Does the overdose of celebrities still bring in the desired effect in IPL campaigns?

Since its launch in 2008, the Indian Premier League (IPL) has reshaped T20 cricket and established new benchmarks for sports marketing and advertising in India. The 'Manoranjan ka Baap' campaign, introduced in the league's inaugural year, blended drama with cricket, leaving a strong impression through its storytelling in Bollywood style. The next year during IPL, Vodafone introduced ZooZoos, egg-shaped, gibberish-speaking mascots that captured audiences’ attention and became a staple of IPL commercial breaks.

In 2014, Star Sports' 'Kanna keep calm' campaign depicted people stuck in challenging situations, from cramped living spaces to mundane office work struggling to watch IPL. The campaign’s jingle ‘Kanna keep calm, watch Pepsi IPL on Star Sports.com’ will still linger in your mind if you are a cricket fan.

Conversely, celebrity-driven campaigns have also left a significant mark. In 2013, the 'Jumping Japang' ad with Farah Khan barged into homes and offices and taught people how to dance and celebrate while watching IPL. 

Perhaps one of the most unexpected and memorable moments in IPL advertising came in 2021, when CRED cast Rahul Dravid, known for his calm demeanour, in a light nobody had imagined. The ad showed Dravid in a traffic jam, losing his cool yelling from the car’s sunroof ‘Indiranagar ka Gunda hoon main’, becoming viral instantly.

In 2023, Dream11 introduced an ad that humorously portrayed a rivalry between actors and cricketers, blurring the lines between their professions in the advertising world. This approach effectively engaged viewers with humour and celebrity interactions, emphasising that the IPL is a unifying celebration, transcending professional boundaries.

All of these iconic and memorable campaigns have one thing in common – celebrities. Since the very inception of IPL, stars have been at the centre of storytelling, often talking about friendly rivalry. 

According to the media reports, IPL ads have a bigger dose of celebrities, with more than 60% of the ads being celeb-led. Another report by TAM Sports released in 2022 also stated that there was an 8% increase in celebrity-endorsed commercials compared to the previous season. During this period, celebrity-endorsed advertising accounted for 53% of total ad volume.

While celebrities undoubtedly add more star power to a campaign and make cricket fans take notice between time-out breaks, when more than 50% of the ads have celebrities, does their immense star power still hold sway over consumers? 

At this point, not having a celebrity in a campaign makes it stand out.

-Neeraj Kanitkar, Founding partner and ECD, Fundamental

However, from his experience, Kanitkar mentioned that a ton of clients feel more comfortable with having celebs headlining campaigns that require as much investments as IPL campaigns do. 

An expensive affair

Onboarding a celebrity is an expensive affair and when you combine that with IPL ad cost, it ends up taking a major chunk out of the annual advertising budget of a brand. One of the most visible celebrities of IPL, Virat Kohli, charges INR 14 crore just for one Instagram post as per Hopper HQ. And as per reports, IPL ad slots for 2024 on digital have touched INR 17-18 lakh for 10 seconds. 

Working on an IPL campaign, therefore, involves high stakes, literally! But the advertising world is still very much in love with their celebrities. After all, there are some guaranteed results that make a celebrity campaign a success and that also means taking less risk. 

Mahima Mathur, Creative Director, DDB Mudra believes brands feature celebrities because it’s an easy way out. 

She said, “Using a celebrity guarantees some amount of engagement and eyeballs. It works if you’ve got a good story and an interesting choice of celebrity that fits it. But if not, you just end up with a mind-numbingly boring piece of creative.”

Take CRED for example. In 2021, while the fintech brand partnered with a celebrity, it stood out by its choice of celebrity when it partnered with a retired cricketer Rahul Dravid and its sprinkle of storytelling on the campaign made for a perfect mix. 

So, at the end of the day, it is about making the most of the heavily budgeted celebrity campaigns. And Aditya Mehendale, National Creative Director, Schbang also said that it is all dependent on how these celebrities are leveraged. 

“How a celebrity gets used and how it taps into their pop culture and meme culture soft power largely determines success today. In certain exceptional cases the ad itself lends to internet fame as CRED has done time and again with Rahul Dravid, Ravi Shastri and Kapil Dev,” said Mehendale, insinuating why storytelling is important in a celebrity ad. 

He added that any celebrity randomly endorsing a product doesn’t cut it today – making sure there is a product (personal brand) and market fit – is essential. 

CRED’s campaign for 2024 follows a similar strategy. The brand did stand out by partnering with an ‘unconventional’ celebrity when they chose Tennis legend Leander Paes. However, apart from an unconventional choice of celebrity, its latest campaign is nothing like the Rahul Dravid campaign; It is a fresh air of breath while there’s a common thread connecting both IPL campaigns, justifying its choice of unique [not highly visible] celebrities. 

On the other hand, Dream11’s star-studded campaign showcases celebrities pitting against each other as they are loyal to their teams. One of the scenes of the campaign showcases Suniel Shetty and Mumbai Indians’ player Rohit Sharma in a conversation which is interrupted by Shetty’s son-in-law and Lucknow Super Giants’ captain KL Rahul – when he calls him papa. Shetty replies, ‘Jab tak tournament on hai, Sharma ji ka beta mera beta.’ The real-life implications and relevance of these celebrities make them a perfect fit for the campaign.

