Chinese mobile phone maker Vivo is leaving no stone unturned to make its presence felt among the Indian Premier League (IPL) fan base. The ninth edition of the Twenty20 cricketing tournament is all set to begin in April. The IPL title sponsor needs to quickly ramp up the visibility and customer awareness around its Vivo smartphone brand. In a first for a Chinese brand, Vivo has done well to grab the lucrative IPL opportunity after PepsiCo pulled out of its position as the title sponsor mid-course.
Given the ambitious target that Vivo has set for itself in Indian smartphone market, the IPL sponsorship might be just one important right step, but not all that would be enough to create a compelling a pull for the Vivo brand in a market which is near-flooded by an aggressive mix of large global and homegrown players, apart from other Chinese brands as well.
Vivo is working overtime to set up a plant in North India and its India CEO, Alex Feng, is knee-deep with all the promotional efforts.
BW | Businesssworld learnt that the company is in the process of identifying and signing on a brand ambassador, apart from earmarking an annual marketing budget of more than Rs 100 crore, which will be over and above the fees paid to BCCI for the IPL sponsorship. Much of this marketing spend is likely to be concentrated during the IPL season itself. It has also come up with a made-for-IPL bunny that was briefly featured in an elite set of teaser advertisements that also announced Vivo's bagging of the IPL title sponsorship.
A certain section of media reported that the ongoing India-South Africa cricket series will give a fillip to the brand recognition amongst cricket lovers in the country, industry experts feel since the brand is not associated with the cricket series in any sponsorship deal it will not make any impact. “No sponsorship no visibility no impact,” says marketing guru Harish Bijoor.
