Smart brands have realized the edge experiential has over traditional marketing techniques. Another known fact is that the impact of an experiential activity has the capability of increasing manifold the moment it’s spiked with digital innovation. Brands have indefinite opportunities to innovate in the experiential space and many are trying their hands on revolutionizing old marketing tactics. EE picks some examples of brands who have beautifully married digital with experiential in these notable campaigns: 5. Virtual rail by M&S In the Marks & Spencer store in Amsterdam the brand placed a floor-to-head height screen that was enabled with a touch censor. One could swipe through the catalogue looking for various outfits. Shopping became an easy and fun affair for the buyers with the help of videos being played on the rail. This virtual rail also recommended matches to items that people selected or scanned in the store. 4. Virtual mannequins: We are the future A hi-tech system was installed in a retail store where once a piece of clothing had been taken off the rack, a virtual mannequin appeared on the screen wearing the corresponding piece of garment. This digital system made shopping a less tedious affair for the buyers. Once they removed a hanger from the rail, they could see models in their chosen garments to provide them with an idea of how the apparel would look worn. 3. Adidas Digital Media Campaign: Crash & Collide Crash and Collide digital media campaign with JD sports brought together many interesting opportunities for the consumers to engage with the brand. This experiential campaign integrated with digital media engaged several people to be a part of the activity. Youngsters crowded the store to get clicked and be seen on the live digital window placed in the store. It also gave consumers the chance to win £1000 of merchandise. Launched at 10 places in the United Kingdom, the activity managed to connect directly with the target audience promoting brand messages at the same time. Guests at the event were then motivated to connect with a Facebook app which generated a unique cover photo for them allowing amplification of the activity. 2. HomeShop 18: Scan and Shop live TV shopping channel- HomeShop 18 started India’s first virtual mobile aided shopping experience at Terminal 3 of New Delhi’s IGI Airport. This cutting edge technology of creating a virtual wall ‘Scan and Shop’ offered premium merchandise to its customers. Once introduced by Tesco, it is interesting to watch an Indian brand participating in the same league. The digital wall displayed a large range of products, clothing, fashion jewellery, electronics, mobiles, tablets, accessories, perfumes etc. Scan N Shop helped users to order merchandise by scanning the QR code displayed against each item. HomeShop18 also enabled the easy cash on delivery payment method followed with mobile payments subsequently. This had let the tech savvy and smart phone users experience an innovative method of shopping. 1. Coca Cola’s ‘Small World Machine’ Coca Cola has always been a trailblazing experiential marketer and they continue to do so. Through its online video campaign called “Small World Machine”, it managed to connect people across borders. This initiative helped in linking India and Pakistan through a live communication portal. Two camera equipped coke vending machines were set up in Lahore and Delhi each. The brand used 3D touchscreen technology to project a video on the screen of the vending machine, simultaneously filming a live emotional exchange through the unit. This move enabled people in India and Pakistan to exchange gestures like shake hands, draw peace and happiness symbols etc. This marketing strategy helped people to improve the already strained ties between the two nations. It helped people emotionally connect with each other and experience the cutting-edge technology and enjoy the drink at the same time.
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www.LIVSports.in, the official Mobile and Internet broadcaster of the 2014 FIFA World Cup registered a record number of downloads and Live match views between 13th June and 13th July 2014. The Sports Entertainment digital destination attracted over 20 Mn page views in the last month. Viewers spent on an average of 28 min watching the Live streaming of the matches across online, mobile and the tablet LIV Sports application. Nitesh Kripalani, Executive Vice-President – New Media, Business Development and Digital/Syndication at Sony Entertainment Network, said, “The 2014 FIFA World Cup digital viewership is a gratifying proof of LIV Sports’ success since its launch a little over a month ago. Our goal was to redefine the way sports content is viewed and consumed in India via a new category – “Sportainment”. We are glad to see that Sports fans have engaged with LIV Sports.” The top 3 matches, by time spent were – FINALS – Argentina vs. Germany – 48 mins Semi-finals – Netherlands vs. Argentina – 42 mins Quarter finals – Netherlands vs. Costa Rica – 41 mins Of the total traction observed on LIV Sports, the maximum percentage of unique views came from the six metros (53%) with Mumbai and Delhi in the lead (13% each), followed by Bengaluru (10%). 83% of the total viewers in the country were within the age bracket of 18-34 years. The 2014 FIFA World Cup on LIV Sports also attracted 25% female viewers; engagements like the Predictor, “Mohit Bana Messi – Jerseyfy Me” and “Pehchaan Kaun” helped achieve this. LIV Sports also registered phenomenal numbers in terms of Social presence. The Blogger outreach programme enabled a reach of over 2.85 Mn.
