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Cricket spins back

Surajeet Das Gupta and Soumik Sen

It was India's moment of glory that had 23 million viewers glued to their television sets. As Mohammad Kaif scampered home for the winning run it ended the consecutive innings' of defeat for Indian cricket. And anyone who thought that cricket had lost its pulling power - after the bribery scam and the team's lacklustre performances - is now on the losing side.

What's more, the nail-biting win couldn't have come at a better moment - and not only for Indian cricket's millions of fans. Advertisers are suddenly rubbing their hands gleefully at the thought of a long seven-month cricket season that stretches ahead. On the way there will be tournaments like the ICC mini-World Cup, the India Vs West Indies and the India Vs England series. All that will be topped by the World Cup, which will be a 54-day extravaganza held in February-March 2003 in South Africa.

Multi-million dollar cheques have already been written out for this slew of events. But now advertisers are digging even deeper into their pockets to produce the big bucks needed to get their products on air for tournaments that could keep the nation riveted.

"The NatWest win has brought cricket back in the reckoning. A host of companies are approaching us with proposals looking for endorsements by cricket stars," says Shailendra Singh, managing director, Percept D'Mark, an event management firm that has deals with key cricketers.

Take a look at the string of new companies that are eager to race out onto the cricket pitch. Only this week, Electrolux and Timex showed that they were firmly hooked on cricket by becoming sponsors of the Wisden Indian Cricket of the Century Awards, presented in London.

Industry sources reckon that the project cost of the awards was around Rs 70 million to Rs 80 million. Or, hop across to Kolkata where Bharti Enterprises has tied up with Saurav Ganguly, who has become the Airtel brand ambassador in Kolkata.

Why are companies so cricket-crazy? The answer can be found by looking at the extraordinary television ratings the game gets. The NatWest final between India-England set new viewership records. On another plane, advertising revenues for sports programmes are expected to more than double with the cricket mania and the World Cup (during the 1999 World Cup the sports channels picked up ad revenues of around Rs 3 billion).

Many giant corporations have already booked ringside seats to the tournaments scheduled in the next few months. Take a look at Hero Honda, which is launching a slew of new products just as the cricket season gets under way. Hero Honda is reported to have spent $15 million to be an official sponsor of the World Cup.

What's more, the company is pushing up its overall ad budgets, which are usually pegged at around 1.9 per cent of turnover to over 2.1 per cent to meet the needs of the cricket season. Says Atul Sobti, vice president, marketing, Hero Honda: "There is no game which has such a large viewership as cricket and no game which unites the country as much. So it offers unimaginable mileage for brands."

Or, take a look at Pepsico, which along with Korean chaebol LG Electronics is spending around $50 million to be a global partner at the next two World Cup tournaments. The beverage giant already spends about 60 per cent of its advertisement and promotion budget on cricket and that may move up to 70 per cent in coming months.

LG Electronics too is pouring cash into cricket and isn't taking any chances about being upstaged. It has bought up the global sponsor's rights for both consumer electronics and infotech products (so that it won't be ambushed by rival Samsung). What's more, it is hoping that its televisions will be flying off the shelves during that period.

"We expect sales to go up as a result of our association with the World Cup by at least 30 per cent to 40 per cent. And competitors like Akai or Sony cannot take mileage of the Cup," says Ganesh Mahalingam, general manager, marketing, LG Electronics.

For Air Sahara, the cricket team's feat at Lords could not have come at a better moment. The airline has forked out huge amounts to be the Indian team's sponsor (Rs 1 billion for three years) and now the airline has launched a blockbuster Rs 200 million campaign - which will run till the World Cup - that features the entire Indian cricket team.

Ad googlies: Advertising sixers soaring over the boundary

Nearly 60 % of Pepsi's annual ad and promotion budget is spent on cricket related advertising. That will rise to 70 % soon.

