IPL on television has been an advertiser’s delight across categories. The sheer scale of the platform and its ability to drive instant results for brands makes it a preferred medium for impact. At the e4m TV First conference held in Mumbai on Tuesday, a panel discussion was held on the topic, ‘Television - The chosen destination for IPL viewing.’ The panel was chaired by Vanita Keswani, CEO, Madison Media Sigma - Madison World and consisted of Anjali Krishnan, Head of Media, Mondelez India, Ajay Dang, President, Head - Marketing, Ultratech - Aditya Birla Group, Lalitha Nayak, In Charge - Marketing, NPCI, Nilesh Malani, CMO, Polycab and Girish Hingorani, Head - Marketing & Ecommerce, Cooling & Purification Appliances Group, Blue Star Limited.
Ajay Dang started the discussion with his thoughts on television advertising on IPL, which according to him, is distinct for brands in terms of viewer receptiveness and engagement. “IPL on television is a brilliant platform in terms of the number of eyeballs and effective storytelling of brand messaging. I think as marketers, there are a few shining examples like Mondelez, which have leveraged the platform fabulously well. It is a fabulous platform to engage with viewers.”
Anjali Krishnan gave some valuable insights in terms of how brands can best creatively leverage IPL on television. “We have launched all our new campaigns on our proposition of ‘acknowledging the unacknowledged’ through IPL on TV. We’ve observed over the past few years of partnering with Star Sports for IPL that the effectiveness of our campaigns was twice as they were compared to any other inventory we bought. IPL on TV is the ideal platform to launch new brand communications. It gives you a great reach in a very short period. New users that brands want to reach out to are present on IPL on TV. IPL on TV has played a pivotal role in brand building for Cadbury Dairy Milk.”
Girish Hingorani, who has been a strong believer in IPL on TV as a media property since its inception, spoke about how the platform has been a key factor in the success of Bluestar over the years. “We’ve been advertising on IPL on TV since 2008 and have leveraged the platform every year since. IPL on TV brings the country together and associating with a platform like this brings a lot of gravitas to a brand. We have focused on consistently creating good content and IPL on television has provided the largest platform for us to launch new communication every summer.”
Lalitha Nayak went on to talk about how the demographic profiling for Rupay matched with IPL TV audiences and how the association helped the brand launch new products successfully. “We launched our ‘Rupay - On The Go’ proposition last summer through IPL on television. Demographic compatibility is a key factor for us when we look at platforms to advertise on and IPL on television was a match for us. We advertised on IPL on digital as well, but saw a high recall for the brand after we begun the TV association. IPL on TV is a clutter breaking phenomenon if you can create good content that blends in.”