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As humans, we all look for categorizations. They make our lives easier and more manageable.Therefore, it’s only natural that we at EE, after careful scrutiny, bring to you the list of Top 10 Experiential agencies in India today. For marketers and newbies in the experiential world, this list provides the top 10 agencies in India that have made their mark and given an excellent show as far as experiential is concerned. Keeping in mind the scalability factor, the brilliance in innovation, and the management of the audience, we have compiled a list of top 10 agencies. And the winners are – 1. Wizcraft Established in 1988, this agency is responsible for all the magic behind the IIFA Weekend and Awards, Green Globe Foundation Awards, Global Indian Music Academy Awards and the Film & TV Producers. Some of the prestigious projects led by Wizcraft most recently include the Opening and Closing ceremonies of the Commonwealth Games in New Delhi, the ICC World Cup’s Opening ceremony in Dhaka, the Oman Tattoo and the celebration of 150 years of India-South Africa friendship. 2. Percept Founded in 1984, Percept Limited, they are responsible for some of the biggest shows such as Sunburn (with over 1,00,000 attendees), Bollyboom, Filmfare, Ad Films, Feature films, Fight Night, GOD, Champions of the world, Windsong, and the list goes on. Celebrating 30 years of excellence, they provide creative services, media services, digital and mobile services and and also have a vertical that handles sports and entertainment for their clients. 3. LIVE Viacom 18 LIVE Viacom18 is a subdivision under Integrated Network Solutions (INS) whose mandate is to create LIVE IP’s in the Music & Entertainment space. They are the ones responsible for creating MTV Xtreme, the Comedy Central Chuckle festival, Supersonic, MTV Bollyland, Nickelodeon KCA India, etc. 4. Only Much Louder The guys behind the multi-city, multi-day Bacardi NH7, A Summer’s Day, The Scene, NH7 Smash Up, and NH7 Shake Down, MTV Bring On The Night, and producing the Cannes Lion-winning show – The Dewarists, OML has made their mark in the events industry. 5. Fountainhead Having commenced operations in 1995, Fountainhead has worked with top global brands like MTV, Philips, Hutchison Max Telecom, Procter & Gamble, Pepsi and solid domestic brands like Tata, Blue Star, Aditya Birla Group and Bennett Coleman. They have also handled international acts such as Akon, 50 Cent, INXS, Spyrogyra, Buddy Guy and have created very successful music festivals like The One Tree Music Festival and The Mahindra Blues Festival. 6. DNA Networks A name synonymous with Entertainment in Sports, DNA Networks are the big guys behind events such as IPL, ICC Cricket World Cup Tour, ICC World Twenty20, Champions League, Athens Olympic Torch Relay. Besides sports they have also a number of music festivals such as Sound Awake, Rock’N India (an international annual music festival) and it prides itself on being the only events company in India to have produced live concerts with Music Greats such as Sting, Roger Waters, Lionel Richie, Iron Maiden, Katy Perry, Bryan Adams, Shakira, Aerosmith, etc. 7. 70 EMG Established over a decade ago, 70EMG, they are the curators behind festivals like the India Bike Week – a first of its kind biking festival in India, and the The Kala Ghoda Arts Festival in Mumbai since 2002 with over 6,50,000 visitors each year, the AAAI Goa Festival, South Asia’s answer to the Cannes Lions Advertising Festival – since 2007, the Nokia IndiaFest with over 12,000 visitors and the GJEPC India International Jewelry Week (over 800 exhibitors & 50,000 business visitors) amongst many others. 8. Encompass Events Having been in the industry for over 15 years and having more than 10000 projects in their pockets, Encompass events are the brains behind the award winning campaigns such as the P&G Thank You Mom mall activation, Gillette Shave For The Soldier campaign and the world launch of Toyota, Etios, People’s Gateway Movement, Mercedes Benz-Star Drive, etc. 9. DDB Mudra Max Founded in 1980, DDB Mudra Max has dabbled in experiential in a way that it successfully executed the 46 day long Grand Kerala Shopping Festival with the Government of Kerala, grabbed the South African Tourism OOH duties, IAA Olive Crown, and many more such properties along with handling experiential campaigns for a number of corporates such as Volkswagen. 10. Showtime Group Having been in the industry for over 30 years now, the Showtime Group has successfully executed events such as the BMW 3 Series launch, BMW Xperience, BMW 6 Series Gran Coupe Launch, DLF Mall of India launch, Swiss Unlimited launch, the Finacle Conclave, Hero Insolito, Jodhpur One World Retreat, MINI Countryman launch, Starbucks launch, etc.
