India didn’t go beyond the semi-finals in the 2015 edition of the World Cup. But even though we didn’t make it to the finals, it was a reasonably good showing. As the 2019 World Cup begins today (Thu, May 30), we bring you the story of the last World Cup via our fav Amul topical ads.
By Vijaya Rathore & Ravi Teja Sharma
The morning and working hour timings of matches in the ongoing cricket World Cup have made millions of sport lovers follow the action on dedicated websites, apps and social media, prompting several big and small brands to latch on to digital advertising like never before.
Brands across industries, including Lufthansa, Accenture, Tissot and Hero are looking to catch the on-the-move consumer on a variety of platforms including official broadcaster Star India’s starsports.com, social media sites, cricket portals and apps such as Hotstar.
“Some of our clients have looked at digital very seriously. Hero, for instance, has bet heavily on digital and it is really doing well for the brand,†said Praseed Prasad, national director for digital trading at media buying firm GroupM India. Another client of his, Pepsi Lays, has chosen to do more on the digital side and only advertise on television during select matches in the World Cup this year.
A spokesperson for Star India says they have seen an exponential growth in consumption online. This World Cup, Star has got around 35-40 advertisers, including Lufthansa, Accenture, CarTrade, Tissot and Hero for its online platforms, with about 20% of those exclusively on the digital medium. “Revenues from digital will be significant this time,†the person said.
Hero is the co-presenting sponsor of the World Cup 2015 digital. “The medium has seen exponential growth in terms of traffic,†a Hero MotoCorp spokesperson said. It is the lead sponsor on the property with branding/inventory in terms of video inventory, logo presence, banner ads, special sections such as replay and match insights, and has also launched a dedicated app, Hero Super Skipper, the spokesperson said. “This association is a strategic move, owing to a perceptible shift in viewership patterns in favour of digital medium.†The India-Pakistan match at the beginning of the tournament, for example, got over 25 million views on Star’s digital platforms, the highest in the world for a single game.
Firms such as DishTV have created fresh campaigns around the World Cup. “Most digital campaigns are either in the form of graphics or extension of TV campaigns but we created one especially for the digital medium and that has helped us reach the young consumers, the millennials,†said Salil Kapoor, COO of DishTV.
He said the interactive nature of the digital space helps consumers to make purchases by routing them to the firm’s call centres if they wish to. Also, a television ad campaign costs at least 3-4 times more than a digital campaign, Kapoor said. DishTV has shot a campaign with brand ambassador Shah Rukh Khan to promote their HD channels during this world cup.
Digital adoption by brands is on the rise with large companies now allocating significant spends to this medium. “From about 2-3% of a large company’s marketing budget, digital is now in double digits,†says Ahmed Naqvi, CEO at digital and social media agency Gozoop.
Source:The Economic Times
Copyright © 2015, Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd.
All Rights Reserved, Licensed to republish
By A Correspondent
Being the official sponsor of the ICC World Cup 2015, LG wanted to rejig the zeal of cricket amongst the Indians before the inception of the World Cup 2015 season.
Moreover, a big ticket event like ICC World Cup 2015 needed a bigger show; a larger-than-life spectacle to further raise the cricket supporters. Hence, DDB Mudra Max- Experiential came up with the idea of the ‘signature bat’ campaign.
A gigantic bat was created for the cricket lovers to write their wishes for their favorite teams. Further the bat was stalled at strategic locations across Hyderabad, Mumbai, Delhi, Gurgaon and Noida along with the ICC World Cup Cricket Trophy which was kept on display for the spectators.
The bat amazed the audience with its sheer size and overwhelmed them with the thought of getting an opportunity to send personal good wishes and messages to their favourite team. The original World Cup trophy being on display brought back the nostalgia of winning the World Cup last time and geared up the audience to cheer India to win it back this year.
The campaign was well received as more than 2, 500 audiences from across cities signed on the bats and wished their team. The zeal multiplied with the presence of famous Indian cricketer VirendraSehwag who addressed his fans at Gurgaon & Noida.
Niladri Datta, Head- Corporate Marketing, LG Electronics India said: “We are extremely proud to be the official global partners of ICC for all these years and to be a part of 2015’s biggest sporting spectacle, the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015. Indians are one of the biggest followers of Cricket across the world and it gives us immense pleasure and delight to offer our consumers and Cricket lovers an opportunity to experience the trophy in person and share their good wishes with the Indian team through the Big Bat ceremony arranged across five cities. With this activity, LG brought the game closer to the cricket fans and gave them a platform to share their wishes directly to their favorite team.â€
Mandeep Malhotra, President, DDB Mudra Max quoted, “Cricket still remains the one unified religion of our country. Making the signature bat for seeking well wishes for the teams across the country was a brilliant idea, requiring operational excellence. We are glad that our campaign garnered lot of awareness and buzz right before the World Cup 2015. I believe that this campaign was quite instrumental to set the momentum rolling for the cricket season.â€
By A Correspondent
The popularity of the format ensured that several brands were associated with the World Cup. Take this quiz to find out how much you know about brands,sponsorships and the Cricket World Cup.
