MAM
Digital-first & internet- based brands and the magnetic appeal of IPL 2020
NEW DELHI: Apart from the brands and services available in shop shelves and in brick and mortar stores, a slew of players in the digital ecosystem has also boarded the IPL train and ridden on the track of success. The telecast of the league has played a vital role in building mass awareness and adoption of digital-first brands thus accelerating digital adoption in India. Something which the SARS Cov2 virus has further hyper-speeded up over the past few months.
Digital-first start-ups are normally on a fast-growth and customer acquisition path right from the get-go, egged on by investors to increase valuations and revenues. Marketing guru and director of the Ehrenberg Bass Institute at the University of South Australia Byron Sharp in his book How Brands Grow – what marketers don’t know highlights that “growth primarily comes from gaining new users rather than driving increased loyalty. Most brand users are light users. Hence, marketers need to build brand availability and mental availability. What this basically means is that if brands want to grow, then they have to ensure they reach non-users consistently.”
Observers point out that this is something which digital brands can effectively do using the unparalleled large scale and simultaneous reach that the IPL offers. The league itself has taken a page out of Byron’s marketing theories, has innovated, increased its reach in different languages, added viewing platforms, increased viewers, thus growing year on year. Inventory on the IPL telecast on the Disney Star India channels is limited at 800 seconds an hour with shorter ad breaks of 50 seconds each because of the fast-paced nature of the T20 game. Thus the OTS for a TVC is higher than on other television genres leading to high TOM recall. Research has also shown that increasingly TV viewers are constantly using their mobile phones as a second screen; hence cleverly crafted TVCs or ads leading audiences to respond instantly using their handheld device can generate instant and repeat interaction with a digital-first brand and even a transaction during IPL matches.
Consider the experience of digital lending marketplace Paisabazaar and insurance price-comparison and booking portal Policybazaar. Brand managers at the two companies have regularly put their ad bucks behind cricket to build their brands and reach out to potential customers. In 2019, the duo advertised around IPL as well as the ICC World Cup and made a huge impression on viewers.
Paisabazaar chief marketing officer Sai Narayan is sold on the efficacy of the IPL as a national promotional platform. “IPL is one of the important vehicles for digital-first brands to increase their reach,” says he. “Brands continuously spend on digital mediums to generate ROI but TV gives scale. It generates a huge amount of free traffic and people end up searching for the brand. It creates a pull effect for the brand instead of the push effect.”
Narayan agrees that IPL is costlier than any other platform but the returns are also better as the conversion rate is higher and the brand recall and impact are much higher. Says he: “Brands are ready to pay a premium for the incremental jump. If you advertise around it regularly, it helps in creating a strong brand salience,” says Narayan.
Additionally, his teams have been consistently witnessing jumps in the free traffic from 40 per cent to 50 per cent above the usual. Elaborates Narayan: “Whenever we have considered cricket, we have observed a substantial surge in our web traffic, resulting in lowering our cost per lead at a daily/ monthly/ campaign/ market level. The canvas to play within live sports is far bigger than traditional mediums, there are so many elements you can play with. A typical sporting event is long enough for brands to build a lasting recall value. If there were no live sports we might not have reached 40 million monthly users on Paisabazaar and 30 million monthly users on Policybazaar.”
Urban Company (formerly Urban Clap) went aggressive with its Ayushman Khurana-anchored TVC during the IPL 2019 promoting the company’s air conditioning (AC) services targeted at males on Star Sports’ HD channels. The net result: searches and bookings for the sorely needed air condition repair service in the summer climbed. This allowed the management to expand Urban Clap into newer services as well as its footprint to newer Indian cities. Earlier this year, it went in for a rebranding exercise calling itself the Urban Company.
No wonder Dentsu Aegis CEO APAC & chairman India Ashish Bhasin believes that this season’s IPL presents a perfect opportunity that digital brands should exploit. “The pandemic has benefited digital companies as we have all moved more to digital as we have been working from home,” he says. “It’s obvious there is a distinct advantage to digital businesses to associate with the IPL as they are running well whereas the brick and mortar companies are still struggling to get back on their feet. The digital firms also have cash as they are well funded. Associating with the IPL gives them distinct benefits as well as tremendous exposure and engagement.”
Online food ordering and delivery platform Swiggy partnered with the IPL in 2018 and 2019 as an official associate broadcast sponsor. It created six witty slices of life TVCs which were focused on the love of Indians for cricket and food. The core message the commercials conveyed: Swiggy allows consumers to enjoy the absorbing battle on the ground even as it looks after their stomach’s needs.
“Our TVCs are reflective of the national brand that Swiggy is today,” says Swiggy VP marketing Srivats T. “Post the last IPL campaign, we had millions of users download the app, waiting for Swiggy to go live in their cities. We saw growth in both new and repeat users. There was a phenomenal engagement on Swiggy Sixes – a property using which fans would get discounts if they placed an order within six minutes of a six being hit – with over a million viewers opting for it.”
