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A Market Research Project On Effectiveness of Marketing Strategies adopted by IPL [pic] Submitted to: Prof. Chinmaya KULASRESHTHA Submitted by: Akshay (11P007) AMITESH KAMANI (11P008) ANAND JHUNJHUNWALA (11P009) ANKIT OJHA (11P010) ARPIT GOEL (11P011) ASEEM JAGADEV (11P012) GROUP-2 1. Introduction to Project 1. Marketing Strategy: Concept A marketing strategy is a combination of marketing tools that are used to satisfy consumers and company objectives. An offer is controlled by the following variables often referred to as the four Ps in marketing: • Product Promotion • Price • Place [pic] There are many methods that can be used in creating a successful marketing mix. The key is to not always depend on “one” mix but take a combination of several of the above categories. By using a variation of these, one can easily reach multiple consumers within a target market. 1. PRODUCT A product can be a tangible item like soap, shampoo etc. or it can be a service like tourism industry or hotel industry that is provided to a consumer. Under this element, decisions regarding branding, packaging, quality, styling, functionalities etc. re taken. Every product has a life cycle which has a growth phase followed by a decline phase. To retain its consumers and competitiveness with other products, product differentiation is required. This is one of the strategies to differentiate a product from its competitors. 2. PRICE This element includes the pricing strategy used by a company for its products. A pricing strategy is not only about the profits margin. It includes taking decision on financing, discounting, credit terms, list price etc. Consumers are very sensitive to decisions taken in this realm.
While an expensive product is generally assumed to be of a good quality, a cheap product is able to reach the pockets of most of the customers. 3. PROMOTION Promotion is the means of communicating information to the consumers in order to get a positive response from them. Companies can run the same advertising and promotion campaigns used in the home market or change them for each local market. Such decisions are vital because it a consumer forms a perception about the product based on such decisions. Other such decisions can also be for deciding strategies for advertising, sales force, publicity, marketing communications budget etc. 4. PLACE
A place refers to not only the location where a product is launched and is available for purchase, but also all those activities performed by the company to ensure availability to the consumer. For instance a company may choose a physical store as its distribution channel if the product is for rural sector or a virtual store on the internet if the product is for the urban sector. In short, a decision for such an element can be based on strategies for distribution channels, inventory management, warehousing, order processing, transportation and reverse logistics. 2. IPL: Introduction Indian Premier League is a Twenty20 cricket league in India.
Started in 2008 by Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), IPL has completed its 4 seasons and has been extremely successful. BCCI Vice President, Chirayu Amin currently serves as IPL’s Chairman and Commissioner. The league started in 2008 with eight teams: Chennai Super Kings, Mumbai Indians, Royal Challengers Bangalore, Kolkata Knight Riders, Delhi Daredevils, Deccan Chargers, Kings XI Punjab, and Rajasthan Royals. The league followed a two-way round robin system where every team played every other team both at home and away. The top four ranking sides progressed to the knockout round of semi-finals followed by a final.
Season 4 introduced two new teams: Pune Warriors India and Kochi Tuskers Kerala. To reduce the total number of matches from 94 (with earlier format), the league’s format was slightly modified where each team played 5 other teams in a two-way round robin system and played with 2 teams only at home and with remaining 2 teams, they played only away matches. [pic] 1. Rules of IPL In order to promote local talent and to avoid overshadowing by International players, IPL defined some rules for team composition: • No more than 10 foreign players in the squad A maximum of 4 foreign players in the playing eleven • Minimum of 8 local players in squad and a minimum of 4 local players in the playing eleven • 2 Under-22 players in the playing eleven 2. Franchisee Owners IPL teams are owned by some of the biggest names in business world and Bollywood. At the inception of IPL in 2008, Mukesh Ambani became the owner of Mumbai Indians for $111. 9 million. Vijay Mallya, won the bid for Bangalore Team for $111. 6 million. Shahrukh Khan partnered with Juhi Chawla and Jay Mehta made the winning bid for Kolkata team for $75. 9 million. Preity Zinta and Ness Waida got Mohali Team by making a bid of $76m. Among others, Deccan Chronicle bagged Hyderabad Team ($107. 01m), GMR Infra bid successfully for Delhi Team ($84m), India Cements and Emerging Media won the bid for Chennai ($91m) and Jaipur team ($67m) respectively. The two new teams introduced in 2010 saw a huge increase in both the base price and the bid amounts. Sahara Adventure Sports Group bought Pune team for $370m and Kochi team was finally bought by Rendezvous Sports for $333. 3m. 3. Season Winners Season |Winner |Runners-Up |# Teams | |2008 |Rajasthan Royals |Chennai Super Kings |8 | |2009 |Deccan Chargers |Royal Challengers Bangalore |8 | |2010 |Chennai Super Kings |Mumbai Indians |8 | |2011 |Chennai Super Kings |Royal Challengers Bangalore |10 | 2. Objective The primary objective of this project is to study the effectiveness of marketing strategies adopted by Indian Premier League over the years on the popularity. Since its inception in 2008, IPL has brought about a revolution in Indian Cricket largely owing to its marketing strategies like team biddings, expensive player auctions, billion dollar media and telecast rights, cheerleaders, 2. 5 min timeout between matches etc. There have also been some controversies as a result of these strategies but it hasn’t much affected IPL’s popularity. The project will thus include the following aspects: To study the perception of spectators towards the format followed by IPL (T20 format, League fixtures, No. of matches, Rules etc ). ? To know about viewer’s preference towards different viewing media like multiplexes, you tube, mobile score updates etc. based on gender, age and income level. ? To find out the public response towards various promotional activities like media covered auctions, advertisements, player transfers, involvement of Bollywood stars, opening and closing ceremonies etc. ? To determine the effect of pricing of tickets on viewership in multiplexes and stadiums. 3. Purpose Cricket has always been followed as a religion in India.