1. A sitter to begin with: Complete the popular slogan – ______ Khao, World Cup Jao
2. Which Indian brand sponsored the 1987 World Cup?
3. Who was the only non-cricketer to feature in Pepsi’s ‘Nothing Official About It’ campaign during the 1996 World Cup?
4. Another question on Pepsi – The cola brand is famous for launching a marquee campaign during every World Cup. After the 2007 World Cup, they decided to go with a new creative agency to launch the immensely popular ‘Change The Game’ campaign in 2011. Which start-up agency created the campaign?
5. Shane Warne was expected to perform very well on the subcontinent pitches during the 1996 World Cup. However, he blamed his below par performance on ________ Baked Beans not being available in India.
6. Surprisingly, the Netherlands team had an Indian brand as a jersey sponsor during the 2011 World Cup. Identify the brand?
7. “______ Marketing” was a term coined by Jerry Welsh of American Express. It became extremely popular after the 1996 World Cup and eventually ICC introduced a clause against it.
8. Star Sports is currently promoting a movie integration for the India Pakistan match as “Sabse Bada Awaaz, Sabse Bade Match mein”. Identify the movie?
9. Which brand launched the “Champions of the World” campaign during the 2011 World Cup featuring 6 World Cup winning captains – Kapil Dev, Steve Waugh, Allan Border, Clive Llyod, Imran Khan and Arjuna Ranatunga?
10. Which Indian company promised to give every Indian cricketer a luxury villa on winning the 2003 World Cup? They eventually gave the villas inspite of the team losing the final?
11. Who was the title sponsor of the 1999 World Cup
Answers
1. Britannia
2. Reliance
3. Dickie Bird
4. Taproot
5. Heinz
6. Amul
7. Ambush
8. Shamitabh
9. Idea Cellular
10. Sahara
11. ICC stopped having a title sponsor from the 1999 World Cup. How can there be a cricket quiz without a googly
By Sanjeev Kotnala
The Indian Premier League or Cricket World Cup is a choice or problem for a few brands. You either have money to splurge on both tournaments or you don’t. Those who have money either have a campaign to run or they don’t. And brands with money and campaign, it is only the rate and ROI issue. ROI can never be guaranteed and remains a gamble. So, if you have the money and a campaign and need to advertise during these times you may want need to look at it differently.
World Cup 2015 is unpredictable. Not for which team would win but for marketers, brands and the media. Success here depends on audience interest, viewership, viewer’s empathy and apathy towards the team. Oh yes, the die-hard will watch anything, but the deciders are the real consumers; the fringe audience that makes the numbers advertiser look at. Match timings are big spoiler for them. We can expect non-India matches to be completely blanketed. Unfortunately, such matches form a large percentage of the tournament. The main sponsor get these ineffective buys as a package helping them show lower ER. Non-sponsor brands try avoiding them but are served as no-option as channel has to square off the investment.
IF (a capital, bold IF) India plays well in the 1st final (India Vs. Pak) it could change the whole game. We as a nation are currently feeling low entering WC15 after a series of losses. Cricket is suffering from lack of empathy and viewers apathy.
On these qualitative counts itself IPL outscores WC-15 with a high percentage of your real TG hooked on to every match.
Srini or No-Srini, 12 or 8 teams, ball-tampering or fixed matches nothing changes the ground rule; IPL is a festival, a mela, a tamasha we all enjoy with a spicy tadka of regionalisation. IPL demands less of your time, give you much to discuss and is much more fun. It is realignment of interest, supports and stars. The audience loves this cut-throat high intensity not giving an inch of attitude. They smile, so can the channel and the advertisers. The patriotic feeling is understated or completely dead and that makes team losing a bit more manageable for the viewer.
I firmly believe that even a low WC-15 performance by the Indian team will fail to dampen the IPL spirit. Good or near decent show will help IPL. In gambling terms, with IPL you hold the royal run. IPL is always a new beginning. With auctions, there is always a new team under every banner. It has a clearly differentiated taste and flavour.
On the other hand, the hard focus on TV impact in these tournaments creates blinkers and brands end up underutilising or missing opportunities with other media. Radio and hoarding are good bets. In WC, by the time newspapers share the result of a match, the audience would be watching the next day’s match.  But if you want to add regionalised tadka in IPL making it exciting for your brand, go talk to your print guy and be pleasantly surprised with the ideas they have.
Sanjeev Kotnala is Head Catalyst at Intradia and believes the best way forward for an organisation is to enhance the potential of internal teams instead of depending on external resources. He is a management- marketing-media consultant and also conducts specialised workshops in the area of ‘Harvesting and Liberating Ideas’ and Innovation. To contact email netkot@yahoo.com or tweet at s_kotnala visit www.intradia.in www.sanjeevkotnala.com. The views expressed here are his own.