Much like the Super Bowl—considered the most watched television property in the US with estimated advertising revenues of $186.3 million (Rs922 crore today) in 2008—season 2 of the Indian Premier League (IPL) is being seen as a great platform to promote brands and launch new products.
The prospect of access to a viewership of at least two billion people has sent advertising agencies into overdrive as they strive to complete campaigns that will be launched in time for the mega cricket event, starting on 18 April in South Africa.
The list of brands launching new campaigns during IPL is not restricted to primary sponsors such as DLF, Vodafone, Hero Honda and Citibank. It also includes brands such as Wrigley’s Orbit chewing gum, Cinthol soap, Nivea skin care, Adidas, Sprite, Cadbury’sDairy Milk chocolate, Castrol engine oil, Reliance Communications, Idea Cellular, Hyundai Motor, General Motors, Parle’s 20:20 biscuits, Max New York Life Insurance, among others, that are looking to ride on the popularity of this event.
“We saw it as an opportunity that had come at the right time,” said Himanshu Khanna, director (marketing) at Wrigley India Pvt. Ltd. The firm’s new campaign for Orbit chewing gum, featuring brand ambassador Deepika Padukone, was ready for launch a few weeks ago, but it decided to flag it off during IPL. “At the end of the day it’s really about eyeballs, and if I have a great platform that can deliver those eyeballs, I would rather launch my campaign on that.”
Khanna explains that the strategy for most brands remains the same—to pick media properties with high viewership to get maximum visibility and brand recall.
For example, in the 1980s, brands would launch new products and campaigns during the screening of mythological serials such as Ramayan and Mahabharat, which enjoyed unprecedented viewership. “You could be sure that the whole country was watching,” said Khanna. In recent years, mega media properties such as Kaun Banega Crorepati, on Star Plus, have attracted a host of new brand campaigns and product launches.
Season 1 of IPL had also attracted some new campaigns for brands such as Havell’s and Vodafone. The Godrej group of companies primarily used the inaugural season of IPL to announce their new brand identity to the world.
Source – livemint.com
IPL Emerging As India’s Super Bowl For Advertisers
Can Pietersen Change Bangalore’s Fortunes?
Bangalore Royal Challengers would bank on their switch-hitting star Kevin Pietersen to switch the fortunes of the team in the second edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) as they line up against Rajasthan Royals here on Saturday.
Royal Challengers finished seventh, one above the bottom-placed Deccan Chargers, among eight teams in the inaugural edition. With some of the accomplished Test cricketers –Rahul Dravid, Jacques Kallis, Mark Boucher, Wasim Jaffer — in their ranks, Royal Challengers got the tag T20s Test side.
The poor finish saw Royal Challengers CEO Charu Sharma getting the marching orders even as doubts were raised over Rahul Dravid’s captaincy in the shortest format.
Source – cricketnext.in.com
White Mischief Gals To Cheer Pietersen In IPL
England star Kevin Pietersen will have a bunch of “naughty’ and “hottie” cheerleaders rooting from the sidelines when he makes his Indian Premier League debut on Saturday.
Pietersen, bought by the Bangalore Royal Challengers for a record 1.55 million dollars, will clash with good friend Shane Warne’s Rajasthan Royals on the opening night in Cape Town, South Africa.
The Royal Challengers, owned by flamboyant liquor and airline tycoon Vijay Mallya, had hired the Washington Redskins cheerleaders for the inaugural IPL season last year in India.
The scantily-clad girls obviously failed to inspire as the Royal Challengers finished seventh out of eight teams in the glitzy Twenty20 tournament.
So Mallya dropped the Redskins and hired 24 members of the US-based Varsity cheerleader group for the second season, renaming them the “White Mischief Gals”.
“A little bit naughty, a little more hottie and a lot more mischievous,” a Mallya company release said of the group, named after his ‘White Mischief’ brand of vodka.
“Necklines plunging, hemlines rising, they are all set to let the mercury soar, higher than any of the sixes that come from the blades of Kevin Pietersen.”
The cheerleaders, the release added, have been “specially trained in flirty acrobatic skills for a scintillating on-field performance.”
The use of cheerleading squads last year provoked complaints from some conservative quarters in India.
The Mumbai Indians forced their cheerleaders to don pants instead of skirts after protests from political parties.
The White Mischief Gals will travel across South Africa for all Royal Challenger matches during the five-week tournament, offering fans “flirtatious messages and tips,” the statement said.
Pietersen will only enjoy their support for the first two weeks, as he is due to return to England in early May to prepare for the Test series against the West Indies.
Source – google.com
IPL Juggernaut Rolls On
An Indian domestic competition played in South Africa, featuring Australians and big dollars?
If anyone had predicted that several years ago they’d either have lost all their credibility or be running the IPL.
