The IPL launch pad

There’s little debate about the ability of the Indian Premier League (IPL), the Board of Control for Cricket in India’s (BCCI’s) 20-20 carnival, to pull in viewers by the eyeballs. The first round of the TAM Peoplemeter System shows as much (see By the Eyeballs), with TV ratings climbing as high as 7.16 on April 20, when the Mumbai Indians were pitched against the Royal Challengers of Bangalore. Such popularity isn’t lost on any of the brand custodians, many of whom are using the opportunity to drive home their new brand messages.

Vodafone, for instance, has brought the pug back, just as the Godrej Group has used the platform to unveil its new logo. “Many brands are using the IPL to announce new initiatives, as it offers a heady mix of cricket and Bollywood— both holding huge sway over audiences,” says Satyajit Sen, MD (North & East), Zenith Optimedia India.

He points out to instances where brands such as Hyundai, Coca-Cola, ITC Foods, Maggie Cuppa, Citibank, Canon and DLF have put this platform to work for them.

The heightened activity isn’t restricted to just television screens; the buzz is spreading off-air, too. “One notices that the IPL is providing huge ground activation potential to brands.

Kingfisher has used this activity to drive viewers on to TV for the matches, just as is the case with DLF. These ground activations serve a dual purpose of highlighting the brand, as well as driving viewers to the IPL matches. I feel this area has not yet been fully explored by many brands,” says Tarun Nigam, Executive Director-India North & Pakistan, Starcom Worldwide.

All the IPL brouhaha, however, is not pulling away media planners entirely from the general entertainment channels (GECs), not yet. “We find that whenever thereare big properties, usually the TVconsuming time grows for viewers and also a new audience comes into the fold without anyone getting affected too much,” says Basabdutta Chowd-hury, CEO, Madison Media Plus. She claims that so far planners have not made bigger allocations towards IPL by taking away from the GEC pie: “There is a limitation with the IPL as they have many exclusive contracts with many brands; this leaves the field wide open for other promising properties,” she says.

— Shamni Pande