League for the next 10 years. Out of this Rs. 4,000 cr the IPL
would get 20% for itself, 8% as the prize money and the
remaining 72% would be evenly distributed among the eight
teams. The existing arrangements would work till the year 2012
after that the fresh auction will be held.
• The title sponsorship right for the Indian Premier League
has been secured by the DLF Universal, Indian real estate
developer. Hero Honda group would be the associate sponsor.
PepsiCo and Kingfisher Airlines are the IPL's partners for
tournament official beverage and advertising on Umpire's
clothes respectively. The revenue from the all above
sponsorship rights have been described as Central Revenues
with a proportion of 40% to IPL, 54% to franchisees and 6% to
prize money.

• The franchisees, apart from the share in central revenues,

can earn money by franchisees rights like by selling advertising
space in stadiums, by licensing products for their teams like T-
shirts, advertising on tickets and gate money. The 20% of the
amount earned in this head would go to the IPL.

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 • Each player of the eight teams would get their annual
contracted fee in full that means the tax on that amount would
be paid by the team owners. Apart from the above amount they
would also get a daily allowance of Rs. 4,000 for the entire IPL
season that would last for a month-and-a-half.

Advertising in IPL

When the economy, valuations, new channels are booming

advertisers did every thing - at least to reach the consumer through
new media, new ideas, new channels, experimental stuff, the lot.

In a scenario of shrinking ad budgets, advertisers put their

money behind the media vehicles that they believed , they
delivered the best ‘bang for the buck’. The IPL represented just
that opportunity. There was unlikely to be as big and extended a
TV event to deliver as many eyeballs through the year…it’s the
one thing advertisers put their money on. It was a risk, but a
calculated one for the IPL owners.

Advertising during IPL matches is over the top – the ads start as
soon as the 6th ball of one over is bowled and end only during the
1st ball of the next over.

Advertising on ball boys: Promoting the brand on the uniform.

Citibank four: With every boundary scored, the Citibank is flashed

on the screens.

DLF sixes: TheDLF sixer ad promotes itself and the well shot sixer
from the player for its team

How about innovating the singles ,twos or three runs promoted

as Britannia singles ,MRF twos or Cheetos three ?

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 Zoozoo ads in the IPL

ZooZoos are advertisement characters promoted by Vodafone during

the Indian Premier League Season 2 (IPL). Zoozoos are white, ghost-
like creatures with ballooned bodies and egg heads who are used to
promote various value added services of Vodafone. These ads though
look animated are actually real humans in the Zoozoo costumes. The
ads were created by Ogilvy & Mather, an agency that handles
Vodafone advertisements and the films were shot by Bangalore based
Nirvana Films in Cape Town, South Africa.The Zoozoos are infact real
small bodied ,thin women covered in layers of white fabric. Each facial
expression was made of rubber and pasted on the actors rather than
done through animation as this enhances the time and cost for the
shoot.

Public response

The concept of Zoozoos has captured the imagination of both, old and
young, and there is an eager anticipation of the next Vodafone ad
featuring the Zoozoos. The uniqueness of the ads combined with the
ingenuity has really made its mark.

The seven and a half minute “strategic break” was a treat to the mass.
Within the course of the commercial break, people appear to have
fallen in love with the Zoozoos so much that it has become their
primary reason to watch the sports on the channel.

The ads were a hit among the Indian people, especially the youth. This
trend can be observed from the huge fan following on social
networking sites, Face book, Orkut and Twitter. There are more than

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200 pages on ZooZoos having more than 2 hundred thousand fans,
growing daily. The ads were viewed by lakhs of people in Youtube.

TRP (Television Rating Points)

More than 11 million viewers watched the SET MAX telecast from
Johannesburg, South Africa, of the Indian Premier League (IPL)
Twenty20 semi-final. This is a record for any of the past 117 Twenty20
cricket matches played in the IPL tournaments (2008 and 2009). The
figure is even higher than the 8.7 million viewers who watched the
finals of the first edition last year on SET MAX that had seen Rajasthan
Royals winning the inaugural tournament, according to the data
provided by overnight ratings agency Audience Measurement and
Analytics Ltd.

The agency took into account the top six cities and the 15-years-above
group of cable viewers that are considered the key demographics for
cricket matches by media agencies. Even the first semi-final match
played between Delhi Daredevils and Hyderabad’s Deccan Chargers
(winner) saw 10 million television viewers tuning in, about 2.3 million
more than the first semi-final match played in the inaugural
tournament last year. Media experts said the second semi-final match
might be the most-watched cricket property so far, on the basis of the
demographic parameters for cricket matches.

The final of IPL 1 generated the highest ever ratings — 8.8 per cent.
“Vodafone, Airtel Digital and Hyundai Motors remained the top three
advertisers for the two semi-finals played this year.

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Advertising hoardings in the IPL

Every inch of the stand roofs branded with the rainbow hoardings of IPL
teams made impact of its own. It attracted a lot of attention from the audience,
cheerleaders and the participating teams. The most important factor of ipl
success was the way its marketing was done. No stone was left
unturned in creating the cricket craze among each and every citizen of
the country and the people abroad. Huge amount of money was
invested for the marketing for ipl through television, hoardings, radio,
banners, IPL accessories etc.

