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CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR

The IPL was well


marketed
A CB driven study
Sanchit Thareja FT171077

This study attempts to analyze the marketing strategies employed by IPL and
interpret their effect in modelling Consumer behavior.

The Idea
The format started with ICL (Indian cricket League). The league was comprised of
senior players from around the globe who were nearing their retirement and
young budding regional players.

A brief Introduction
Conceptualized as the Indian avatar of EPL and NBA (USA), IPL was launched on
14th September 2007. The brain child of controversial figure Lalit Modi (then VP of
BCCI), IPL was launched to promote T20 (twenty20) cricket in India. IPL worked
on a franchised framework like its overseas counterpart, the procedure was as
follows

The franchisee will pay a sum to BCCI for gaining the right to participate in
the event
The franchisee will also share its revenue with BCCI
The franchisee will own the team for perpetuity for a period of 10 years
At a later stage, the franchisee can also lists its team on the stock
exchange and trade
In the IPLs franchise model the team can be owned by a corporate house,
individual and the team had to be named after a city.
The IPL started with 8 teams which were later to be increased to a
maximum offering of 10.

Although IPL was created and promoted by BCCI, IPL is an autonomous body
recognized by ICC (International Cricket Council). BCCI was instrumental in
setting up the Governing framework for the T20 body in the form of a virtual
company.
IPL introduced a concept a ICON player where a particular cricketer is marked for
a particular region and he can circumvent the bidding process. The icon player
had the advantage of getting paid atleast 15% higher than the next top earner in
his team.
IPL Marketing Story
The sport angle:

The IPL brought the Euphoria of seeing different players/legends playing


under the same umbrella. Old rival (Example Sachin and Ponting) were
seen playing for the same team and old comrades (Eg Dhoni and Sehwag)
were seen competing, this offering was initially limited to selected events
like India vs World XI or current Indian team Vs India (1980).
To add to the auctioning event was aired live, the net result was a unique
cricketing experience.

Moreover IPL gave opportunity to budding cricketers for whom the only
recourse earlier was the coveted Indian national cricket team. IPL was
thus instrumental in making the long road to cricketing fame a bit shorter.
The new format had everything Time efficiency, nail biting action, global
cricketing icons. In short this was cricket 2.0

Cricketainment
Celebrity Gala

The event showcased a never seen before synergy between a sporting


event and Bollywood, with Bollywood present in almost every aspects of
the game, whether it be Launch Function, franchise ownership, Match
Analysis and Promotion
Moreover relationships with other diverse and distinct personalities like
renowned corporate heads, philanthropist (Nita Ambani) and its periodic
exploitation gave IPL a larger than life sort of an image.

Glamour

The introduction of cheerleaders provided a touch of sensuality which was


seen for the first time in Indian sporting history.
This incorporation became so popular that Kolkata knight riders introduced
a show called Knights and angels on NDTV, which gave opportunity to
local girls to participate and fulfil their dreams of becoming cheerleaders.
This in addition of solidifying team association, aided in increasing brand
awareness.

Advertising

Live screening of IPL matches in movie halls


Presence on all social media platforms ---[4]
o Twitter handle www.twitter.com/ipl
o Facebook page www.facebook.com/IPL
o Live streaming channel www.youtube.com/user/IPL
o Fan club www.thecricfanclub.com
o Wiki page http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Premier_League
o Official website www.iplt20.com
o Partnered with players like bookmyshow for online booking.
Exorbitant number of tie ups. For Example Nokia and Delhi Kolkata knight
Riders, Royal Challenge and RCB etc.
Word of mouth publicity was leveraged extensively.
Many companies launched ad campaigns that were centred around IPL.
For Example Idea (oongli cricket).

Merchandising

Merchandise selling has been one of the biggest marketing strategies


employed by IPL. Merchandise included T-shirts, wrist bands, caps, special
edition shoes, bottle chillers, wrist bands etc. For the sale of
aforementioned items IPL tied with many players like Home Shop18, Ebay
India etc.
Every IPL season bought something new new theme songs, spider cams,
umpire camera etc.

Regional Sentiments

By naming teams after a city IPL succeeded in establishing regional


patriotism, which was reflected in every team offering its customised add
reflecting the values/culture of that particular city
In addition to increasing viewership, didnt pose any threat to national
fibre. In other words affinity to regional IPL teams did not conflict with
affinity to national cricket team (as 2 players part of the national team can
belong to rival IPL teams.)

