IPL HAS EMERGED AS A VERY GOOD OPPORTUNITY FOR SPORTSWEAR BRANDS TO CONVERT THE CRICKET CRAZE TO SALES THROUGH INNOVATIVE MARKETING STRATEGIES. WORDS: KUNAL MAJUMDER

What’s TAM? Questions the major team sponsors of the Indian Premier League (IPL). Television Audience Measurement or TAM is usually said to determine the success or failure of a television programme. The initial fall in TAM ratings and physical absence of the tournament from the country, many had said would not give the sponsoring brands the expected visibility. However, brands like Adidas, Reebok and Puma simply rubbished this claim.

“For us, the success of the second season of the IPL is defined by the overwhelming response we are getting to our team merchandise at retail. Overall, the month of April is trending to a very strong double digit growth over April ’08 and March ’09. A significant driver of this growth has been the excitement generated by IPL which leads many more consumers to walk-in to our stores,” said Andreas Gellner, MD, Adidas India. He claims that the success of IPL cannot be evaluated on TAM ratings. Adidas is the official apparel sponsor for Delhi Daredevils and Mumbai Indians.

Gellner does agree that the shift of the IPL out of the country has created its own challenges from a marketing perspective. “While we don’t have the opportunity of leveraging the excitement of 50,000 passionate fans, we are embracing the challenge by reaching out to them wherever they are following the event. We have tied up with popular restaurants and pubs to recreate a stadium environment for the fans,” he said.

Read on in the June issue of Sporstwear International India

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