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Analysis and Observation:

IPL season 2 v/s season1

The matches were good. The semi final berths wide open till the end. A
great final and a brand new champion. Despite the odds IPL Season 2
delivered great sporting action and in the process became an
international brand almost over night. It reveals how the viewer
perceived the IPL Season two in comparison to IPL Season one in terms
of viewership, shift in team support, change of player preferences,

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which brands gained and what were the best branding elements on-
ground. While the TVRs of matches in IPL 2 may not have matched up
to those of last year's, more people tuned into IPL this season than in
Season 1. The study suggests that, on an average, consumers watched
three more matches in Season 2 compared to their Season 1. DLF
enjoyed the most top-of-mind (TOM) recall, by gaining 25 per cent
recall, Vodafone's ZooZoos helped the brand triple its TOM score, post
IPL 2.
The other brands that gained were Kingfisher, Aircel and Idea. While
Vodafone dominated on-air, DLF and Vodafone also enjoyed high TOM
scores for their on-ground associations. Among associations of teams
and brands, the strongest were Knight Riders-Nokia, Chennai Super
Kings-Aircel and Mumbai Indians-Idea, in that order. In terms of
effectiveness of on-ground branding elements, boundary ropes and
perimeter ropes scored high in TOM scores.

In terms of team support, Rajasthan Royals and Chennai Super Kings

have both seen a decline post Season 2; and Deccan Chargers have
not been able to build team support despite their performance. Delhi
Daredevils, Kings XI Punjab and Knight Riders have enjoyed consistent
support.

Analysis of Data
IPL accumulated more viewers than ICC T20 World Cup: TAM Media
Research

Following the recent culmination of IPL2 and with the ICC T20 World
Cup just round the corner, TAM Media Research undertook a study to
compare the performance and deliveries of both these popular cricket
properties. The study indicates that IPL has managed more eyeballs
than T20 World Cup, with numbers coming in from markets other than
the metros. However, the reach build-up for IPL is lower than T20.

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When the top lines from the study is observed, on ratings comparison,
IPL 2008 has the highest rating of 4.81per cent, whereas the ICC T20
World Cup 2007 on ESPN got 2.35 per cent. However, matches played
by India got a rating of 6 per cent (including the finals, which garnered
a rating of 8.46 per cent). Looking at league matches, India’s Group
and Super 8 matches in the T20 World Cup 2007 got 4.9 per cent TVR,
whereas league matches in IPL 2008 got a TVR of 4.64 per cent.
League matches in IPL 2009 garnered 3.99 per cent TVR.
Ratings Comparison
The market profile shows that while maximum contribution to
viewership for the three tournaments is from the six metros,
contribution from markets other than the metros increased for IPL
2008 and 2009. Mumbai is the highest contributor for all three
tournaments, contributing 15 per cent to ICC T20 World Cup and IPL
2008, and 14 per cent to IPL 2009.
Graphical representation on the next page gives the clear indication of
the success of IPL 2008 and 2009.

Market Profile for T20 tournaments.

Audience Profile.
Audience reached .

1. Market Profile

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2. Performance of T20 Tournaments

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The profile of audience has been similar for T20 World Cup and IPL
2008. With more matches being played during the evening time band,
when the CS 4-14 TG’s presence is maximum, the contribution from
this TG has increased by 2 per cent for IPL 2009. CS 35+ contributes
the maximum to all the tournaments.

Audience Profile

When the audiences reached is seen, the study shows that the reach
levels of ICC T20 World Cup till the semi-finals were lesser than that of
both IPL seasons. The finals, however, brought in 8 per cent more
audience to increase the overall reach of the tournament to the level of

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IPL. While IPL 2008 reached 78 per cent of the universe, ICC T20 World
Cup reached 65 per cent

Audiences Reached

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Reach levels of ICC T20 World Cup till the semi-finals were lesser than
that of both IPL seasons. The finals, however, brought in 8 per cent
more audience to increase the overall reach of the tournament to the
level of IPL. While IPL 2008 reached 78 per cent of the universe, ICC
T20 World Cup reached 65 per cent.

The eye catching advertisements, hoardings, bill-boards, radio jingles

etc. with white and black and funny looking creature like Zoozoo ads
all contributed to the success of the IPL season 2.

Marketing and advertising of IPL was done on a large scale and it was
the BIGGEST reason for the success that it has got. The Indian
Premier League had a major impact on the advertising fraternity and
media this year. Many companies enjoyed the bandwidth to gain high
visibility for their brands despite the economic downturn. In fact, many
advertisers strongly believe that IPL 2 delivered even better results
than last year.

Its was a major media event and a major advertising vehicle. IPL is
one thing that advertisers felt positive and confident about. IPL

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offered the best mix of entertainment and sports in India and world
wide . IPL had absolutely a major impact on the advertising industry.

This attracted the worldwide cricket audience in all age groups. The IPL
advertisements got huge publicity from the brands around the globe.

Acknowledgement :

My heartiest thanks to my teacher ,Ms. Lavina Bhaskar for her

guidance in my endeavours in compiling this project.

Bibliography :

The above information is compiled from the sources listed below:

www.businessstandard.com

www.wikipedia.com

www.toostep.com

www.lbhat.com

www.thehindubusinessline.com

www.exchange4media.com
Printed Refences:

Sports magazine : IPL T20 matches

Times of India - Sports section

Gulf News – Sports section

Information compiled by :
Sehaj Singh
BJMC
2-C

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