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From a basic ‘tent wala’ till about a decade ago, the event industry has since witnessed a paradigm shift in customers’ minds and brands’ minds as well. Over a period of time it has transformed into a large and innovative platform. Feeding this demand for innovation are some great ideas let afloat ever so frequently. Here’s a closer look at five remarkable event start-ups of this year. Ola Cabs: Available in five cities at the moment, Ola cabs promises to expand to at least 10 more by the end of next year. It is always a delight to have a fleet of cars available at one’s ease after and before an event. An initiative by Bhavish Agrawal was born with the idea that it would be asset-lite and tech-intensive for its users. Only a free downloadable app or a phone call is what connected the customers to the service. They could also monitor their cabs via GPS. Another added feature, Heat maps enabled the company to track where their cabs are. Eat in my Seat: A simple yet great start up ‘Eat In My Seat’ provides a mobile application that enables users to browse the menu at the venue and order directly from their smartphones. It allows its users to pay within the app and choose to either collect the order or get it delivered. As soon as the order gets ready push notifications let users know that they can come and collect. This initiative is a fantastic way to save time as it rescues you from waiting in long queues. Crowd Mics: Crowd Mics has created a buzz in the event industry. The idea behind the start-up is quite simple yet engaging. It allows the attendees to download an app which turns their smartphones into a mic. The speaker can then plug his/her smart phone to the audio system and enjoy the technology. It came across as a powerful concept and a crowd engaging one. Floh.in: Finding the right match has always been a challenging deed and for young professionals its all the more tough. Floh is a platform that brings single people together at events with the objective of meeting like-minded people to build healthy connections. It enables members to have real, in person interactions at events and is mainly focused towards urban, educated and independent singles. More recently Floh has started allowing a selected number of people who apply for the service, an entrance fee of Rs. 7,500 for three months or Rs 15,000 for the whole year. This gives its users a chance to attend events in the company of compatible singles. CrowdCan.do: A U.K. based platform called CrowdCan.do utilizes crowd funding technology to eliminate the financial risk of conducting an event by allowing organisers to sell tickets in advance in order to raise funds. It makes work even simpler by allowing the organisers to download a free Android or iOS app that enables them to manage, scan and authorize tickets.This is a great opportunity for those starting out in the event industry as it enables them to test the idea before exposing themselves to the financial risks involved.
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1 As per industry reports, the shelf life of ATL campaigns have decreased from 6-8 months, coming down to 2 months. This makes it important for the marketer to create more engaging marketing strategies, which create a greater recall. 2. BTL activities ensure greater interface with the consumers and instant feedback. This gives rise to immediate ROI and on-the-spot sales, or immense recall value. 3. BTL is becoming a strong focus area for retailers. Catchment initiatives are seen as an integral part across retail segments, especially since the growth of modern and multi-brand retail. In order to combat declining walk-ins, store managements are resorting to deeper brainstorming sessions to evolve creative catchment engagement initiatives. This is sought to be linked to store managers’ KRAs. The organised sector of the Indian events and activation industry is estimated at around Rs 2,800 crore in 2011-12. 4. The segmentation between organised and unorganised players stands at a 40:60 ratio. 5. The BTL industry has grown at over 20 per cent during the last two years and is expected to grow to Rs 4,375 crore by 2013-14. 6. Spends dedicated to below-the-line activations are poised to increase by 20 per cent more in 2013-14. 7. The relationship between events and technology is emerging. Brands are deploying social media technology as well as unique tech-engagement on-site to create an integrated campaign. 8. Food brands, and other FMCG products, which fall under the impulse purchase category are dedicating more than 60 per cent of their marketing spend to BTL activations. 9. The electronics industry is investing majorly in in-store activations. The budgets of major electronics brands have upped 20 – 30 per cent between 2012-13. Since, the final brand choice for a customer depends upon how a specific model is demonstrated and explained to him at the point of sale, this BTL activity acquires most importance as a high percentage of electronics is sold via the multi brand channel. 10. The auto industry in India is very forthcoming and experimentative when it comes to BTL activations. This industry spends heavily on activation formats like road shows.
