[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Switch on the television set and the din only gets louder. More than 60 brand promotions promotions are batting on the tube right now: prominent players being Sansui, LG, Pepsi, Coke, Hutch, Frito Lays and VSNL. World Cup ‘99 saw average spends of Rs.110 crore in promotions; this zoomed to Rs 230 crore in 2003.
World Cup 2007 was expected to receive a cool Rs.800 crore-odd in ad and promotions, say veteran media planners, though its less than happy performance against Bangladesh had put a huge dampener on expected ad spends.
Of course, the Bermuda and Sri Lanka matches would have boasted zooming viewerships and ad rates. Still, ad revenues could slump by Rs 100-150 crore if we don’t make it resoundingly past Sri Lanka to find a berth on the Super 8. A weekend of reckoning.
Promos as platform for product launches and sales
Still, there’s been some active field action this season: LG has been running up a healthy Rs.50 crore on World Cup promotions, estimates industry. Pepsi’s launched its drink Pepsi Gold alongside the patriotic Blue Billion campaign. Food retailer KFC contest gets tongue-in-cheek with ‘Yeh Contest Hain Fixed’, where winners get a 10-day trip to the West Indies.
Gillette’s launched a special edition of Vector Plus winner razor autographed by Irfan Pathan and a cricket tournament called ‘Gully Gully Mein Cricket Ka Jashn’.
Hutch, well-known for its 10-second ads between the overs, launched a promotion where one lucky winner gets sent to the World Cup through its contest, ‘Main Toh Chala World Cup’. Frito Lay’s brand of snacks had, in its typically whacky style unwrapped ‘Jupp for the Cup’ contest. Customers who pen a zany jupp or chant can enjoy a 7-day, 6-night tour to the Indies.
TV promos could boost product sales. Says Sumeet Narang, marketing manager, Vector Plus, “We predict increased product trials, which would have a positive impact on the brand’s growth in the twin blades category. We understand what drives our target audience. Cricket is a passion with most of them. The World Cup brings to life what the brand stands for-the confidence and spirit to win.”
Colour TV makers are also tuning into higher volumes. “Based on our innovative offers during the World Cup cricket period, we expect to notch up sales of 300,000 colour televisions,” says R Zutshi, managing Director, Samsung India. In general, CTV sales are expected to touch 10.5-11 million units in 2007, up by 15% over last year, say analysts.
Are all promos catching your attention this year?
But does this overwhelming ad and promo rush really swing well with consumers? Or does it score more clutter than excitement? Says Anirban Das Blah, vice president, Globosport, “I am completely against riding on any trend just for the sake of it. Any promotion must reflect the unique properties of a brand and must offer an emotional connect with the audience.
``Unfortunately most of the promo-pitches running on TV do not have these elements. While cricket is a captive audience and stretches to mass frontiers, the noticeability of the sponsors is very less. Audiences are more likely to remember the presenting sponsors of the last major tennis tournament.”
Media buyers don’t quite agree. Sanjay Chakraborty, COO, Dentsu says that cutting-edge promotions are hard to miss like those of Dish TV, Pepsi and Samsung.
He says, “Here’s a property that offers both reach and GRPs in one go. The cost is completely justifiable. Cricket used to address the 30-plus male, but now it reaches all cross-sections. It is in fact a mass-audience property. No doubt it should give categories associated with it like durables and packaged goods visible noticeability and a spike in sales.”
Cricket spots have high GRPs and rates
Another big debate: is it cost-effective to be an advertiser for the TV event give the hugely high ad rates and the fact that we could well be out of the Super 8, even if we won versus Sri Lanka last night?
As is known, several mass market companies such as Procter & Gamble, Marico, Godrej, have not bought cricket inventory this time around even before the action swung in.
But still, the viewing universe for cricket has scaled from 32 million to 70 million households and revenue shares have reportedly doubled. Shashi Sinha, chairman, Lodestar-Universal reckons that cricket can bring in one-shot all the viewership figures that would be delivered by the Kyunki’s soaps over a period of time.
Sustained viewership is however a moot point, since matches have been extending to early morning.
Says Sameer Suneja, Head Marketing, Perfetti Van Melle India, “We are not buying spots during World Cup .The matches will be played at night where the viewership will not sustain through the duration of the game. Large number of matches mean huge investments. We would rather buy spots in tournaments where India’s presence is more pronounced.”
A senior media buyer observes that non-cricket programming normally shows at least a 20% drop in viewership for the programme and commercial break. In case of the last World Cup the corresponding drop was only around 2-5% for all the matches, except the non-India Super Six matches where the drop was around 7%.
Aditya Agarwal, director, Emami doesn’t have any doubts about cricket being a high scorer on Gross Rating Points (GRPs), but whether it’s best suited for brands that target women is debatable. He says, “I expect the World Cup to generate good viewership especially in the 30-plus male segment, but the high premium charged by the channels compels brands like ours to stay away from the cricket inventory. Investment in a property like the World Cup would mean a significant alteration of other media plans.”
Again, the matches are being sold by the channel as a package deal. In effect, you only get to buy a package deal (all the matches) and India non-specific matches would barely garner any viewership. Also, CAS is rolling out and many homes are blacked out of the SET horizon, says Chandradeep Mitra, president, OMS.
The real truth may finally be out there on the creative pitch. Shashi Sinha of Lodestar-Universal observes that enough clutter exists on television today, so why single out cricket? “The noticeability of any campaign depends on the execution of the creative. We still remember the Pepsi huddle from the last World Cup Cricket brings out an involvement that few other properties can.’’