The faith in this religion has grown stronger over the recent years and IPL has played a significant contribution to it. IPL has become a household name today. Right from auctioning of players to the opening and closing ceremony, from watching matches on TV sets to going to stadium for live experience, the frenzy of IPL can be felt everywhere. Also, it gives a platform to younger players to compete with international stars and learn from them. The success of all this depends on how popular the IPL becomes in India and abroad. Hence, the main purpose of the project would be: ? Analyzing the impact of different marketing strategies and determine which strategy has had a positive impact on popularity. To find out ways in which IPL’s popularity can be maintained and increased further. 4. Significance a) IPL has grown tremendously till now and has the potential to grow further. The Indian Premier League has a huge potential to grow bigger, better and richer. In 2010, IPL’s third year since inception, a U. K. based consultancy firm had carried out a brand valuation for Indian Premier League and pegged it above $4 billion. If we compare this to the brand value of English Premier League, which is valued at $12 billion, we can see how fast the IPL juggernaut has grown. This tremendous growth, in just the initial few years, shows the amount of potential IPL has to continue the growth pattern. b) Making IPL a global event
To take IPL to the next level, we need to see which of the marketing strategies it has adopted have been the most effective and which ones have not. For instance, in 2010, IPL became the first ever sporting event to be telecasted on YouTube. IPL also saw a tremendous increase in the popularity in UK, as the telecast rights were moved from subscription based channels to free-to-air channels. All this has been a result of the success of the marketing strategies it has adopted till now. Taking IPL to the next level will require them to keep on developing innovative ways of marketing their product, continuing with the successful ones and dropping the ones which have not proven their effectiveness. 5. Justification • IPL is a huge industry IPL’s brand value is estimated to be grown from $2. 1 billion in 2009 to $4. 13 billion[1] in 2011. If IPL continues this growth rate, it can surpass English Premier League in terms of brand value in a few years. Also, according to Annual Review of Global Sports Salaries[2], IPL is the second highest paid league, next only to NBA. Average salary of an IPL player over a year is estimated to be around $3. 84 million. • Innovative marketing strategies IPL has introduced some very innovative marketing strategies which have become extremely popular. For instance the introduction of the concept of using you tube as a platform for watching IPL matches online became highly popular during the fourth season of IPL.
Other sporting events have now started considering this as a viable option of promoting their events. Taking cricket to multiplexes was first done by IPL. Going to stadiums became popular because people could now watch their favorite cricket players live at convenient prices. IPL also came up with very innovative advertisements like mannu ranjan ka baap, Bharat Bandh etc. • From cricket to entertainment Not only outside cricket, but within the cricket game, IPL has introduced novel ideas. It has completely revolutionized the concept of cricketing league. It has changed the face of cricket from sports to entertainment and to do this, it has adopted very innovative ideas.
For example, the concept of strategic timeouts in the match, the introduction of cheerleaders to cheer their respective teams, the presence of a DJ in the stadium etc are some of the few new ones that IPl has introduced. 6. Flow of Project 2. SWOT Analysis [pic] 1. Strengths • Cricket is immensely popular in India: Cricket is followed as a religion in our country. This fact is evident from the response World Cup 2011 and IPL Season 4 has got. The IPL ‘Bharat Bandh’ highlighted the same point and got a good response. • Exciting, Fast-Paced Version of Cricket: Twenty20 form of cricket keeps the audience alive and hooked to their TV screens.
Also, since it’s a 4-hr game, people can easily take out time to go to stadium to see the match live. This generates revenue for both the franchise owners and the BCCI. Also, since Bollywood avoids the IPL window to release any new movie, IPL cashed in on this point by tying up with multiplexes to show live matches at the big screen. • High Profile players: Players of almost all major cricket playing nations are already a part of IPL. These players keep the audience interest intact. • Huge Investments: IPL has seen incredible amount of investments since its advent. Some of the biggest business icons and Bollywood stars have invested large sums of money to buy the teams.
