| MUMBAI:
Essel Group's Indian Cricket League (ICL) is pumping up its marketing spend even
as it has had to contest against the popular Indian Premier League T20 format. ICL
will be investing Rs 500 million to promote its two upcoming properties. The ICL
20s Challenge, featuring eight teams, takes place from 10 October-16 November.
This will be followed by a World Series (20-28 November) featuring India, Pakistan
and Rest of the World side.  In
March, ICL had organised two events and had spent around Rs 120 million to create
awareness.
ICL
has recently acquired a new stadium in Ahmedabad and will spend Rs 100 million
to refurbish it. The matches will also be held in Gurgaon, Chandigarh and Hyderabad
stadiums. "We
have spent close to Rs 300 million over the last year to create the cricket infrastructure
across the venues," says ICL senior VP operations, marketing Shariq Patel.  The
theme of the ad campaign is 'Cricket Hain Meri Life.' Adds ICL senior VP operations,
marketing Shariq Patel, "The campaign will showcase real life stories of
domestic cricketers and how important the game is for our players. It will showcase
their grit and determination, where they come from and where they have reached.
We want them to be the heroes of the campaign and increase the visibility, so
as to familiarise the viewers with the players."
The
campaign will be broken into two phases. While the first part will focus on brand
building for the ICL, the second phase will look at key clashes in the tournaments
to function as a tune in reminder. | 
