Company Name– IPL (Indian Premier League)
Founder– Lalit Modi
IPL (Indian Premier League) has an exclusive window in ICC Future Tours Programme. The league was founded by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) IN 2008 and is regarded as the brainchild of Lalit Modi. He is the founder and former commissioner of the league.
It is a professional Twenty20 cricket league in Indian contested during April and May of every year by teams representing 8 Indian cities and some states. The Indian Premier League (IPL) is currently as known as Vivo Indian Premier League due to sponsorship reasons.
Till date, eleven seasons of the IPL tournament have been conducted. Chennai Super Kings are the current IPL title holders as they won the 2018 IPL season. Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians are the most successful franchises in the IPL League 3 tournament titles in their name.
How It All Started
The Indian Cricket League was founded in 2007, with funding provided by Zee entertainment Enterprises. The Board of Control did not recognize the ICL for Cricket in India or the Indian Cricket Council (ICC).
The BCCI were not pleased with its committee members to join the ICL executive board. To prevent players from joining the ICL, the BCCI increased the prize money in their own domestic tournament. They also imposed the lifetime bans on players it they join the ICL, which was considered a rebel league by the board.
Launching
On 13th September 2007, the BCCI announced the launch of a franchisee-based Twenty20 cricket competition called Indian Premier League whose first season was slated to start in April 2008, in a high profile ceremony in New Delhi.
The Vice President of BCCI, Lalit Modi has said to be the mastermind behind the idea of IPL. He spelled out the details of the tournament including its format, the prize money, franchise revenue system and the squad composition rules.
IPL’s Marketing Strategy and Interesting Reason behind Its Grand Success
The IPL has followed an array of marketing and branding strategy in order to popularize the franchise. Most of which have been enormously successful.
They created an online traffic through published by IPL franchise owner and Bollywood megastar Shah Rukh Khan. They hired international cheerleaders and organize talent shows across the country. They use to telecast maximum advertisements during matches on prime times. The Delhi Daredevil’s owner had invested Rs. 40 million annually in branding and marketing its team.
Its marketing strategies include selling merchandise such as the players’ jersey. The tournament’s official advertising and marketing strategies are planned and executed by world’s premier advertising firms- Ogilvy and Mather.
Some of its marketing strategies adopted in its three years of existence, which includes auctioning the different radio and TV channels. They do the worldwide telecast. Auctions of the players those are participating in tournament of IPL. The locations chosen for the cricket matches is a strategic choice of places, which are named after the franchisees, which helped to attract the people.
The timing of the IPL has shown its strategic applications. They chose the evening time for the matches, which make people to watch the game comfortably with enjoyment. The gala of the opening ceremony was encountered with the live concert. Bollywood stars like Sharukh Khan, Juhi Chawla, Priety Zinta, Shilpa Shetty and more, take the franchises. It was the centre of attraction, which makes Bollywood stars to come for the game.
The commentators use phrases that pleased the sponsors made them to pay more. They use Bollywood stars as anchors such as Akshay Kumar. The marketing strategies and strong branding initiatives have helped the tournament attain an overall brand value of USD 4.1 Billion in 2010. The major drive behind creating the strategy was to invoke team loyalty among the audiences.
IPL Campaign
- With television, radio, print and outdoor advertisements like “Cricket ka Karmayudh”, the creators have managed to regenerate more hype and a loyal fan base.
- Sponsorship from some of the world’s most popular brands such as The Telegraph, Nokia, Tag Heuer and Belmonte has also managed to create an advertising blitzkrieg.
- Nokia has followed a 360-degree approach with a judicious mix of print, electronic and digital media.
- It has also carried out road shows in some cities such as Kolkata in April 2010.
- They only advertise the important things in which the foreign girls attracting a huge crowd.
- In March 2010, the tournament announced a brand new and enormous marketing campaign worth USD 30 million on promoting the league through channels such as newspaper, internet, television and mobiles.
- The team Royal Challenges Bangalore has Deepika Padukone and Katrina Kaif, Ramya and Upendra (South Stars) as the brand ambassadors.
- The promotion of Delhi Daredevils has done by Akshay Kumar.
- Hrithik Roshan, Saif Ali, Kareena Kapoor and Anil Kapoor were seen to cheering the team during the tournaments.
- Deccan Chargers team signed Saina Nehwal as their Brand ambassador.
- Shilpa Shetty is the owner of Rajasthan Royals as well as she is also the brand ambassador of the team with Ila Arun.
- Kings XI Punjab has Preity Zinta as their brand ambassador as well as she is co-owner of the team. Daler Mehandi also evokes the Punjab spirit in the followers.
- Sharukh Khan helms the team Kolkata Knight Riders and ensures his team remains No. 1 in the popularity list. The brand ambassadors of the teams are Juhi Chawla, ArjunRampal, Farah and Sajid Khan and himself.
- Chennai Super Kings team did not go for the Bollywood way for its brand ambassador. They went for South Stars like Srikanth, Nayantara and Vijay but all they did not work for the promotion of the team.
- The Mumbai Indians team was led by the iconic Sachin Tendulkar.
Conclusion
IPL has much better prospects of growth, fuelled by audience and sponsors. The strategies are formulated on positioning IPL as an entertainment arena rather than just a match. It was revealed that the IPL world be run by the seven man governing council composed of former India players and BCCI officials. There have been eleven seasons of IPL tournament.
The most successful franchises in the tournament are Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians, with three tournaments wins each. The IPL is the most attended cricket league in the world and in 2010, it has become first sporting event in the world to be broadcast live on YouTube.
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