For the 2008 season, the base price was $400 million but the auction fetched $723 million. • Fastest Growing Sports League: As discussed IPL is the fastest growing cricket league and its net worth has grown more than 2 times in the last 3 years. • Big presence in small cities: Promoting local talent has led to increase in popularity in small towns. Yusuf Pathan is one such cricket icon who came from Baroda and is very popular in that city. 2. Weaknesses • Large number of league matches: The 2-way round robin format makes the schedule for IPL to be spread out over two months. It becomes mundane for the viewers to keep following it day after day which leads to a saturation point. This may hurt the viewership of IPL. You tube still not an accepted media: Because of low penetration of internet in India, you tube is still not an accepted means of watching cricket. • Very aggressive ad campaigns: Too many ads on TV sometimes put the viewers off and can have a negative impact on the popularity. For instance, now there are sometimes 3 advertisements squeezed in between the over breaks. There is less cricket and more ads now. • Limited coverage on Radio: The various channels on radio announce only the scores of the match and not the commentary of the entire match. 3. Opportunities • Reserved Window for IPL: International Cricket Council (ICC) is considering the option of a reserved window for IPL.
If implemented, this can give a huge boost to IPL’s popularity as this will ensure that international players don’t have to choose between their home teams and IPL and thus can be available for the entire league. • Increasing internet penetration: Since IPL is now on You Tube, if the internet penetration in India increases, it can prove to be a boon for IPL. With just 7% internet penetration till 2010 and TRAI planning to increase this figure to 15%, it can provide a huge opportunity for IPL to grow bigger. • Increasing popularity among females: Cricket has not been as popular among females as it has been among males. Since IPL has been better received by women as compared to other versions of cricket, tapping this segment of the market can further increase the popularity of IPL. 4. Threats Other ICC Events: As IPL has not got any reserved window, the schedule for IPL sometimes overlaps the schedule of other International matches. More often than not, players choose to go for their national team assignments. This causes a significant loss to IPL as well as the teams. • Other Emerging Sports League: Following IPL, a number of sports league are emerging across the globe. These leagues may compete with IPL at some time in future. • Controversies: IPL and teams have already witnessed a number of controversies related to tax evasion, racism, cheerleaders etc. This has placed IPL under the scanner of media and govt. agencies. • Frequent injuries: Injuries to high profile players can prove detrimental to the popularity of the particular team and the IPL on the whole.
For example Virender Sehwag’s exit from the Delhi Daredevils team in the middle of IPL due to injury in the fourth season must have affected the popularity among fans. • Terrorism: Today, terrorism is as big a threat to IPL as it is to our country. It can immensely affect the popularity of cricket among fans going to stadiums for watching a match of their favourite team. 3. Marketing Strategy followed by IPL: Literature Review 3. 1 Product: Before the IPL era began, cricket was beginning to lose its charm among the young people. People were starting to feel ODI as a bit staid and long and test match as extremely slow. IPL gauged that in today’s busy world, it’s not possible for most of the people to spend an entire day in front of the television or in stadium.
IPL wanted to cater to the needs of such people by shortening the length of the game and making it more exciting. T20 format was already there. IPL combined the T20 format with the model of clubs (used in EPL) and changed the perspective from a twenty over cricket match to 3. 5 to 4 hrs of entertainment. IPL moved beyond the concept of goods and services and offered an experience to the viewers[3]. There have been various researches[4] which show that women and men have different preferences as spectators from the sports. While the earlier versions of cricket (ODI and test) were enjoyed by men, women did not find it very appealing. IPL, because of its entertainment quotient was received almost equally well by the women also especially house wives.
The organizer’s revenue from sale of tickets, broadcast rights, merchandize etc all depend on the number of spectators that are attracted to the league. The rules are made so as to keep the contest close so that audience doesn’t lose interest. Since the spectators also want the star players to excel, organizers generally manage a tradeoff between rules that ensure the closeness of game against those allowing superstars to excel[5]. IPL managed this trade-off by putting a cap on the number of foreign players in the team as well as playing eleven and also a salary cap, that is, a maximum amount of money that teams can spend for bidding of players.
IPL uses a double round robin scheduling method with home-away concept such that every team plays twice with every other team, once at their home ground and once at the other team’s home ground. The schedule is created subject to various constraints[6] such as minimizing Cost/travel time, minimizing number of breaks, balancing opponents’ strength etc 3. 2 Promotion : The adrenalin rush inherent in T20 format of cricket was further enhanced by introducing glamour factor in the form of cheerleaders, Bollywood stars, after match parties, and a hint of CSR – giving a platform to small town players to show their talent. Because of its innovative marketing strategies, IPL was ranked 22nd in a list of most innovative companies ahead of giants like Samsung and Microsoft[7].
In line with Holt’s (1995) framework, Bourgeon and Bouchet, 2001 identified four types of spectators: opportunist, aesthete, supporter, interactive. IPL tried to attract all these types of spectators by using different strategies (refer table 1 in Appendix B). IPL’s success can be attributed to following innovative marketing strategies used: • Promotional campaigns like Manoranjan ka Baap, Bharat Bandh etc. • Extensive use of social media like facebook, twitter, Cricfanclub, Wikipedia etc • Screening of IPL matches in multiplex/sports bar etc • Strategic Timeout • Introducing the concept of DJs in stadium • First sports league to be on youtube On-Field Interviews of players and support staff • Star studded opening and closing ceremony • Media covered player auctions • Campaigns promoting regional connect with the teams • Implementing VJD system, developed by Mr. Jayadevan, a resident of Kerala instead of D/L method 3. 3 Place: IPL made sure that its audience is not restricted to TV as a viewing medium. IPL brought back the concept of watching matches in stadiums and cheering loudly for your favorite teams. “IPL is such a brilliant idea; it’s got back the fun of watching a match in stadium. It’s brought back the party feeling we used to have when watching these things”[8].