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Social media can undoubtedly play a massive role in creating buzz around an event. It is increasingly being perceived as a vital medium when it comes to drawing attendance to an event, engaging the attendees during it and also to populate the content generated at it. However, simply providing attendees with a few social platforms may not be enough. The term ‘experiential marketing’ calls for an enriching and personalized experience. Therefore, to establish strong connections with the audience it is imperative to encourage deeper engagement. Here are 7 tips to ensure you are sharp as a tack when hosting your next event: Target a Relevant Audience “When targeting a specific audience, social media helps a great deal in allowing psychographic filtering”, says Pratik Gupta of Foxymoron. He adds, For example, when a company like Maybelline is segmenting its audience it knows it shares its consumers with Forever 21, Revlon etc. Through the use of social media it becomes easier to subset audiences”. Social media can also be integrated with registration to share the names of people attending and in turn lead to the involvement of many more. #Hashtags Always present the audience with a hashtag to get an early start to creating buzz. For example- to celebrate the 30th anniversary of their G-Shock range, Casio released a specific hashtag weeks in advance before a celebratory event. Attendees and non-attendees were encouraged to use the hashtag to upload photos of their Casio watches on Instagram. 3000 photos were generated which were displayed on a live-feed throughout the venue. Similarly Twitter profiles can be created for the speakers (if any) so the audience can get early access to them. Keeping the hashtag central will ensure content is not lost and audience remains engaged. Interesting Content People like to read, share and comment on interesting things. Make that available to your audience. Foxymoron executed a viral campaign integrating social media and on ground activity for launch of Maybelline’s SuperStay lipstick using a hashtag on Twitter- #DoesntLastLongEnough. Maybelline fans were encouraged to share their thoughts on what they wished ‘lasts as long as she does.’ The result was a high amount of cheeky content created by women across the country. ‘I have to do it again and again because #DoesntLastLongEnough’ and ‘I do at work because #DoesntLastLongEnough’ were some of the tweets. The topic trended #1 for 14+ hours in India and was discussed by Maybelline’s 1.7 million Facebook and 1500+ Twitter followers. Build a Community In the digital age, people are no longer willing to wait around. Ensure all questions and comments are responded to very swiftly. Act in charge before the onset of the event and remain in charge till the event is executed. Offer prizes to the most interactive and engaged attendees. Offer something extra for engaging on social media. It could be anything from a free book at a book launch, to a copy of an industry report, to free registration for a subsequent event etc. Social Media for a Social Cause There is a feel good factor in doing the right thing or contributing to a social cause. Tap that emotion through social media where applicable. Pratik Gupta, Foxymoron, states, “For Garnier Men’s ‘Powerlight A Village’ campaign last year, the audience on Facebook was encouraged to actively like, share and comment. Each activity contributed as a predetermined unit of energy which was eventually translated into actual ‘energy donation’ to bring electricity into remote villages of India”. The scale of the social cause may of course vary from event to event but there’s always a chance that the media might pick it up. Promotional/Recap Videos Teaser videos are a great way to capture the interest of a possible audience. Snippets of what the event has to offer, views of the speakers, subjects of discussions etc can be released before the event to entice the audience. Once the event concludes, highlights can be merged into a video and made available to a global audience through Youtube. Tireless Engagement Keep the community engaged for as long as you can. Share blog posts and write presentations that can be viewed on your own platform/website. Besides tying social network outposts together, a solid homebase can lead to even stronger engagement on the home site.
