GUEST COLUMN: Why IPL marketing needs more than viral memes

MUMBAI:Every summer, the Indian Premier League (IPL) transcends the boundaries of sport to become one of the country’s biggest cultural and marketing phenomena, capturing the attention of millions across television screens, digital platforms, and social media feeds. For brands, the tournament presents an unparalleled opportunity to engage with consumers in real time, often leading to a flood of meme-driven campaigns and moment marketing initiatives. However, as audiences become increasingly discerning and attention spans grow shorter, the challenge for marketers is no longer just about being seen, it is about creating meaningful, memorable connections that endure beyond a viral post. In this article, Sandiip Kapur, founder and president of Promodome Communications, explores why brands must move beyond meme marketing during the IPL season and focus on authenticity, storytelling, regional relevance, and purpose-driven engagement to build lasting conversations with consumers.

Every year, the IPL changes from being a cricket league to something much more significant for India, a major cultural and marketing event. With unmatched visibility, engagement through digital marketing, and audience participation, the IPL offers a lot for brands. Meme marketing has become a common tactic used by all brands while participating in the IPL. While memes can help brands remain relevant, what is really important at present is whether the brands have managed to make a long-lasting impact on the consumers.

With so many brands taking part in the IPL campaigns, the modern Indian consumer sees a number of advertisements associated with the tournament each day. Whether it be through television, social media, OTT, or influencers, there are too many campaigns for the brand relying solely on witty one-liners and memes.

The Indian IPL offers unique emotions, which can be used by brands to engage audiences. As cricket is a sport that is associated with passion, nostalgia, celebrations, community viewing, and national discussion, it is important to create a campaign that would be integrated into all of these emotions.

It’s all about authenticity, not just noise. Today’s consumers can tell the difference between an authentic brand that participates in the conversation and a brand that’s just trying to steal some attention. This is why storytelling is becoming more important than speed. Brands should be asking themselves, ‘what value do we bring to the conversation?’ Are we entertaining, educating, enabling participation, or creating an emotional connection?

The use of multi-platform storytelling has been one of the biggest transformations seen over the last few seasons of IPL. TV remains the preferred mass-media platform, but social media helps in amplifying conversations. Brands that have managed to create a unified communication plan across TV, social media, influencer partnerships, regional content, and short-form videos are able to create more recall. Gradually, the focus is shifting from campaigns to audience experience.

Regional relevance is another key trend in IPL communication today. In a country like India, where cricket fans consume the sport in their own language and region, hyperlocal stories, regional creators, and culturally relevant campaigns are helping brands connect better with their audience.

Crucially, IPL marketing does not have to be done by only the biggest consumer brands anymore. There are startups, fintechs, D2C brands, and other regional companies that have joined the conversation around IPL. But what makes some brands truly successful in their IPL marketing efforts is consistent messaging and campaigns that resonate with their brand identity rather than one-off viral stunts.

The future of IPL marketing belongs to brands that combine creativity with purpose. While meme marketing can provide an initial boost to visibility, building a conversation with the audience requires more relevance, authenticity, and storytelling than that. In the age of short attention spans and fierce competition, it is important for brands to focus on conversations that stick.

In the attention economy era, being noticed is not everything anymore. What truly matters is being remembered.

Note: The views expressed in this article are solely the author’s and do not necessarily reflect our own.