Telecast rights for IPL were moved from subscription based channels to free-to-air channels to ensure a wider reach. IPL ensured that accessibility to every individual by employing various unconventional viewing media like: • Multiplexes • Sports Bar • YouTube • Mobile Score Updates 3. 4 Price: IPL offered the stadium tickets in prices ranging from 300 Rs to 5000 Rs, to ensure that it caters to the need of both masses and the classes. The match timings were kept keeping in view the working hours of the office going people, so as to reduce their non-monetary cost. Multiplexes kept the ticket prices same as that for movies to ensure people do not turn down big screen as a medium for watching IPL matches. 4. Hypothesis
The primary objective of the proposed work is to study the effectiveness of marketing strategies adopted by Indian Premier League over the years on the popularity. The following hypothesis has been developed around the 4 Ps of marketing mix. Place H01: Due to ease of availability and wide array of options for access through other media, we assume there is widespread usage of media other than television to watch IPL matches. We assume more than 60% of the people have used at least one medium other than television (including score updates) for watching IPL matches Product H02: IPL is pitched as an entertainment as opposed to a strictly cricketing event.
We want to test if cricket is still the main draw for people towards IPL or people are attracted by other factors like cheerleaders, celebrity appearances, on-field interviews etc. We assume less than 30% are attracted towards IPL only because of the cricket and allied factors (high-scoring game, short-span and international players). H03: IPL Season 4 saw the introduction of two new teams: Pune and Kochi. We assume that there are more people who believe that inclusion of two new teams has made IPL more interesting than those who find it less interesting. Promotion H04: This year there was a lot of promotion showcasing the youtube viewing of IPL matches for free. We will test the effectiveness of this test campaign by testing the level of awareness of youtube as a medium.
We assume majority of people are aware of youtube as a viewing medium. H05: IPL is known for memorable, innovative and attention catching ad campaigns like Bharat Bandh, Manoranjan ka Baap etc. So, we assume that 80% of the people remember at least one of the ad campaigns. Price H06: Due to the various income groups and perspectives of spectators, we assume it’s equally likely that a spectator chosen at random will find the tickets over-priced, correctly-priced and under-priced. 5. Questionnaire As we are studying the marketing strategies of IPL, all the questions in the survey have been formulated keeping in mind the 4 P’s of marketing (Please refer Appendix C for the questionnaire).
By the outcome of the survey, we will try to analyse the effectiveness of the strategies adopted by IPL. A few initial questions have been placed to understand the demographics and will be used to analyse the data across different age, gender, income groups etc. Starting from the 1st P the Product we see that the IPL is a unique product different from the other formats of international cricket. As T-20 format is very new the acceptability of such a product is very important and the market perception of such a product has been tried to gauze by questions which show the number of people who follow cricket but do not watch IPL. The viewers’ response towards introduction of ew teams to the 3 year old IPL has also been analysed by a direct question. The 2nd P of Price is a very important parameter as the Indian markets are very price sensitive. The acceptability of the matches and the attendance has direct relation with the match ticket prices. A direct question has been asked related to the price factor which sees if the prices being charged are appropriate. A good example of this is the revision of ticket prices in the fourth edition of IPL by Kolkata Knight Riders after a dismal turnout in the initial matches. The 3rd P of Place is perhaps an integral part of the IPL marketing strategy and as such a host of questions has been asked in this regard.
As IPL matches can be seen in a stadium or at home or at a multiplex or even through live streaming on youtube it is very important to note the split of people watching the matches through these different media. Through questions like the type of media preferred we are actually trying to analyse the media which will be more acceptable and must be given more focus. Another important parameter is whether the matches are being watched live or as a repeat telecast and in some cases both. Further by a few back to back questions the present market for multiplex viewing and stadium viewers are been measured. The 4th and the most important P of Promotion is what will take IPL to the level of the sports leagues such as EPL.
As there are various ways through which IPL is being promoted different mediums needs to be analysed and their effectiveness be monitored. Furthermore, the acceptability of different matches, awareness about youtube as a viewing medium, regional loyalty and the rule of cap on foreign players have been analysed through different questions. This has been followed by a general question on the promotion followed by the effect of controversies on the brand IPL. Data Collection: Methods The survey would be extensively quantitative in nature with a standard questionnaire for all people. We’re expecting to collect at least 500 responses with about 300 responses from the young people and rest of them from kids and middle-age people. The methods of data collection will include Computerized questionnaire administration • Paper-and-pencil questionnaire administration • Face-to-face questionnaire administration 6. Data Analysis/Interpretation 1. How regularly do you follow cricket? [pic] Figure 1: Cricket following The survey results show that a major part of the sample follows cricket regularly indicating the fact that cricket is extremely popular in India. A very small part of the population does not follow cricket at all. 2. How regularly do you follow IPL? [pic] Figure 2: IPL following From the results that we have, we infer that a significant percentage of the people who took the survey are regular followers of IPL.