That throws the supreme challenge to both marketers and admen alike in the remaining days ahead. Of course, if we make it to Super 8, this would have been a risk worth taking, with brand buzz guaranteed anyway.
source : Magindia
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World Cup 2007 was expected to receive a cool Rs.800 crore-odd in ad and promotions, say veteran media planners, though its less than happy performance against Bangladesh had put a huge dampener on expected ad spends.
Of course, the Bermuda and Sri Lanka matches would have boasted zooming viewerships and ad rates. Still, ad revenues could slump by Rs 100-150 crore if we don’t make it resoundingly past Sri Lanka to find a berth on the Super 8. A weekend of reckoning.
Promos as platform for product launches and sales
Still, there’s been some active field action this season: LG has been running up a healthy Rs.50 crore on World Cup promotions, estimates industry. Pepsi’s launched its drink Pepsi Gold alongside the patriotic Blue Billion campaign. Food retailer KFC contest gets tongue-in-cheek with ‘Yeh Contest Hain Fixed’, where winners get a 10-day trip to the West Indies.
Gillette’s launched a special edition of Vector Plus winner razor autographed by Irfan Pathan and a cricket tournament called ‘Gully Gully Mein Cricket Ka Jashn’.
Hutch, well-known for its 10-second ads between the overs, launched a promotion where one lucky winner gets sent to the World Cup through its contest, ‘Main Toh Chala World Cup’. Frito Lay’s brand of snacks had, in its typically whacky style unwrapped ‘Jupp for the Cup’ contest. Customers who pen a zany jupp or chant can enjoy a 7-day, 6-night tour to the Indies.
TV promos could boost product sales. Says Sumeet Narang, marketing manager, Vector Plus, “We predict increased product trials, which would have a positive impact on the brand’s growth in the twin blades category. We understand what drives our target audience. Cricket is a passion with most of them. The World Cup brings to life what the brand stands for-the confidence and spirit to win.”
Colour TV makers are also tuning into higher volumes. “Based on our innovative offers during the World Cup cricket period, we expect to notch up sales of 300,000 colour televisions,” says R Zutshi, managing Director, Samsung India. In general, CTV sales are expected to touch 10.5-11 million units in 2007, up by 15% over last year, say analysts.
Are all promos catching your attention this year?
But does this overwhelming ad and promo rush really swing well with consumers? Or does it score more clutter than excitement? Says Anirban Das Blah, vice president, Globosport, “I am completely against riding on any trend just for the sake of it. Any promotion must reflect the unique properties of a brand and must offer an emotional connect with the audience.
``Unfortunately most of the promo-pitches running on TV do not have these elements. While cricket is a captive audience and stretches to mass frontiers, the noticeability of the sponsors is very less. Audiences are more likely to remember the presenting sponsors of the last major tennis tournament.”
Media buyers don’t quite agree. Sanjay Chakraborty, COO, Dentsu says that cutting-edge promotions are hard to miss like those of Dish TV, Pepsi and Samsung.
He says, “Here’s a property that offers both reach and GRPs in one go. The cost is completely justifiable. Cricket used to address the 30-plus male, but now it reaches all cross-sections. It is in fact a mass-audience property. No doubt it should give categories associated with it like durables and packaged goods visible noticeability and a spike in sales.”
Cricket spots have high GRPs and rates
Another big debate: is it cost-effective to be an advertiser for the TV event give the hugely high ad rates and the fact that we could well be out of the Super 8, even if we won versus Sri Lanka last night?
As is known, several mass market companies such as Procter & Gamble, Marico, Godrej, have not bought cricket inventory this time around even before the action swung in.
But still, the viewing universe for cricket has scaled from 32 million to 70 million households and revenue shares have reportedly doubled. Shashi Sinha, chairman, Lodestar-Universal reckons that cricket can bring in one-shot all the viewership figures that would be delivered by the Kyunki’s soaps over a period of time.
Sustained viewership is however a moot point, since matches have been extending to early morning.
Says Sameer Suneja, Head Marketing, Perfetti Van Melle India, “We are not buying spots during World Cup .The matches will be played at night where the viewership will not sustain through the duration of the game. Large number of matches mean huge investments. We would rather buy spots in tournaments where India’s presence is more pronounced.”
A senior media buyer observes that non-cricket programming normally shows at least a 20% drop in viewership for the programme and commercial break. In case of the last World Cup the corresponding drop was only around 2-5% for all the matches, except the non-India Super Six matches where the drop was around 7%.
Aditya Agarwal, director, Emami doesn’t have any doubts about cricket being a high scorer on Gross Rating Points (GRPs), but whether it’s best suited for brands that target women is debatable. He says, “I expect the World Cup to generate good viewership especially in the 30-plus male segment, but the high premium charged by the channels compels brands like ours to stay away from the cricket inventory. Investment in a property like the World Cup would mean a significant alteration of other media plans.”
Again, the matches are being sold by the channel as a package deal. In effect, you only get to buy a package deal (all the matches) and India non-specific matches would barely garner any viewership. Also, CAS is rolling out and many homes are blacked out of the SET horizon, says Chandradeep Mitra, president, OMS.
The real truth may finally be out there on the creative pitch. Shashi Sinha of Lodestar-Universal observes that enough clutter exists on television today, so why single out cricket? “The noticeability of any campaign depends on the execution of the creative. We still remember the Pepsi huddle from the last World Cup Cricket brings out an involvement that few other properties can.’’
That throws the supreme challenge to both marketers and admen alike in the remaining days ahead. Of course, if we make it to Super 8, this would have been a risk worth taking, with brand buzz guaranteed anyway.
source : Magindia
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