No individual can be bigger than the game.

The Most Revolutionary Concept In Education PLANMAN CHE CENTRE FOR HIGHER EDUCATION, Supported by IIPM India’s Leading B-School

Interestingly, this statement is especially relevant to marketers who are looking to strike the right shots with their shrinking budgets in a slowdown. Pawan Chabra & Pallavi Srivastava of 4Ps B&M examine why, in humbling times, IPL promises marketers what the best celebrities cannot.

Is thrift the only mantra of the season? Well, market logic dictates that it’s not just about cutting back on your resources (read: marketing budgets) but also carefully analysing where the cost benefit analysis of a marketing investment can work overwhelmingly in your favour. Thus while companies are cutting corners in their marketing budgets, it would all be in vain if they cut the wrong corners!

So faced with the question: In whom to invest? In Hrithik Roshan or Shahrukh Khan’s Kolkata Knight Riders? marketers should pause before answering. For the latter promises an intoxicating, blockbuster combination of Bollywood and cricket. Last year, the combo had sent an adrenalin rush through the veins of marketers and advertisers. Most probably, you’re one of those who doesn’t even need to ask how the combo could generate a high sense of excitement among marketers. The answer is obvious. Lalit Modi! The man gave India an excellent platform to combine the protagonists we’ve mentioned above, by his biggest adaptation of the Indian Premier League (IPL). Just brush up your memories a bit and you’ll be able to easily recall the scenario of the last season when everybody was crazily fighting to grab a share of the lucrative IPL cake in any possible form.

Well, if last year, in the peak of the boom, IPL made some sense, this year, in bust times it makes for indisputable business logic! A lucrative deal under IPL may force marketers to channelise their advertising budget from somewhere else, which may also include dropping expensive brand ambassadors or regular advertising spends. That’s the reason why Coca Cola India prefers Shahrukh’s Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and Delhi Daredevils over superstar Hrithik Roshan. One look at Coke’s advertising patterns on TV will reveal that Coke has not come up with an ad featuring Hrithik for a long time (after the last ‘Jashn mana le’ ad commercial). Moreover, the frequency of Coke ads has also relatively gone down. Similarly Sprite (for which Coca Cola India has tied up with KKR) also doesn’t have any brand ambassador as of now (Sania was the endorser of Sprite earlier). Undoubtedly, Coke is spending its marketing budget wisely. Probably that’s the reason why they have tied up with Delhi Daredevils for brand Coke and with KKR for Sprite.

For more articles, Click on IIPM Article.

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
Detail of all IIPM branches
1500-plus IIPM students placed across the country with 44 bagging international offers
IIPM set to beat economic slowdown
IIPM Admission Detail
IIPM INTERNATIONAL - NEW DELHI, GURGAON & NOIDA
IIPM - Admission Procedure
IIPM, GURGAON
IIPM : EXECUTIVE EDUCATION