But, compared to the number of people who follow cricket, this number is a bit lesser. This means that there are people who do watch cricket but do not follow IPL regularly. [pic] Figure 2. 1: Cricket vs IPL following 3. Are you looking forward to IPL-5? [pic] Figure 3: People waiting for IPL 5 A majority of the people who answered this question were looking forward to the next season of IPL. From this result, we infer that 55% is quite a significant number as the tournament is still months away and the perception of the rest of the population may change depending on the marketing strategies employed which can further this percentage value. 4.
Which of the IPL marketing campaigns you liked most/remember? The option ‘None of these’ was chosen by just 16. 8% of the people who took the survey. This means, a significant part of the population (83. 2%) remembers the ad campaigns used by IPL in its four seasons. Thus, we cannot reject the hypothesis H05 – “80% of the people remember at least one ad campaign”. As indicated by the survey, “IPL on toh Bharat Bandh” ad campaign was the most remembered or liked one, which means one or more of the following things for the strategies employed for advertisements for season 4 1) The ads in season 4 were more creative and innovative than other seasons. ) There was a higher viewership for the corresponding season. 3) Being the latest season, people might have recalled the latest ads more than the previous ones. [pic] Figure 4: Remembering of ad campaigns by people 5. How many IPL matches do you watch? [pic] Figure 5: Matches preferred by people The results from the survey indicated that more people were inclined towards watching big matches of IPL rather than following matches of their favourite teams and very few chose the option ‘Only on Weekends/Holidays’. We infer from this result that timing of the matches had a lesser effect on the viewership of IPL. 6. If you can’t watch a match live, do you use mobile/internet to get score updates? [pic]
Figure 6: Frequency of use of mobile/internet for score updates Almost two third of the people who took the survey seem to use mobile for score updates sometime or the other. We consider 68% as a significant value and hence, infer from this result that mobile is used often by people for getting score updates of the matches. 7. You watch IPL matches (LIVE, Repeat Telecast, Highlights)? ‘LIVE’ option was the most preferred option chosen by the sample who to took the survey. Since, a small number of people chose the other options, this shows that majority of the population prefers to watch the match live only (since, multiple choices were allowed).
We infer that the marketing strategies must be designed more for LIVE matches rather than highlights and repeat telecasts. [pic] Figure 7: Form of watching IPL matches 8. What media other than television have you used for watching IPL? Only a small percentage of population (9%) either does not watch IPL at all or watches it on only TV. The rest have used at least one or more modes of media to watch IPL. Around 64% of those surveyed have used You-Tube and other online live buffering sites. Thus, we cannot reject our hypothesis H01 that “more than 60% of the people have used at least one medium other than television (including score updates) for watching IPL matches”. [pic]
Figure 8: Viewers using media other than television 9. How do you find the pricing of stadium tickets for IPL matches? [pic] Figure 3: Perception of audience towards stadium ticket prices From the sample that took the survey, 56% of the people perceived tickets to be over priced while 41% believed that they were correctly priced. Only 5% of the population believed the prices were under priced. We reject our hypothesis H06 “it’s equally likely that a spectator chosen at random will find the tickets over-priced, correctly-priced and under-priced” based on the data we have received from this survey. 10. Do you feel associated with IPL team of your region?
From the survey, an equal number of people chose one of the three options from the question. We infer that since two third of the people who took the survey at least feel somewhat associated with their teams, thus, selecting regions for new teams becomes a critical factor from marketing strategy point of view. [pic] Figure 10: Level of association with the regional team 11. Would you like to go watch IPL matches live in a stadium? 69% of the people who took the survey would like to experience watching a live match in stadium. Since, only 30% have been to the stadium, we infer that there is a huge untapped potential which can be lured to the stadiums to watch the matches live. One of the reasons can be that since 56% of the eople believed that the tickets were overpriced, the pricing was a factor contributing to this largely untapped potential which can be beneficial to IPL. [pic] Figure 11: Willingness to go to stadium to watch IPL match 12. Would you like to go watch IPL matches live in a multiplex? [pic] Figure 12: Willingness to go to multiplex to watch IPL match 60% of the people were in the favour of watching a match in a multiplex. This number being a little less than the percentage wanting to go to stadiums, we infer that stadiums are a preferred option for the people. Hence, IPL must first give preference to working on stadiums and then on multiplexes. 13. Are you aware of the fact that you can watch IPL matches live on youtube? [pic]
Figure 13: Percentage of people aware of availability of IPL matches on youtube 85% of the people surveyed were aware of the fact that you-tube could be used as a means of watching the matches live. Hence, we cannot reject the hypothesis H04 “majority of people are aware of YouTube as a viewing medium” 14. IPL puts a cap of 4 foreign players in any team to promote local talent. What’s your opinion on this (Positive/Negative)? [pic] Figure 14: Perception of people towards a cap of foreign players to promote local talent Since, 65% of the sample chose in favour of the cap, we infer that a majority of the population are in favour of promoting the future talent. 15.
