MUMBAI: GroupM ESP, the entertainment and sports practice of media agency GroupM Media India, has said it has enabled and activated on-ground sponsorship deals worth $ 15 mn between various IPL teams and sponsors for IPL season 6.

GroupM ESP has been an active intermediary and enabler, for clients and their brands and team owners and their franchises seeking to leverage the IPL on-ground sponsorship platform, by providing end-to-end IPL related solutions.

Group ESP Head of Sports and Live practice Vinit Karnik says "We‘ve been part of IPL since its inception and we strongly believe that IPL is India‘s biggest and the most powerful marketing platform for brands to leverage the combined appeal of cricket and entertainment."

"The total value of all the on-ground deals enabled and activated by GroupM ESP in IPL 6 is estimated at US $ 15 mn," reveals Karnik.

The sports marketing agency worked closely with Sun TV Network‘s IPL team Sunrisers Hyderabad. It enabled the new franchise to get off to strong start with 10 on-ground official partners/sponsors including Make My Trip, 7UP, Garnier, Kingfisher, Livein Jeans, Manyavar, Sheltrex, and RN Sports.

Apart from Sunrisers Hyderabad, other high profile deals managed by GroupM ESP include Bajaj Allianz and Mumbai Indians, Flying Machine and Royal Challengers Bangalore.

The agency had also advised Vodafone on renewing its on-ground sponsorship deal with IPL for another five years backed by a comprehensive valuation exercise based on proprietary data and insights.