There is no doubt that the ongoing Indian Premier League has been advertisers’ first love when it comes to engaging the Indian consumers. This season especially has seen consumer tech start-ups such as CRED, Upstox, to healthcare companies such as Pristyn Care, Toothsi, edtech brands like BYJU’s and Hero Vired, and automotive brands like Spinny and CARS24, among others, chasing in on the craze. “IPL offers a great opportunity to connect with young Indians and drive significant awareness and preference for our brand proposition,” Suvid Bajaj, head of marketing, Spinny, pre owned car retailing platform, told BrandWagon Online.
To leverage the ongoing cricket season, these startups have lined up a series of marketing initiatives in order to connect with their consumers. For instance, brands such as Pristyn Care and Spinny – the associate sponsors for Disney+Hotstar for Tata IPL 2022, have launched new marketing campaigns – ‘Jab surgery ho karvana, Pristyn Care pe aana’ and #KhushiyonKiLongDrive, respectively. CRED, the official sponsor for IPL 2022, has rolled out a set of activations, rewards and deals. “We are making IPL 2022 more rewarding not only for CRED members but also for their family, friends or teammates. In addition to the rewards and jackpots, we have introduced CRED bounty. Members get to involve their close ones from the start of every game they play and get them started on a journey to become creditworthy,” Kunal Shah, founder and CEO, CRED stated. The company in its FY21 ROC filing stated that the advertising campaigns were well received by the audiences and it saw a surge of users downloading and using the CRED app during the period when the 13th edition of Indian Premier League was held.
According to industry experts, most brands typically invest 30-40% of their media spends into IPL, while in categories such as edtech and fintech, the share rises to as much as 80%. “We are spending 40% of our media spend on our partnership with IPL. The current campaign ‘Jab surgery ho karvana, Pristyn Care pe aana’ is going well with digital films featuring Anoop Soni and Prakash Raj for our North-West and South market campaign. We are seeing significant upward movement in the brand searches and patient inquiries. We expect that return on investment (ROI) will be healthy after 12-18 months with a good impact on growth,” Gagan Arora, head of brand and marketing, Pristyn Care, elaborated.
It is to be noted that Dreamplug Technologies Private Limited, the parent company of CRED, posted net revenue of Rs 88.6 crore in FY21, witnessing a rise of 17,620% compared to FY20 at Rs 0.5 crore, as per the financial filings accessed by business intelligence firm, Tofler. The company’s net loss widened by 45% to Rs 52.38 crore in FY21 compared to Rs 36.11 crore in FY20, while advertising promotional expenses grew by 85.46% to Rs 32.40 crore. CRED had signed a three-year deal as the official partner for IPL in 2020. “Every startup wants to associate with IPL as they want to scale up very quickly. Other than IPL, no other media vehicle in the country is able to provide them with a large consumer base/audience with one-way communication,” Ramsai Panchapakesan, SVP and national head – media buying, Zenith India, said.
As for Valuedrive Technologies Private Limited, the parent company of Spinny, registered a 102.5% rise in net revenue to Rs 2,28,324, while the net loss widened by 42% to Rs 10,80,301. In FY21, the company’s advertising promotional expenses rose by 44% to Rs 3,22,610. GHV Advanced Care Private Limited, the parent company of Pristyn Care, yet to file the financial statements for FY21, posted Rs 25.7 crore as net revenue in FY20 while net loss was Rs 33 crore. Both Spinny and Pristyn Care have signed a one year deal for IPL 2022.
Industry experts claim that while IPL presents brands with a varied consumer base, only 5-10% of the startups associating with the tourney have been able to meet the ROI target. Despite this, brands continue to invest in this space for brand building purposes. “Most of the startups are focussed on brand awareness and brand building during IPL. Marketing during IPL is looked at as an opportunity to get more funding rounds from the venture capitalists,” Panchapakesan stated.
Read Also: IPL 2022: BCCI gains from IPL, as Star and franchises still clamour for money
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