What attracts you most to the IPL? [pic] Figure 45: Attraction Factors From the results we see that IPL is popular not only because it is a cricketing tournament, but also because it is of a short span, high scoring games and presence of international players. Almost 50% of the people are attracted because of the cricket and allied factors (high scoring game, short span, international players) which we believe is a significant number but lesser than what we expected. Thus, we reject the hypothesis H02 “less than 30% are attracted towards IPL only because of the cricket and allied factors (high-scoring game, short-span and international players)” 16.
Introduction of 2 new teams in IPL Season 4 has made it more/less interesting? Since, only 20% of the surveyed people believe that introducing two new teams have made IPL more exciting, we infer that having 10 teams overall is the saturation point. The data rejects our hypothesis H03 “there are more people who believe that inclusion of two new teams has made IPL more interesting than those who find it less interesting”. We had based our hypothesis on the assumption that more teams would mean tapping more regions and hence, there would be an increase in interest and popularity. It turns out that this was a wrong assumption. [pic] Figure 5: Effect of increase in number of teams on interest level 17.
With an increase in number of matches in Season 4, do you think IPL has become more/less exciting? More than half the sample who took the survey believes that IPL has become less exciting after increasing the number of matches in season 4. We infer that increasing the number of teams and the number of matches is a big NO for IPL’s marketing strategy. Since, around 53% chose the option “less exciting”, the data further rejects the hypothesis H03. [pic] Figure 6: Effect on increase in number of matches on excitement level 18. What effects do you think controversies revolving around tax evasion, cheerleaders, commercialisation of cricket etc had on IPL as a brand (Positive/Negative)?
More than half the population believes that controversies have a negative effect on the popularity of IPL. Thus, our group infers that IPL should be careful not to get into the controversies since, it as a detrimental effect. [pic] Figure 7: Effect of controversies on the popularity of IPL 7. Conclusions: : 7. 1 Price Since, our survey suggests that majority of people find ticket prices of stadiums as overpriced, we suggest that lowering the prices further would improve the viewership of less important matches. This is based on the premise that students form a major chunk of stadium viewership and their purchasing power is significantly less. One of the ways could be discounting the ticket prices for early booking online. 7. 2 Product
IPL is extremely popular and a majority of the people are looking forward to IPL-5 as indicated by our survey. But, increased number of matches and aging of the concept, the IPL may become less interesting to some. So, to regenerate the interest many suggestions were received in our survey. We list the ones which we believe are going to be effective – • Introduction of the concept of 8 or 10 runs a ball. • Reducing the number of matches and the duration of IPL. • Match timings should be in the evening and post evening. 7. 3 Promotion The ad campaigns have been extremely successful as indicated by our survey where 83% of the sample remembers the ad campaigns adopted by previous seasons.
Since, people are becoming more and more aware of social issues as evident from the recent Anna Hazare movement; we believe IPL can adopt working for social cause as a strategic concept for popularising the league. It will prove to be a win-win situation. 7. 4 Place We see that a significant percentage of people also go for media other than television. Hence, promoting them will prove a boon for promoting IPL. You-tube is one such example. Once a media become quite popular, they can then release aggressive ad campaigns on to further promote the league. Also, since sports bar is becoming extremely popular among youth in our country, special attention must be paid on this trend. 8. Limitations ) We observed from the responses to our survey that our sample consisted mostly of youngsters and since youngsters are generally considered to be the most enthusiast about cricket in India, our sample is a good sample. But, one limitation is that we have not been able to tap some groups which include office goers, house wives and children. 2) IPL is a still a new phenomenon and not a lot of research work as gone into the study on the concept of IPL. Due to the scarcity of research material available, we had to face difficulties while doing our secondary market research. 3) We observed that the sample that took the survey belonged to a high income group which is a limitation in itself. We cannot conclude how IPL and its brand strategy are perceived by low income groups. ) Indian market has been changing dynamically in the past couple of months since the conclusion of IPL. Hence, it is very difficult to suggest with certainty that all our recommendations will definitely prove beneficial to IPL’s marketing strategy. 5) Time was another major constraint as the total time assigned to the project was just around 2-3 months which was quite minimal considering the fact that extensive work had to be covered in conducting the research work on IPL. 6) The focus of our marketing research was mainly around TV-Ads. We did not consider the effects of other mediums of advertisements like newspaper, posters, billboards etc. Thus, this can be counted as a limitation of our research work. ) We had a basic assumption that TV-Ads do not have a negative effect which can again be considered as a limitation of our work. 9. Scope for the future 1) On-field survey –An on field survey can be conducted to further buttress our conclusions as we all know that on-field survey is more effective and can bring out the true perspective of the crowd. 2) Implementation of suggestions – IPL can bring minuscule changes in its marketing strategy as per the improvements suggested by the people in the survey. 3) Advanced problem solving tools – As there is very little market research work done on IPL, this survey and its results can be worked upon and used to get to advanced problem solving tools. ) Working on other sports on the same lines – The success of IPL model will encourage other sports to progress on the same lines and hence, we can bring popular Olympic sports like Shooting, Boxing and Wrestling into our ambit of research work. 5) Further extending this model of study for other products – Our work is based on studying the effects of marketing in making an event more successful or diminishing its popularity. So, this model of study can be extended to any product which can be used to judge the factors affecting its sales. Executive Summary Our research work is based on the study of the effectiveness of the marketing strategies adopted by IPL. The intriguing factors that led to this choice of our research work were numerous.