Hero Honda will spend 80 % of its advertising budget on cricket and has paid $15 million to be an official sponsor of the World Cup

The Sahara group is spending over Rs 200 million for an ad campaign that will feature the entire Indian cricket team

Sony TV is splurging $255 million to the buy the Indian television rights for the next two World Cup tournaments.

Event management company Percept D'Mark expects over Rs 1billion revenue from cricket in coming months.

Saurav Ganguly has hiked rates by 50 % from Rs 12.5 million to around Rs 17 million

Yuvraj Singh is charging around Rs 450,000 to appear in campaigns compared to between Rs 100,000 and Rs 120,000 a few months ago.

Reebok has roped in Rahul Dravid and Dinesh Mongia to endorse its product

The cricketers are already reaping the benefits of the renewed enthusiasm. The buzz in the advertising industry is that cricket Captain Saurav Ganguly has hiked his endorsement rates from Rs 12 million to Rs 17 million. Similarly, Yuvaraj Singh - who was out in the cold for over six months - is now hoping to earn around Rs 4.5 million per endorsement compared to a rockbottom Rs 1 million to Rs 1.2 million barely a few months ago.

The team's other new stars like Harbhajan Singh and Dinesh Mongia are also being snapped up for advertising spots. Harbhajan, for instance, is appearing in a Pepsi spot along with Kaif and Ajit Agarkar. And Mongia is putting his best foot forward with Rahul Dravid for Reebok.

Cricket's top star is Sachin Tendulkar and his pace never slackened even when the team was doing badly. But Tendulkar also has plenty to look forward to in the coming months. Tendulkar is being signed on by the Star-ESPN combine, which lost the rights to telecast the World Cup (according to one rumour the deal is worth Rs 120 million).

The cricket champ will be a brand ambassador endorsing the channel. "Tendulkar will work exclusively for the channel and will be associated with programmes on cricket in the run-up to the World Cup," says Manu Sawhney, managing director, ESPN.

One of the fiercest battles in the next few months will be between the television channels. Sony TV - known more for its entertainment programming - has piped big timers to the post by grabbing the Indian television rights for two World Cup tournaments for a staggering $255 million. That is in striking contrast to the $16 million that Star-ESPN and Doordarshan forked out during the last World Cup.

Says a media observer: "At that price it is impossible to believe that Sony can recover the costs. Especially as the Indian matches will also be shown on Doordarshan which means that Sony does not have exclusivity."

However, Sony defends the move. Says Sony's Rajat Jain: "We will telecast the matches with outstanding and unique programming techniques. We will show cricket like it never has been shown before."

Sony has hiked its advertising rates for the World Cup (according to industry sources the main sponsor has to fork out a whopping $7.6 million for both the World Cup as well as the ICC Knock Out series to be held this year).

Precise figures aren't easily available yet but corporations that have been approached by the television company say their rates are at least three times higher than normal sports programmes. The channel might also hike cable operator fees during the tournament.

The World Cup is, of course, the main focus of activity in coming months. GCC, the Newscorp company, paid $550 million to buy the rights for two World Cup tournaments - and then sold them to Sony. But it expects India to provide the largest chunk of advertising. Says Digvijay Singh, CEO designate, World Sport Nimbus, which markets the sponsorship of the World Cup in India: "We expect that as much as 60 per cent of ad revenues will come from India."

The ICC is also looking at boosting ad revenues by creating a new category of regional sponsors. These sponsors will get various in-stadia ad rights only for certain matches of interest to their own audiences.

Some event management companies are also hoping to draw in cash. Take Percept D'Mark, which manages various star cricketers like Saurav Ganguly and also manages the team for Sahara. The company is hoping to rake in over Rs 1 billion from cricket alone - which would include endorsement deals for cricketers and special events around cricket.

The eyes of corporate sponsors and the Indian viewers are, of course, at the moment glued to the ongoing India-England Test series. India's first eleven is carrying the aspirations of millions of fans every time they stride out onto the pitch. And the corporations are betting on them in a bigger way than ever before.

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