Controversies

Like any Indian reality show IPL has had its share of controversies which
to some extend has furthered its cause. For Example Harbhajan
Sreesanth spat
It has been rumoured that most of such controversies were pre-planned,
but nonetheless such incidents still helps in getting media attention which
ultimately leads to increased brand awareness.

Match Timings

IPL matches were scheduled keeping the working class in mind. For
example on weekdays the match would start at 8 pm and on weekend the
scheduling would start at 4 PM, thus ensuring maximum ownership.

Consumer Behaviour and Brand Equity


The aforementioned marketing techniques were successful in selling the The IPL
experience rather than just the IPL sport. As a result IPL witnessed a steady
increase in viewership till 6th season [1]

IPL revenue (only Ad revenues displayed) growth has also witnessed steady
growth over the years excluding few bumps [2]

Few salient points on how the the IPL experience was realized

IPL rather than relaying the message to consumer subtly, penetrated the
mind of consumer through ubiquitous presence, which through the route
of Ad Liking leads to Brand Liking
The marketing matrix / viewership groups for IPL can be divided as follows

o Cricket Lovers who watch any and every form of cricket

Cricket lovers who watch IPL because of lack of other viable


alternatives
o Non cricket lovers who watch IPL because of Entertainment Quotient
By adding variety IPL has managed to create a wave of positive
emotions which have been instrumental in successfully acquiring the
third type of viewer. Females form a high percentage of this group.
In India cricket is viewed as a religion and mega cricketing events like the
world cup are thus in a way festivals. IPL advertisements focus and
leverage this particular hedonic value, thus these ads on one hand show
an entire family watching IPL (which symbolizes the prime time
entertainment part) and on other hand focus on large crowds (which gives
a community appeal and reinforces the religion festival relationship).
o

IPL taking a leaf from festival marketing kept bombarding customer with one
brand promotion after another. FE suppose a batsman attempts a six, if he
succeeds it is a DLF Maximum, if he gets caught it is a Karbonn kamal catch
and thus yielding a Citi moment of success. [5]

IPL manages to hit the sweet spot in the four realms of an experience
model by Gilmore and Pine [3]

Entertainment: This section includes viewers who are watching IPL from the
comfort of their
home and mainly fall in the 2 nd and 3rd category of marketing
matrix.
Educational: This generally includes viewers from 1st category of marketing
matrix and may have some level of participation from the 2 nd group as well.
These are the people who are in the stadium or are directly engaged in the event
in one form or the other like after match party passes etc.
Esthetic: IPL ensures this type of experience by offering special seating in the
stadium like VIVO Hi Wi Box, another example of this experience is Vodafone
superfan where one lucky fan gets a signed ball from the man of the match.

Escapist: By making it mandatory to pick certain number of players from the


domestic circuit, IPL offers the escapist experience to few lucky budding
cricketers, for whom the only recourse in pre-IPL days was national team
selection.

The IPL behemoth on account of many prevalent controversies has started


showing sign of fatigue. Popular controversies include Suspension of Lalit
Modi, 2012 spot fixing case, 2013 spot fixing and betting case, Tax exemption
controversy. According to TAM there has been 14% decrease in viewership of
IPL 6 when compared with previous season, one can attribute a part of this
statistic to the principal of cognitive dissonance. Although the
aforementioned incidence of malpractices have been in news for some time,
they didnt elicit a visible response on account of viewers defending their
choice of engagement with IPL at different levels but when dissonance
reaches a bubbling point consumer re-orient their choices which has been
evident in IPL season 9.

Conclusion
IPL was seen collectively has been a well marketed entertainment event.
Although its effect on cricket as a sport is questionable, it has been able to
achieve the goal for which it was conceived. It does face few challenges in the
form of prevalence of unethnic practices both on the inside and outside and the
featured content which has started losing its freshness and perhaps is need of
another Eureka moment.

References
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)

IPL viewership data India Today


IPL Ad revenue data Indiantelevision.com
Welcome to the experience Economy - Gilmore and Pint
Wikipedia IPL
Festival Marketing : Lalbaghcha Raja

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