One of those major factors is IPL being a huge industry today worth $4. 13 billion. But more importantly, the innovative marketing strategies used in converting cricket into entertainment makes it a very interesting research topic to base our research work on. While focusing mainly on the effectiveness of marketing strategies, we also brought study of the perception and preferences of general public about these strategies (based on marketing mix) into our purview of study. Through this study we wish to determine which of the strategies had a positive impact and based on this study, we aim to find out ways in which IPL’s popularity can be maintained.
Our research work was developed mainly around six hypotheses which have been mentioned below: 1. It is equally likely that a spectator chosen at random will find the tickets over-priced, correctly-priced and under-priced. 2. More than 60% of the people have used at least one medium other than television (including score updates) for watching IPL matches. 3. Less than 30% are attracted towards IPL only because of the cricket and allied factors (high-scoring game, short-span and international players). 4. There are more people who believe that inclusion of two new teams has made IPL more interesting than those who find it less interesting. 5. Majority of people are aware of you-tube as a viewing medium. 6. 0% of the people remember at least one of the ad campaigns. We prepared our survey questions keeping in mind these six hypotheses and took an online survey of 260 people. After doing a thorough analysis of the results obtained from our survey we were able to draw conclusions based on the marketing mix. Regarding the price, we concluded that reducing the stadium ticket prices would improve the viewership. IPL as a product is now well established in the minds of general public. Increasing the number of matches will not make it more interesting. IPL is now being perceived as an aging concept. A lot of our survey takers had interesting suggestions.
The most interesting one was the introduction of the concept of 8 or 10 runs a ball. IPL’s advertisement strategy has been extremely successful as per our survey and some of the suggestions directed IPL to link social causes with its name. Even though television still exists as one of the most popular medium of watching IPL, people have started using other means of watching IPL as well. Hence, our suggestion is that IPl should now start focussing on these modes to promote their product. There were some limitations in our work as well. Due to constraint of time we were unable to make office goers, house wives and children a significant part of our survey population.
We also could not bring high income population into our survey. Our focus was on and around TV ads and we couldn’t focus too much on the other mediums of advertisements. We also faced problems finding research data on IPL. Due to these limitations, we believe that we have left enough room for future scope of study. On field survey can also be used to further buttress our survey. We can also further our work by developing advanced problem solving tools. Appendices Appendix A Worldwide Spectator Sports Industry Report: 2011 China: [pic] India: [pic] UK: [pic] US: [pic] Appendix B Table 1: Sport spectator profiles and consumption experiences searched (adapted from Bourgeon & Bouchet, 2001) Spectator profiles |Description |Promotion Strategy Used | |Opportunist |Behaviour expresses relative neutrality with any demonstrative support being forced |Projecting Individual teams | | |by a collective movement, such as a Mexican wave. Participation is linked to the |as brands[9] | | |hope of receiving benefits from positive rewards. | | |Aesthete |Behaviour is oriented towards quality, beauty, exceptional performance, fair play, |Roping in International | | |and the drama and theatrical intensity of the show. |Players | |Supporter |Behaviour is characterised by a degree of support for the players.
Fans want to have|Promoting Regional Connect; | | |the feeling of being co-producers by showing a physical and vocal presence or |Merchandizing | | |superiority. | | |Interactive |Behaviour is oriented towards entertainment and shared emotion in reaction to |Cheerleaders, Extensive Media| | |objects or people’s actions. They react and interact, and project themselves into |Coverage | | |the event, sometimes beyond the sport venues. | | Appendix C Questionnaire 1. Name: 2. Age: Less than 10 o 10-15 o 16-22 o 23-30 o 31-45 o Above 45 3. Gender: 4. Occupation: o Student o Service o Business o Not Working 5. Family Income: o < 3 lacs o 3-7 lacs o 7-12 lac o > 12 lac 6. Do you follow cricket? o Regularly o Frequently o Rarely o Not at all 7. Do you follow IPL? o Regularly o Frequently o Rarely o Not at all 8. Are you looking forward to IPL-5? o Yes o No 9. Which of the following IPL marketing campaigns you liked most/remember: o Manoranjan ka Baap (Mannu-Ranjan ka baap) o 100 Crore Log,1 Saath,1 hi Cheez o Welcome Home o IPL on, toh Bharat Bandh o None of these 10. Which of the following IPL matches do you watch? All matches/as much as possible ? Only of your favourite teams ? Only on Weekends/Holidays ? Only big matches ? I don’t watch IPL matches 11. If you can’t watch a match live, do you use mobile/internet to get score updates? o Yes o No 12. You watch IPL matches ? LIVE ? Repeat Telecast ? Highlights only 13. What media other than television have you used for watching IPL? ? Live in the stadium ? Sports Bar/Multiplex ? Online 14. How do you find the pricing of stadium tickets for IPL matches? o Over-priced o Correctly-priced o Under-priced 15. Do you feel associated with IPL team of your region? o Very Strongly o Strongly o A little o Not at all 16.