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So here’s a situation that almost every marketer and event organizer has faced a couple of times in his life. There’s a marketer, who is approached by A, B and C event management companies that pitch their respective ideas. The marketer likes the idea pitched by C, but gives the contract to A. When the event is carried out, C finds out that the idea used was theirs but the contract was instead given to the cheaper alternative – A. Is it fair? Who is to blame? Can C do anything except feel bad about it? In an attempt to provide the solution, EE gets industry experts to answer. “The practice is highly unethical and I, being a marketer, definitely make it a point not to do it,” says Sudeep Narayan, Marketing and PR Director, Volvo. “You will not find even one example in all my working life where I have been a part of such practice. But that’s about me; however, there are marketers who have been criticized for taking someone else’s idea and giving it to the cheaper alternative. But are marketers really to blame? This responsibility rests on event organizers that approach companies with their sales pitch. The problem is when there is any event company that approaches the client, there is no signed document that states this is the idea that was presented, so no one can prove that the idea was originated from xyz company. They should be very clear. They should have a signed doc with the client, not to use this idea without their knowledge. If they use the idea then they need to give a consultancy fee for the idea,” advises Sudeep. “Very point blank openly, the event companies just please clients. Now most of them don’t have their own fabrication in it. Let’s take the example of an international standard car display. I could be charged 4 lac or even 8 lac. It’s very simple. You look at the example of how a farmer sells a potato. He may be selling it for 5 directly from his farm, but you buy it for 20kg a kilo. Who is an experiential company? Someone who sees through the idea. They generate, execute and run the show. However, most event companies are self proclaimed. Most of them don’t have fabrication. They are just consultants – Not event companies. That cartel in India is very weak,” divulges Sudeep. “If you give honest cost with a brilliant idea, the client will not go anywhere. The assumption is that the client doesn’t know anything. There could be no real cost for the idea, agreed. But if the cost is for fabrication – ask them for the balance sheet,” says Sudeep. That was a marketer point of view. But what does an event organizer have to say when he sees his idea being brought to life by a competitor? “The key to this kind of situation is the client-agency relationship. With most of our clients we have such a strong relationship that such incidents do not happen. Nevertheless, with certain new business pitches, we have had a few experiences with clients where our ideas and concepts have been used by clients with other agencies. Legally, there is very little one can do. Often the companies that do this are very large brands who may have unscrupulous marketing decision makers,” divulges Atul Nath, MD, Candid Marketing. To take a neutral stand, EE got Harish Bijoor, Brand Expert, to give his thoughts on the same. “I’m very against the system of pitches. The first way to sort it out is to say that there are no free lunches and no free speculative pitches. I do believe that event marketing organizations must all gather around the common banner and refuse to make pitches. There are central bodies that look after this. These bodies must set norms and say that you must not make speculative pitches. If you are invited to make a pitch you must charge a fee for the pitch. The fee could be waived if the event organizer is chosen for the job. If not, then a portion of the expenditure is anyway covered by the fee. It is a wrong practice to do free pitches,” says Harish. But why would a client be willing to pay for every pitch that he may not find worth it? “When a client does a short list, he does a closed short list of the best of the lot. He should be willing to put his money where his mouth is. It shows that the marketer is respecting the vendor. Practices must change completely. And as far as ideas are concerned, they are not necessarily genuine. Nobody can prove it. I have actually been in such a situation earlier where the same idea was pitched by two different event management agencies. The order goes to one, and the other obviously blames the marketer for stealing. You can’t always blame the marketer. There is a fair bit of jealousy also in the system,” divulges Harish.
