How marketers are allocating ad budgets for IPL, ICC World Cup & festive season

The next few months will see a series of cricketing events happening in the UK and the UAE. After the short tour of Sri Lanka, Indian cricketers will be back in action in Test cricket, IPL and T-20 world cup. All this mega cricketing events are coinciding with big festivals across the country starting from Rakshak Bandhan, Onam, Ganesh festival, Dussehra and Diwali. This gives some great and unique opportunity for brands to decide and plan their spending to leverage every festival when purchases happen high across categories.

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The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has now released the schedule of the 2nd phase of IPL 2021 and the tournament is all set to begin on September 19 in Dubai. The BCCI has now officially released the new IPL 2021 schedule after the tournament got suspended earlier this year due to the COVID-19 outbreak in multiple franchises. BCCI has already made it clear that the remainder of IPL 2021 will take place in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) this year. So immediately after the India England series we can see all players heading towards UAE to finish the balance matches of the IPL and play the play offs and the final. In view of this shift to UAE some of the key players will be missing the IPL as after the IPL most players would be busy training for the T-20 world cup for their respective country. The players who will not be available for the remaining part of the IPL may be replaced by the franchisee depending upon the need and the balance of the team.

It will also be interesting to observe as to how brands will plan and apportionate their budget for second IPL and other cricket tournaments which are of equal importance. There are many brands who have spent some money in Olympics and who are likely to spend for the India England test series will be prudent with their spending so that the right kind of impetus is given for the festivals which clashes with the cricket season this time. Cricket alone will not help these brands to raise awareness and push sales they will also have look the GEC and other combination channels to drive sales during the main festive season.

It’s a Catch-22 situation for brands to balance their budgets between IPL and T-20 World Cup, besides that some of the brands are also keen to be associated with the India-England Test series.

Speaking to Adgully, Mark Titus, Director - Marketing, Nippon Paint India (Decorative Division), said, “We believe that IPL is a festival by itself and it is something that cricket lovers look forward to across the world. The silver lining for us is that due to the postponement, the IPL is now taking place during the festive season, making it all the more festive. We are excited by the prospect of having the IPL during the festive season. For Nippon Paint as a leading decorative paint brand, it will mean more excitement during a very important painting season with customers looking for more colours and light to brighten their homes.”

“As we are a regional brand, we are more focused on the IPL rather than the T20 WC. Though fans of both IPL and T20 WC are cricket lovers, regional consumers loyalty and love for their own regional IPL teams plays a strong role in keeping viewers hooked to the IPL. I also think there is no such thing as too much cricket in India, especially at times when most of our entertainment options are still predominantly restricted to indoor activities. In line with this, our campaigns are not only in terms of core media campaigns on the TV but also across digital platforms and our retail touch points as well,” he added. 

Commenting on how brands will manage the two important cricket tournaments combined with the festival season, Mimi Deb, SVP, Zenith, remarked, “Hopefully, the difficult period is behind all of us and we can have a great festive time. The marketers are absolutely positive of the upcoming months and are betting big on the upcoming properties like IPL, T20 WC and the big impact/ reality that are lined up across networks. Very high demand vs finite supply of inventory will make it important for festive dependent marketers to opt for partnerships with the big-ticket options. Advertisers who have cricket as a key component of their strategy, may make the other big-ticket options as part of their plan to ensure wider reach and visibility in the clutter period.”  

Continuing further, Deb said that there are brands that have proven results from their association with IPL, don’t expect that to change. Seasonal brands that depend on IPL, recrafted their approach when IPL was pushed for H2. If consumer sentiments are high, unlikely that IPL will see any impact in popularity amongst viewers. 

Budgets, popularity of the tournament and viewership has got a lot to do before making the final decision. According to Keerat Grewal, Partner, Ormax Media, the choice to advertise on IPL and the T20 World Cup will come down to budgets for the advertisers. IPL is a high impact property, but the T20 World Cup is not an annual event and with more teams, it holds higher viewer interest. But the Super 12s will start from October 24, much after the festival period ends. Given the back-to-back tournaments, the challenging economic scenario is likely to make the brands focus majority of their spends on IPL.