Would you like to go watch IPL matches live in a stadium? o Yes o No 17. Would you like to go see IPL matches in a multiplex? o Yes o No 18. Are you aware of the fact that you can watch IPL matches live on youtube? o Yes o No 19. IPL puts a cap of 4 foreign players in any team to promote local talent. What’s your opinion on this? o Highly positive o Positive o Neutral o Negative o Strongly negative 20. What attracts you most to the IPL(tick any 3)? ? Because it’s CRICKET ? Short Span; Just 3. 5 hrs ? High-Scoring Game ? International Players ? Media Covered Auctions ? Bollywood Stars ? Cheerleaders ? Opening and Closing Ceremony ? On-Field Interviews ? DJ in the stadium Advertisement/Promotions 21. Introduction of 2 new teams in IPL Season 4 has made it: o More Interesting o Less Interesting o No Effect 22. With an increase in number of matches in Season 4, do you think IPL has become: o More exciting o Less exciting o No effect 23. What effects do you think controversies revolving around tax evasion, cheerleaders, Modi-Tharoor spat, commercialisation of cricket etc had on IPL as a brand? o Very negative o Somewhat negative o No effect o Somewhat positive o Very Positive 24. Suggestions/Improvements you would like to see in IPL: References Annual Review of Global Sports Salaries, 2010 published by sportingintelligence. om B Joseph Pine and James H Gilmore, 1998, Welcome to the experience economy Bhavin Pandya and Mitesh Jaysawal, 2010, Merchandising Domestic Cricket League Brands: Discernible Way to Keep the Brands Productive and Alive, European Journal of Social Sciences – Volume 14, Number 1 (2010) Bourgeon and Bouchet, 2001 D. Bourgeon and P. Bouchet, La recherche d’experiences dans la consommation du spectacle sportif, Experience seeking in the sporting event consumption, Revue Europeenne de Management du Sport 6 (2001), pp. 1–47 Brand Finance Report, 2010 reports IPL to be valued at $4. 13 billion Business Standard: article titled “IPL: The $2 bn brand”, http://www. business-standard. om/india/news/ipl2-bn-brand/387825/ Dirk Briskorn 2008, Sports Leagues Scheduling Models, Combinatorial Properties, and Optimization Algorithms, Lecture Notes in Economics and Mathematical Systems Volume 603, 2008, DOI: 10. 1007/978-3-540-75518-0 Holt, 1995 D. B. Holt, How consumers consume: A typology of consumption practices, Journal of Consumer Research 22 (1995), pp. 1–16. Full Text via CrossRef IPL was well marketed? http://recordsinajournal. blogspot. com/2011/01/ipl-was-well-marketed. html Indian Premier League, http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Indian_Premier_League R. Madhevan, Actor, IPL Quote-Unquote, NDTV good times Ridinger and Funk, 2006 L. L. Ridinger and D. C.
Funk, Looking at gender differences through the lens of sport spectators, Sport Marketing Quarterly 15 (3) (2006), pp. 155–166 Sargent et al. , 1998 S. L. Sargent, D. Zillmann and J. B. Weaver III, The gender gap in the enjoyment of televised sports, Journal of Sport and Social Issues 22 (1998), pp. 46–64. Full Text via CrossRef | View Record in Scopus | Cited By in Scopus (19) Daniel Joseph Smith and Alexander Fink, Norms in Sports Contests: The Tour de France by Smith and Fink, Journal of Sport Management; 7/14/2011, following p1-33, 35p VJD System, http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/VJD_System Worldwide Spectator Sports Industry Report, 2011, preceding p1-104, 105p, 235 Charts ———————– 1] Brand Finance Report, 2010 [2] Annual Review of Global Sports Salaries, 2010 [3] B Joseph Pine and James H Gilmore, 1998 [4] Sargent, Zillman, and Weaver 1998 and Ridinger and Funk 2006 [5] Smith and Fink 2011 [6] Dirk Briskorn 2008 [7] Business Standard: article titled “IPL: The $2 bn brand” [8] R. Madhevan [9] Bhavin and Mitesh, 2010 ———————– Define the Project: Objective, Purpose, Significance and Justification Conclusion Analysis/Interpretation Data Collection Prepare a Questionnaire Define a hypothesis SWOT Analysis Study the Marketing Strategy of IPL and its associates STRENGTHS – Cricket is immensely popular in India Exciting, Fast-Paced Version. – High Profile Players – Huge Investments – Fastest Growing Sports League – Big presence in small cities. THREATS – Other ICC events so players’ loyalty gets divided – Other emerging cricket leagues – Controversies like money laundering etc. – Frequent Injuries – Terrorism. OPPORTUNITIES – Reserved Window for IPL can give a big boost to IPL’s popularity. – Increasing internet penetration. – Capturing the female segment of the Indian Population. WEAKNESSES – Large number of league matches make tournament long and unexciting. – Too aggressive ad campaigns. – You tube still not an accepted media. – Limited coverage on Radio.