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In 2011, Amul sponsored the Dutch cricket team in the ICC Cricket World Cup and Switzerland-headquartered Sauber F1 team at the inaugural Indian Grand Prix. In 2012, Asia’s largest milk brand sponsored the Indian contingent at the London 2012 Olympic Games and invested INR 10 million. What do all these events have in common? EE in conversation with Mr. Pavan Kumar, Asst. General Manager, Marketing, Amul to find out what it takes to get an Amul sponsorship. Read on to find out. 1. Reinforcing Amul as the Taste of India “We wanted to reinforce the positioning of Amul as the original taste of India. In this regard, we went ahead and sponsored the Indian team at the Olympics, supporting our nation and reinforcing our brand value in its entirety as an Indian brand supporting its country at the Olympics. We wanted the best to support our athletes and coincidentally 2012 was the year India won the maximum medals,” says Mr. Pavan Kumar. 2. Platform to connect with the youth “Amul would definitely associate itself with an event where it gets a platform to connect with the youth. That’s the reason why we sponsored the Indian contingent at the Olympics too, so that we could connect with the youth who are obviously into sports and encourage them at the same time to become active and take up sports. Youth constitutes a very important part of our target group and we are always looking for ways to connect with them and deliver the right message,” says Mr. Pavan Kumar. 3. Re-establish milk as the ‘world’s original energy drink’ “As the official sponsor of the Indian team at the London Olympics, Amul’s commitment to health is best defined by its signature product, milk. Through this initiative we wanted to re-enforce milk as the world’s natural energy drink. This was our campaign and we wanted our customers to believe that if they wanted to be fit and healthy, they should make milk a part of their daily diet by relating to the athletes at the Olympics that incorporated milk in their daily intake. It is the world’s natural drink and what better way to put that across than to associate with an energy-packed event,” divulges Mr. Pavan Kumar. So everyone out there who wants Amul to shell out the moolah and associate themselves with their event needs to fulfill the top three requirements. Time to re-work the pitch and pay attention to the above details if you really want to milk the
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Airlines are geared to break conventional methods of advertising as they step outside the airport with some truly innovative ideas. Here are instances of some well-known airlines around the globe that ‘gave flight’ to consumer imagination with their unique advertising. Cebu Pacific Cebu Pacific, the largest low cost carrier of Phillipines used the wet weather to ensure flyers book for a sunnier Phillipines as Hong Kong has less than 100 hours of sunshine in summer monsoon season. The smart campaign used water repellant spray to draw ads on the ground in high traffic areas in the city to make them invisible until wet weather arrives and water droplets roll off the sprayed surface to reveal the tagline `It is sunny in the Phillipines.’ The ad was accompanied by a QR code which could allowed scanning of the ground through the commuters phones and receive a Cebu Pacific discount code. Air France’s FoodTruck Air France started off the ‘Gourmet Food Truck’ through Manhattan, New York and served complimentary food to all and sundry. Chefs from the Airline caterer `Flying Food Servair’ gave free food samples based on the recipe of Air France Michelin starred chef Joël Robuchon. To name a few items on the menu were Pain au chocolat for breakfast besides cucumber and smoked salmon brochette for lunch, French Shepherd’s Pie with duck confit for dinner and assorted French macarons and petits fours for dessert. The truck was parked at different locations and its trail could be followed through Twitter and Facebook. An estimated 600 samples of breakfast, lunch and dinner were served everyday throughout the promotion. Virgin Atlantic takes over a New York park bench Virgin Atlantic gave New Yorkers a flying experience on ground. Passerby could sit on a first class bench in Manhattan and an air stewardess would offer them lunch accompanied by champagne and a choice of movies in the form of a live performance. Austrian Airlines’ Café-to-go Austrian Airlines offered free coffee to passersby in the streets of New York for ten days with its `Café-to-Go’ truck and its route was announced on twitter. Vienna is noted for its traditional coffee houses and the airlines also features a ‘Viennese coffee house’ service onboard its flights. Austrian Airlines’ Café-to-go Austrian Airlines offered free coffee to passersby in the streets of New York for ten days with its `Café-to-Go’ truck and its route was announced on twitter. Vienna is noted for its traditional coffee houses and the airlines also features a ‘Viennese coffee house’ service onboard its flights. Qatar Airways promotes Britain VisitBritain and Qatar Airways tried out an experiential marketing campaign to inspire travelers to go to UK from Saudi Arabia last year. With a total expenditure of 729 million pounds till 2020, Saudi Arabia has the highest projected value percentage growth of 181 percent amidst the 20 emerging and major markets in ‘VisitBritain’ tourism strategy. It was scheduled from November 20 to December 14 and reached out to 45,000 people in shopping malls across Saudi Arabia. Consumers at the Red Sea Mall in Jeddah, Mall of Dahran in Dammam and Riyadh Gallery in Riyadh experienced the sights and sounds of Britain and got a sample of travelling in Business Class in Qatar Airways onboard Boeing 777. A black cab from London welcomed visitors to take a virtual guided tour of the streets of London. Other major attractions in Britain were brought to life through 3D models, TV screens and directional sound. Four Queens Guards were also omni-present for an experience of Britishness and photo opportunities. British Airways’ innovative advertising British Airways in coordination with Ogilvy’s digital created 12-floor custom fit digital billboards with surveillance technology to detect and activate the billboards as their airline passed overhead. Located at Piccadilly Circus and Chiswick in London, whenever the billboard detects a British Airways flight below the clouds, visible to passersby, a child runs across the board, pointing towards the sky chasing the airplane. The billboard then displays an update of the flight details such as BA flight 475 from Barcelona. It was the first of its kind not only for British Airways but also for UK advertising. The online video of the billboard had gone viral and got more than 750,000 views in less than ten days and created a record of sorts.