The initial wow factor has been lost from the IPL, now in its second running, but there will be more than just passing curiosity in this year’s tournament, which begins in Cape Town on Saturday.
How the competition is received in South Africa, this year’s host due to fears over player safety in India while it is in election mode, is just one of many talking points.
Twenty20 cricket is tailor-made for night. It is the showbiz arm of the game. It’s loud, there’s bright lights, Bollywood stars and starlets and plenty of X-factor. What’s more, it’s great TV.
But the decision to make sure the matches are held in friendly hours for Indian TV means that every match will start in daylight in South Africa.
Several players have already bemoaned the expected loss of atmosphere as a result of the tournament being moved from cricket-mad India, but their six-figure salaries will offer some solace.
The big losers will be the fans and TV audiences, unless our South African brethren display their love for the game in a manner hitherto unseen in that country.
Australians wanting to watch the matches better enter the 21st century. ONE – Network Ten’s new 24-hour free-to-air sports channel which is available only on High Definition TV – is the only place to watch it.
Even with the Australian side on tour in the UAE and several big names sitting out the competition to rest ahead of a busy winter schedule, there’ll still be a strong Australian flavour in the IPL.
There’s 32 players and coaches involved in the eight franchises.
Shane Warne, captain-coach of inaugural champions Rajasthan Royals, is back as are fellow international retirees Glenn McGrath (Delhi Daredevils), Matthew Hayden (Chennai Super Kings) and Adam Gilchrist (Deccan Chargers).
Shane Watson (Rajasthan Royals), Andrew McDonald (Delhi Daredevils), Brad Hodge and David Hussey (Kolkata Knight Riders) head a list of Ashes aspirants involved.
Then there’s Symonds (Deccan), and India’s favourite Australian Brett Lee (Kings XI Punjab), who will both be proving their fitness for England after undergoing surgery in recent months.
The biggest name, however, is Warne, arguably the greatest cricketer the world has seen since Don Bradman.
Despite being months away from his 40th birthday, that won’t stop Warne from showing the young bucks how it’s done.
Only Warne could turn the IPL’s cheapest playing roster, which included once bitter enemy Graeme Smith, into a champion team. That done without the aid of a coach, such little respect does Warne have for such people.
Should he continue to star, don’t be surprised if the champion leg-spinner again has to deflect rumours he’s coming out of retirement. They are sure to surface in the build-up to the Ashes.
With countries yet to finalise their squads for the ICC World Twenty20 on the horizon, there’s more than just big bucks on the line.
Players such as Moises Henriques, David Warner, Shane Harwood and Robert Quiney are several relatively unheralded Australians who can feature prominently in selections discussions for the tournament in England with strong showings in the IPL.
Source – sportal.com.au
Rajasthan Royals Face Tough IPL Title Defence Opener
When the glitz and the glamour of the build-up to the Indian Premier League makes way for cricket action Saturday, past form will not count for much. Defending champions the Rajasthan Royals could find it tough this time around, starting with their opening clash against Bangalore Royal Challengers in the second match of a double header which gets the five-week, 2009 tournament underway.
Mumbai Indians meet Chennai Super Kings, who were runners-up last year, in the early match.
The relocation of the world’s richest cricket league from India to South Africa means that conditions will be different, with seam bowlers likely to get far more assistance than they did in the inaugural tournament in India last year.
The Royals had an early taste of the Newlands pitch in a warm-up match last weekend when batsmen struggled to play the sort of dominating innings that marked the first IPL.
It is a major blow for the champions will be without all-rounder Shane Watson and left-arm fast bowler Sohail Tanvir, two of the main match-winners for the underdogs who spent the least money on players but carried away the 1.2-million-dollar prize money.
The Royals, who will again be led by veteran Australian leg-spinner Shane Warne, will hope that Indian fast bowler Munaf Patel and South Africa’s Morne Morkel can compensate for the loss of the two stars.
In contrast to the Royals, the Challengers spent big but achieved little in the first IPL, finishing seventh of the eight teams.
They are likely to be an improved side, however, with star English signing Kevin Pietersen leading the team in the only stages of the tournament and tough South African Ray Jennings cracking the whip as coach.
The Bangalore team will be boosted by the signing of Indian batsman Robin Uthappa, while South African fast bowler Dale Steyn is likely to be more effective on his home country pitches than he was in India.
South African all-rounder Jacques Kallis and leading Indian batsman Rahul Dravid will be expected to improve on mediocre performances last time.
The battle between the Mumbai and Chennai franchises should get the tournament off to a cracking start.
Mumbai Indians will be led by Indian icon Sachin Tendulkar, who missed most of the first series because of injury.
Their squad had a pre-season training camp in South Africa under the direction of Shaun Pollock, appointed as team mentor, and fielding ace Jonty Rhodes.
Source – thenews.com.pk