Indiantelevision.com Team

(14 April 2009 6:40 pm)

NEW DELHI: Wrigley India has signed sponsorship deals for its products Boomer and Orbit with all the eight teams of the Indian Premier League (IPL).

While the sponsorship terms and agreements vary for each franchise, the tenure of the deal ranges between one to five years. Wrigley, for instance, has signed the sponsorship agreement with Chennai Super Kings and Delhi Daredevils for three years.

Wrigley India marketing director Himanshu Khanna says, “We have signed exclusive sponsorship agreements with each franchise for a period of one to five years. Additionally, the window for renewing the sponsorship has been kept open as it depends on the performance of the team.”

While Boomer is the official bubblegum partner, Orbit is the official chewing gum partner for the teams.

Additionally, the company has planned an array of marketing initiatives which includes launch of co-branded products. Wrappers of Orbit and Boomer, for example, will bear team logos.

Wrigley has also introduced special jar labels for Boomer, 77 trading cards including 11 cards for each team for seven different bubble gum categories.

The confectionary company has also introduced a special pack of Rs 10 which would contain seven bubble gum and two trading cards.

Says Khanna, “We sell 10 million pieces of gum every day and have presence in 1.2 million retail stores across 2,000 towns and cities in India. With our association with IPL franchises, we would provide the franchises our largest network to reach the audiences. We would help in building the brands stronger through our large retail network.”

Apart from below the line activities, the company has plans to launch three television commercials during the time of IPL. However, none of the ads will be team specific.

DDB Mudra is Wrigley’s creative agency, Tribal DDB the digital agency, and MediaCom the company’s media buying agency.

“We will be investing into television more as compared to rest of the electronic media. We are looking at launching the three commercials in a specific order. While the TVC will air on Max, we also plan to telecast the commercials on news, kids, regional, movies and music channels,” elaborates Khanna.

As for radio, the company will soon strike a deal with one private radio station which has pan India presence. And in case of out-of-media (OOH), Wrigley is still in discussion stage with several parties.

Wrigley has invested in the space of digital media to further promote its association with IPL. The company has launched sites like www.boomerfunzone.com and orbitcricketmania.com and has tied up with cricinfo.com for online contests.

Wrigley will also be selling digital merchandise through online and mobile phones.

Wrigley India has over 50 per cent market share in the bubble gum category and 80 per cent in the gum category.