If there is one change that has taken place in the sporting arena during the past 15 years in the country, it is the influx of marketing muscle and the infusion of large sums of money. Players, events, broadcast and media coverage, clothing and merchandising, grassroots development programs, fan management, talent development, advertising – thanks to marketers, every aspects of Indian sports, particularly cricket and few others like golf, hockey and tennis, has been analyzed, professionals and monitored. Television rights, sponsorships, player endorsements, advertising and peripherals like hospitality and signage have been corporatized. In cricket; a hollowed playing field for a slew of marketers – top players have been elevated to the status of demi-goods. What they wear, the brands they endorse and the commercials they figure in have all helped them achieve status with a fan following of tens of millions – ably assisted by a robust and thriving consumer marketing and advertising industry. For a moment, let's go back in time. During the 1980s could you have ever thought of a Sahara Cup, Hero Honda Cup, Samsung Cup, ESPN –Star Sports Premier Hockey League, StanChart Procam Mumbai International Marathon, BILT Skins Golf, or a JK Tyre National Racing Championship? Could you have imagined that top sport channels would bid 100 of crores of rupees for exclusive telecast rights, brand the bats and hockey sticks, or for that matter, the shoes of players in close range would cleverly the name of the brand – Adidas, Nike and Reebok? Imagine our top sports stars raking in crores of rupees through commercials and endorsements a decade and halfback.
[...] Little wonder, then sports television rides on Indian cricket, with over of the total Rs.450 crore sports marketing spend (2004) going to cricket; in viewership terms, cricket accounts for of all sports eyeballs. And cricketers are only celebrities who walk shoulder to shoulder with film stars, both on popularity earnings. For any sport to become a success, you need icons whom media can says L.V. Krishnan, Head of television monitoring agency, TAM. Yet, it is only at the international level that cricket has any appeal, for players, broadcasters, advertisers and the alike. [...]
[...] DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATIONS Chart-1 In case of effectiveness of Sports Marketing 52% of individual said Sports marketing is somewhat effective whereas 42% said that very effective and the rest i.e. somewhat ineffective, not effective at all and can't say is respectively. Chart-2 That sports is widely used as a marketing vehicle was confirmed by a large 58% of marketers who said they used sports as a marketing vehicle, while 40% said they did not avail it. Chart-3 Sports Marketing works best for building brand awareness, said 41% of the marketers said it helped gain positive associations with the game/ stars said it helped closer interaction with key target group at the venue of the event while only were non –commital. [...]
[...] SPORTS MARKETING If there is one change that has taken place in the sporting arena during the past 15 years in the country, its is the influx of marketing muscle and the infusion of large sums of money. Recent good performance by our sports stars have helped fuel this hype. Sania Mirza's exploits in the Australian Open and the WTA Hyderabad Open, which have taken her to the league of the top 100 tennis players in the world, are as much due to her own personal toil and grit as much as to the efforts of the men and money being bet on her. [...]
[...] Samsung Electronics senior manager Shubodip Pal says Sports marketing has been an important tool for Samsung in India and globally. If you look at cricket, with the amount of action happening over the past three years and what the calendars is for the next 2 years, it is a sport from where one cannot stay away from as the eyeballs are glued there. Coupled with the surrounding activities resulting in achievements of targets and some cases incremental sales too, it gives us bang for our bucks.” Hero Honda Motors general manager sales, Deepak Mokashi, Sports, especially cricket, being a national passion, it fits well with our target group and has benefited us in building the Hero Honda brand”. [...]
[...] As per the Pitch Synovate research, as many as of marketers do engage in sports marketing as part of their marketing armory. This cover story analyses the dynamics of this Sports Marketing opportunity, Figures out the industry size, and captures the perspectives of leading marketers and sports agent to give a 360-degree view. Pitch has partnered with leading media services group GroupM to arrive at the industry size and with leading research agency Synovate to understand how the marketing community view sports. [...]
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