MUMBAI: The Indian Premier League is in its 11th year and franchise owners and managers are looking for more ways to be innovative in terms of marketing.
According to Business Standard, teams have seen a 70% increase in merchandise sales annually over the last three to four seasons, albeit on a small base.
L&M (Licensing & Merchanding) has been tip toeing on the IPL sidelines for years now, considering that team owners have been encouraged by an increase in fan base and engagement online on social media on the matches. This has been looked upon as a great opportunity to make the most of their players’ influence. The IPL teams also are benefited by experience of being in the business for a decade, creating fans in great numbers and who are loyal to them.
Globally, merchandising is a $20 billion plus industry, but in India and more specifically in the IPL, it is still at a nascent stage due to competition from the unorganised and counterfeit market in India.
Experts believe that fans’ expectations have changed over time. “At first, there were supporters going for a city or the players. Those were the factors that attracted loyalty of the fans. But as the seasons went by, the performance of the teams and the players associated with it became more important,” says Bhavik Vora, founder, Black White and Orange, a licensing agency based in Mumbai. This holds true for teams such as Mumbai Indians (MI), Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) and Chennai Super Kings (CSK). CSK has barely been affected despite having returned after two years due to the team’s popularity and MS Dhoni.
The market has grown tremendously over the years as well. With an e-commerce boom in India, IPL franchises have been helped a lot in advertising and selling their merchandise. Almost all teams now can be found on many different online destinations. KKR, MI and Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) for example, have joined hands with the The Souled Store while others are present across Amazon, Flipkart and so on.
“L&M continues to be a key focus area of growth for KKR. Our aim is to be at par with top sporting clubs around the world. And we have pioneered many initiatives, be it through launching an online marketplace for fans or forging exciting partnerships with brands,” says Venky Mysore, MD and CEO, KKR.
“Merchandising, which has not picked up as anticipated, is a huge opportunity for IPL and the franchisees to monetise the brand, and we hope to see IPL replicating the global sporting events’ success in monetising their brands through merchandising,” Duff & Phelps India Managing Director Santosh N told PTI.
“Various IPL stakeholders have found different avenues to monetise their association with the IPL. This unprecedented response from advertisers, broadcasters, sponsors, affiliates and general viewing public is expected to continue in the future. In the next few years, franchisees and broadcasters will look to find more avenues to leverage brand IPL,” he said.
Mysore told Business Standard that it has a back-to-school range with Marvel, based on the Avengers collection. This includes apparel and games, it is more than packaging the team says. An example of the collaboration is a dart game where players are divided into the Avengers and KKR players, bringing both the franchises together not only in the packaging, but also in the actual game.
“KKR along with Indiagames (the digital arm of Walt Disney India) has developed an immersive experience, where fans get a chance of actually running and managing a team,” adds Mysore.
However, there are some challenges to overcome in such a business strategy. The Indian market is a price sensitive one where franchises and their retail partners are striving to balance quality with cost.
“The challenge is two-fold in this case. On the one hand, there are few to no steps taken to curb piracy. You see jerseys being sold outside match venues which are definitely not official licensed merchandise. Add to that the fact that the Indian fan has still not evolved to the level of a let’s say a football club (international) fan to value original products irrespective of the price, and you have a big problem to tackle,” says Vora.
Mysore agrees, “Counterfeit products continue to be a big menace in this industry and KKR is trying its best to urge its fans to buy only authentic merchandise which apart from a far superior quality gives fans a lot more gratification.”
The price-value equation has to be considered when it comes to clamping down on counterfeits. As more and more fans show their loyalty on their sleeves or in their tea mugs, the market will go wider and deeper. But only if the price is right, experts BS spoke to opined.