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Sports make lot of sense as a way to enhance corporate image and increase product visibility. Sports Sponsorship in India is pegged at 3250 cr. and is estimated to be 12500 Cr. in the next 5 years. With so much of money involved the sports industry has embraced sponsorship ROI/ROO and statistical analysis as never before. Sponsorships are made for sound business reasons and need for effective data and research to advise that decision is vital. Repucom, a global sports marketing research firm, utilizing the leading technology and facilities for market research, media evaluation and commercial auditing, has created a full-service portfolio for sports marketing research and consultancy. In the following article Repucom’s Senior Vice President – South Asia, Joseph Eapen, provides key snippets from the report along with market data and insights. As you look at the changing consumption of goods, sport sticks out. Sports attract a strong and engaged audience, and certain sports can attract hard-to-reach demographic. Though live viewing drove most of it, now social media is also driving the conversation hard and can be used as the counter on sports. Social media tells the whole story about attitudes of people sitting out there in living rooms, venues and even bars. The relationship between sports and entertainment is inseparable and interchangeable. Need to Evaluate In a country as obsessed with sports (also beyond cricket) as India, Sports Sponsorship Evaluation is the foundation of all relevant information, public perception and to-the-minute statistics. With finances of this magnitude and the fervent passions of an entire nation at stake, a sustained and reliable inflow of premium information and analytics is of crucial importance. The best way to make sure the sponsors understands the returns is to provide an evaluation report detailing the benefits received. It is also good business practice to show evidence of accountability. Evaluation also helps a club/franchise/right owner/sponsors formally review its activities, provides a frame of reference for future projects and aids the planning process. The keys to success lie in bringing a marketer’s sponsorship to life in real and meaningful ways. A key element of the sponsorship decision is determining what success looks like at the outset of a campaign. You can’t start to measure success until you know what success means for you; any evaluation program is therefore a measurement and a comparative tool. It doesn’t also help if key constituencies have a different view of desired results and don’t have a clear understanding of what success looks like before committing money and resources needed to support a sponsorship investment. Other common problems in developing sponsorship programs is spending the majority of marketing dollars on the cost of sponsorship with little or nothing left to advertise, promote and publicize a company’s involvement. And more importantly, in assigning value on a sponsorship, brands should consider the cost of not being a sponsor. For developing strategic and creative sponsorship campaigns, one has to consider all elements in the marketing toolbox. More often than not, public relations, product placement and social media set the stage for future advertising, sales, events, promotions, and hospitality that will drive the sponsorship message home. And all of these need to be evaluated, benchmarked and developed into a KPI scorecard. The key elements of Sponsorship evaluation area as follows MEDIA EVALUATION Sports holds a prominent role in the global media landscape as a means to drive audience, passion and engagement. The need to measure, evaluate and audit sponsorship activations and campaigns across TV, online, radio and social networks, print and mobile devices is vital to arrive at media analytics, focused on the impact of sponsorship in various broadcast and other media environments. Media evaluation and audit involves constant surveillance on sporting ventures, cutting-edge media monitoring and analytics to determine the nature, impact and presence of sport sponsorships for individual types of sports, across multiple broadcast environments across various cultures, geographies and investment markets. Combining updated and intensively-verified information and valuable industry insights from experts, media evaluation and analytics incorporate extremely comprehensive and accurate market analytics on in-stadia, print, online and on-air broadcast networks; maintaining exclusive databases containing exhaustive details, press bytes, performance benchmarks and competition analytics that allow unrivalled access to brands, signage points, teams, stadiums, sporting meets and sponsorship bodies. Add to it the use of all emerging social media channels to constantly track properties and monitor sports assets, giving the clients a hawk-eye insight into the chaotic