Edutech company Byju’s has backed the IPL and even team India in recent times. According to VP marketing Atit Mehta, the Byju’s app sees increased downloads during India matches as compared to non-cricket days. “Other measurable objectives like awareness, audience engagement, time spent on the app, conversation rates, etc., also have shown an upward trend,” he said.
Digital payments company PhonePe too met with successful results when they chose the IPL as a consumer outreach and acquisition platform. “We wanted to build awareness around digital payments and PhonePe amongst both rural and urban audiences in 2019,” said PhonePe founder &CEO Sameer Nigam. “We used a mass media platform like TV, the most popular sport cricket, and the IPL – the biggest sporting event of the year – to launch our new brand campaign.”
His faith in the league was justified when PhonePe reported a 115 per cent growth in the number of transactions.
These are some compelling figures marketers at startups and emerging digital businesses simply can’t ignore. The IPL has always been one of the largest marketing platforms for brands and marketers to gain from. With so many testimonies that prove this in more than just one way, it’s evident that this is the right time to get a lot of traction with the IPL and the festivities coming together from a timing perspective. It’s all about the right choices when it comes to Adex and spends. And when timed right, this can really turn a brand’s journey around. As the saying goes, success – though it may seem unsure initially – embraces those who go boldly were few have gone before.
MAM
GUEST COLUMN: How strategy and creativity drives ROI in digital campaigns
Why engagement, AI, and integrated strategy are redefining ROI in digital campaigns
MUMBAI: As digital marketing matures, the benchmarks of success are undergoing a fundamental shift. Reach and visibility, once the primary indicators of campaign performance, are no longer sufficient in a landscape defined by fleeting attention spans and evolving consumer behaviour. Today, brands are being challenged to move beyond surface-level metrics and focus on meaningful engagement, relevance, and long-term impact. ForAkhil Nair, founder and CEO at BigTrunk Communications, this transition from visibility to value reflects a deeper change in how campaigns are conceived, executed, and measured. In this piece, Nair explores why traditional metrics fall short, how AI and integrated thinking are reshaping campaign effectiveness, and why creativity, context, and agility are essential to driving real return on investment in modern digital campaigns.
The shift from visibility to value
For a long time, digital campaigns were judged by how many people saw them. If lots of people looked at it and the numbers were good, it meant things were going well. Impressions and clicks were what mattered. Over time, that didn’t feel like enough. Just because someone sees something doesn’t mean it makes an impact. People scroll through content quickly and often do not really notice what they have just seen. This has changed how we think about campaigns today.
There has been a shift in how brands look at this. It is not just about reaching people, but also about what happens after that, whether someone stops, engages, or remembers the brand later. That is what matters more. This moves the focus from visibility to value.
Some metrics we have relied on for years do not tell the full story. A campaign can reach a large audience and still fail to create a real connection. On paper, it may look strong, but in reality, it does not do much. That is why engagement and intent have become more important, especially whether people are interacting with the content or simply scrolling past it. Even small actions, like spending a few extra seconds or clicking through, matter more.
AI is helping brands understand how people behave and interact with them. It helps brands make better decisions so they can create campaigns that truly connect with people, not just reach a large audience. AI can also predict what will be popular and help refine campaigns, which makes marketing more effective. This allows marketing teams to focus more on generating ideas. In this way, AI supports both creativity and strategy.
Why integration and context matter
Another important factor is how well everything comes together. Campaigns often fall short when strategy, media, and creative are developed separately, because that lack of alignment is noticeable. When everything is aligned from the start, the campaign feels more natural and the message comes through clearly. It also fits better within the platform where it appears.
This matters because people behave differently across platforms. The way someone watches a video is not the same as how they search or read longer content. These differences may seem minor, but they can significantly impact performance. Paying attention to context helps campaigns feel more relevant and effective.
Creativity, agility and long-term impact
There is a common assumption that performance-driven campaigns leave little room for creativity, but that is not the case. The most effective campaigns often feel simple and real. People tend to ignore anything that feels overly polished or forced. Instead, they connect with content that feels familiar and relatable, something that reflects how they think or speak.
At the same time, campaigns do not always go as planned. Audience behavior, trends, and platform dynamics can shift quickly. What works initially may stop working later. That is why it is important to continuously track performance and make adjustments. Small changes over time can improve outcomes, and campaigns that stay flexible tend to perform better.
While short-term results matter, consistency over time plays a bigger role. When a brand shows up in a relevant and consistent way, it builds familiarity. Over time, that familiarity turns into trust.
Digital marketing has evolved, and expectations have evolved with it. Visibility still matters, but it is no longer enough on its own. What truly drives impact is whether a campaign connects, leaves a lasting impression, and leads to action. Being seen is easy, but being remembered is what really counts.