Nisha Sampath, Managing Partner, Bright Angles Consulting pointed out two possible outcomes of using celebrities in IPL ads. She mentioned that this choice can either significantly benefit brands or risk being overshadowed by the surrounding clutter.

She said, “The use of celebrities can be a two-edged sword. While they cut through clutter, the sheer competitive noise can lead consumers to confuse or misattribute your brand.”

Outside of India, the global carnival of advertising is Superbowl and that sees a high dose of celebrity ads as well. 

Comparing the two big sports tournaments, Rohan Kumar, Group Creative Director, VML said, "The IPL is our Superbowl. Naturally, celebrities are an integral part of this spectacle. Their presence not only adds glamor but also amplifies the brand’s reach, especially when they promote it on their own platforms. The only disadvantage lies in having access to a celebrity and failing to leverage their influence effectively." 

Not all brands have been able to achieve the covenant, ‘high recall’ status after their IPL campaigns have concluded. Last season of IPL, it was Dream11 and Thums Up that gained this desirable outcome of securing the highest recall among viewers. In 2019 and 2020 as well, Dream11 managed to gain high recall as per a report by Indian Institute of Human Brands. The report further said that the Cred ad for Rahul Dravid was spontaneously recalled by 17% respondents but only 2% remembered Jackie Shroff and only 1% mentioned Kumar Sanu for the same brand.

From 2021, Mutual Funds (AMFI) ads had 22% recall but most respondents got the protagonists mixed up, with the most attributing the messaging to Dhoni and Kohli. On the ads without celebrities, the most remembered were Phone Pe (32%), Byju’s (31%), Vivo (22%), One Plus (21%). 

There’s a huge gap between these two categories – with Dream11’s recall at 79% and non-celebrity-led ad PhonePe at 32%. So this star power, it does have some sway after all. While taking the non-celebrity route might help brands instantly stand out in one aspect, at the end of the day, it is storytelling and creativity that will leave an impact on viewers. 

Winning the coveted title - High recall

If you are taking the celebrity route this season and want to gain high recall as CRED, Dream11 and AMFI, creative heads and consultants shared some tips that could come in handy for you. 

Rohan Kumar, referred to Will Farrell’s character Ron Burgundy in Anchorman and his dialogue, "I don’t know how to put this. But I’m kind of a big deal," to share a piece of advice for brands and agencies. 

"That’s what every brand wants to say at the IPL. And best way to put it is by swinging for the fences. Explore new formats. Tap into AI, Voice and gaming to up your storytelling game. Also, start your innings early, else it’s gonna be another nail-biting finish. Don’t get stumped by trends," reminded Kumar. 

One glaring miss is the lack of cricketing context to IPL ads. 

Speaking about how this is an opportunity for brands to lean into, Mehendale said, “Leaning into behaviours around this cricketing festival, whether it’s watch parties, group chat banter, fan edits, superstitions, predictions etc can offer up a more contextual backdrop for brands to find relevant salience.”

He referred to Sony Set Max’s ‘Manoranjan Ka Baap’ and Amazon’s ‘Chonkpur Cheetahs’ campaigns and said that they can be remembered while working on creative pitches. 

“They beautifully weave a cricketing thread into them while being extremely aware of context,” said Mehendale, sharing the reason why.

Mathur finds herself drawn to 'The Coke Unhuggables' campaign during pitch discussions. She shared how this campaign has managed to leave an impact on her after all the years.

“The Coke Unhuggables campaign almost always worms its way into pitch discussions. Followed by 10 minutes of chortling and watching and re-watching the whole series. Followed by walking around office, showing it to that one person who still hasn’t seen it. Followed by looking out of multiple windows wondering if we’d ever crack something so effortlessly cool. Just a simple thought of wanting to hug someone ‘unhuggable’ when you’re at your happiest. Love it. Envy it” said Mathur. 

Mehendale also reminded us that the IPL is a frequency spot game and it is therefore pertinent to bring re-watchable value. 

Given that a consumer is going to see the same cycle of ads again and again, one thing to be cognisant how you make it continually re-watchable. If the campaign is engineered such that it has constant re-watch potential you’re halfway home. 

He believes that the golden age for IPL advertising is yet to arrive as India’s filmmaking, storytelling, tech and social conversation chops are only on the uptake. He’s looking forward to seeing how the IPL ads of tomorrow will maximise these abilities.

Rohan Kumar also had an interesting view to share on this. He said, "With the resources we have at our disposal right now, forget the golden era. We can go platinum. It’s just about being brave. And when you’re backed by brave clients - Hallelujah!"

To push clients to take risks in this IPL, Kumar remembered his another favourite character, Munnabhai, and said, "Tension nahi lena ka. Sirf dena ka."

"Give your clients a headache by introducing them to bold, innovative and most of all authentic ideas. We owe it to them and they’ll appreciate that in the wrong run. It’s game plan that can never go wrong," added Kumar. 

As viewers are glued to their screens during IPL, there couldn't be a more opportune moment for brands to seize attention through advertising. By implementing the valuable insights shared by experts and employing innovative creative strategies, brands have the potential to craft advertisements that linger in the minds of viewers long after the tournament concludes.