world of popular commercial sports. All these is used to build data into extensive databases that deliver analytics and insight that allow comparative media equivalencies across brands, signage locations, teams, stadiums, sports and markets. We’ll design outputs based on specific objectives, including competitor analysis, portfolio benchmarking, stadia rating, best practice knowledge, and much more. The outcome of Media Evaluation is the universally accepted measure called Quality Index (QI) developed by Repucom – is used to measure the quality and duration of sports fans’ exposure to sponsorship elements such as on-screen graphics, branding on apparels, courtside signage and courtside branded assets such as cups and coolers etc.. RESEARCH & ANALYSIS Social Media Measurement, Syndicated Sports Studies & Fan Research are the heart of the whole process as the ultimate focus is to deliver intelligence and analytics on viewer behavior and sports-fan access for major sporting events. There is almost always a massive buzz of feedback, reviews, expectations and analysis from sports-fan around major sporting events and tournaments that happen in the public sphere, from broadcast media to blogs and social media networks. If it’s pure, uninterrupted fan support that you are interested in, then these fan reviews and crucial, allowing brand owners, agencies and federations to build greater brand recognition, marketing opportunities and commercial awareness. To close the loop, it is imperative to study an understand sports markets through Fan Research to identify and tap into exclusive catchment areas of each sport, asking the right questions and gathering unique insights about the sports, and their stars who are constantly in limelight. By systematically gathering, collating and analyzing crucial data on sports and sports brand, the studies can accurately report brand impact, reach and value in key markets. Continuous studies, fan interviews, market surveys and monitoring brand associations with individual supporter bases to deliver accurate and highly customizable brand insight form a knowledge base for clients. Clients use these databases across policy meetings and board congregations to accurately estimate emerging trends, fan reviews and reactions and even gauge future business opportunities. Sports Studies, with their unique market and brand insights, and their sophisticated analyses, also allow firms to accurately rate, profile and monitor public perception of specific sporting franchises and events, and thereby estimate endorsement values, advertising rates and brand impact. Popular large studies available are SportsDNA & SponsorLink, covering 30 countries in a continuous manner. It covers all sports and associated sponsors/brands in their respective markets. The studies also allows clients to add specific/custom questions related to their brand and it associations. Apart from these syndicated studies, bespoke research are conducted during, in and post tournaments, leagues and events and a KPI model and scorecard is developed for tracking ROO. CELEBRITY DBI (Davie-Brown Index) Celebrities posit massive exposure and associative brand-recognition to any brand they endorse, and global celebrity evaluation services are instrumental in breaking down the DNA of popular stardom, and find out what is it that makes celebrities such global phenomenon. Instruments like Celebrity DBI undertakes brand evaluation and assessment, delivering accurate analytical data and maintaining extensive databases on stars and their stardom across the world. Global and local clients count on these measurement to deliver data on an international basis that tracks various celebrity endorsements, market impact on specific demographics, market reach and brand recognition. The Celebrity DBI is an independent index that quantifies and qualifies consumer perceptions of celebrities. It’s the only global celebrity evaluation service designed to provide superior brand-relevant insights. The Celebrity Index employ superior research methodology that allow them to go deep inside celebrity catchment areas, and deliver research data filtered through age, market, gender and income levels, to name but a few. Be it an international rock star or the next Diaego Maradona, celebrities all over the world have an immense capability to influence consumer habits for a multitude of products, and celebrity evaluation services provide updated, relevant market intelligence to identify key markets that account for maximum celebrity brand impact. The list of celebrities (over 5500 worldwide) tested can also go beyond Sportsmen, Film stars, Musician’s etc. The recent wave of Celebrity DBI in India covered Arvind Kerjiwal, Narendra Modi and Rahul Gandhi, measured on all the 8 factors of the study – Appeal, Aspiration, Awareness, Breakthrough, Endorsement, Influence, Trendsetter and Trust.
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