Sporting events during festive season to throw adex out of the park
In the current year, many major sporting events are coming up and the most interesting thing is that the festive season coincides with them. Aside from cricket being one of the most commercialized sporting events, Indian audiences are now watching other sports such as Pro Kabaddi League, soccer, wrestling and tennis.
The registration deadline for the Rising Star Awards 2022 has been extended to August 29th.
R. Venkatasubramanian, President – Investments and Head – Havas Sports, Havas Media Group India, spoke about how sports is an opportunity for brands to shine: “With the growing need for brands to engage with their key TGs in a meaningful way to deal with, brands are in a constant quest to find new platforms for engagement. Sports is one such engagement platform that offers great returns and engagement. It offers an immediate connection with audiences and consumers, engaging and engaging them in meaningful ways through fan engagement. IPL – Season 15 has proven to be a huge success with over 100 brands investing huge marketing budgets into Teams.”
The year is now full of festivals and many long weekends in the calendar. Sporting events planned throughout the year will increase the brand’s reach across different cohorts. Venkatasubramanian said: “The biggest cricket festival – the ICC T20 World Cup – starts in Australia on 12 October and will draw brands to capitalize on this cricket peak season with local promotions, competitions and ground activations.
“Categories such as Consumer Discretionary, FMCG, and Fashion & Lifestyle, which are spending large marketing budgets during the holiday season, will find it exciting to indulge and score their SOV in an already high-tier market. These category brands will leave no stone unturned to capitalize on this ICC T20 World Cup and entice customers through promotional offers such as buy-and-win World Cup tickets or even a fully-paid trip to Australia.”
“Leagues like PKL and ISL also kick off just before the holidays and will offer great audiences and viewership. With the easing of Covid-19 related norms, leagues will open stadium doors for fans to come and connect with their best teams and players to celebrate the sport. Brands have already started speaking to leagues and teams to associate and create meaningful brand engagements,” he added.
IPL is a huge asset involving brands from all categories. No brand wants to miss a marketing opportunity during the tournament.
Dhruv Jha, Co-Head Mediabrands Content Studio, India said: “IPL is a big event. All brands see value and need these types of events to have brand reach.”
Venkatasubramanian shared that earlier this year Havas Sports & Entertainment India facilitated a landmark two-year deal with the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to include Swiggy Instamart as the official on-site partner for IPL 2022 and 2023.
According to several estimates, India’s Adex is likely to be in the region of Rs 100,000 this year and a large chunk of that will be spent during the festive months.
The future of sports marketing in India
It is proven that there is a collective passion for sport in India. Much like people celebrate festivals, they also celebrate sports, especially cricket, and now other games are also becoming more popular with audiences. In addition to physical games, e-sports are also gaining in importance. Therefore, many Indian agencies have a separate and dedicated team of specialized individuals dedicated to the marketing function during these events.
While many media agencies have teams dedicated to different areas of the business, sports marketing requires a different approach as it involves various aspects such as physical activation, digital presence, constant updates about what’s happening on the ground and the most important element – passion for the game.
Agencies have recognized the need to have a fully dedicated team for sporting events as this year is littered with some major events around the world which will also feature Indian teams. Of the need, Jha said: “If you get into the story, we’ve all looked at the sport in a conventional way. Sport has become a media platform. In our company we have the MediaBrands studio looking for opportunities besides branding and visibility, what are the other things we can build on that. So it’s a platform, not just an event. You can have content around it, activation, ongoing commercial and consumer programs. As a nation, we are very passionate about sports.”
Karthik Nagrajan, Chief Creative Officer at Wavemaker India and Head of Branded Content at GroupM, which has run a sports marketing arm for almost 16 years, said: “Advertising and content are all parts of leverage and culture creation. Nothing is as important as sport when it comes to defining pop culture. Sports and brands have always belonged together, sports marketing is a bit more nuanced and if you are in the communications business. In the business of intervening in pop culture, it’s becoming almost imperative. So we are specialists who understand sport as a culture.”
“Whether it’s Wavemaker or GroupM, the people who run this business are all specialists in it. Many of them studied sports marketing. Sports Management and Sports Marketing is a very specialized course,” he added.
Each business segment requires specific skills and expertise. As mentioned above, it is clear that marketing at sporting events requires zeal and passion for the game. Nagrajan listed a couple of skills you need to have when working as a sports marketer.
He said: “Sport is like mythology in a lot of ways. You work with people and talents larger than life. Then you try to inspire society, to inspire the viewer cohort. Secondly, you need to understand what the most specialized function is, when a sport takes place on site, what we need at grassroots level, what happens with endorsement deals, what goes into rights management, etc. There is an element of legality and an element of understanding sport as a business .”
“And above all, sports marketing is marketing at the end of the day. So you have to understand brands, what’s good for a brand, what makes a brand succeed, sports marketing is no different in its fundamentals,” he added.
Discussing the future of sports marketing in India, Venkatasubramanian said, “The sports industry in India is undoubtedly one of the fastest growing sectors and is expected to grow at 12% yoy. By 2022, FICCI’s vision document estimates that there will be 43.7 lakh human resources in the entire sports sector. India has emerged as the sporting hub of the world over the last decade, with sporting leagues such as the Indian Premier League, Pro Kabbadi League and Indian Super League already creating a special place and presence on the global sporting calendar. This has helped create a comfortable environment for new leagues such as Ultimate Kho Kho League and Handball League.”
“Brand marketers harness the power of technology, innovation and creativity in esports for impactful storytelling in campaigns that increase audience affinity and loyalty. NFTs and fan tokens are quickly evolving into rewards to fuel fan culture in a digital age. The field of sports marketing is becoming increasingly dependent on technology due to the massive amount of data and analysis related to teams, leagues and players. It allows marketers to take bold steps and go ahead with the conviction to connect with sporting events, rather than just based on gut feeling,” he added.