Warc, 6 June 2014
NEW DELHI/KOLKATA: Tired brand marketers in India are
turning their attention to the FIFA World Cup in Brazil following their focus
on the recent Lokh Sabha elections and just concluded India Premier League
cricket tournament.
Even though India is not regarded as a footballing nation,
the Economic Times reported that Sony Entertainment, which has the broadcast
rights for the event, is selling air-time at rates comparable with one-day
international cricket matches.
Navin Khemka, managing partner at media buying firm
ZenithOptimedia, explained that "unlike cricket, soccer isn't very
inventory-friendly. There's not too much inventory to sell, so whatever
inventory the broadcaster has will obviously be sold at a premium".
That said, he expected that prime-time games would attract a
lot of interest among a niche audience.
Sporting brands are naturally looking to exploit the
month-long tournament. Official sponsor Adidas plans to engage with around 1.5m
football fans through pub screenings, house parties, office activations and
embassy events. It is also selling a World Cup-specific jersey alongside those
of its sponsored teams including Spain, Germany and Argentina.
Rival Puma is taking a similar approach although it is also
embracing a more direct route to fans' hearts: managing director Rajiv Mehta
said the brand has set up links with pubs and bars in Delhi, Mumbai and
Bangalore, so that whenever a team sponsored by Puma wins, the company will buy
a round of drinks.
Consumer electronics brands too are hoping to see an uplift
in sales as leading TV manufacturers are reported to be pouring Rs 300m into
marketing over the next 45 days.
While cricket continues to be the main target for fans and
brands in India, a high profile event like the World Cup offers the chance for
football to boost its popularity and for the brands associated with it to gain awareness
of their role in building sporting infrastructure.
Coca-Cola, for example, has an association with the All
India Football Federation which it plans to exploit. "Our programmes and
initiatives around the football World Cup will leverage existing partnerships
in grassroots football as well as local activations," said Debabrata
Mukherjee, vp/marketing & commercial, Coca-Cola India.
Data sourced from Economic Times; additional content by Warc
staff
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