With only a month to go until the second season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) gets underway, the Delhi Daredevils team, owned by GMR Sports Pvt Ltd, has already announced Fever FM as its official radio partner.
International and national brands including Coca-Cola, Sony Ericsson, The Times of India, Hindustan Times and Bigadda.com are also behind the team. In addition to its on-ground activities, Delhi Daredevils will launch its online and ATL campaigns along with merchandising. Adidas is the official kit supplier and official licensed product and will sell the Delhi Daredevils range across over 70 exclusive stores and 12 cities.
Unlike last year, this year the Delhi Daredevils has an in-house creative team. Delhi Daredevils is taking a 360 degree approach towards its campaigns, which are likely to break in the first week of March.
GMR Sports (owner of the Delhi Daredevils) has created a platform for their fans by creating the official ‘Members Club’ of the Delhi Daredevils. Through this club, members will be allowed discounts on match tickets and will get the chance to attend team practice sessions, meet the players at social engagements and even afterthe matches, and can also be in constant dialogue with players online. They will also get access to a ‘Special Members Stand’ as well as discounts on official merchandise and special offers from alliance partners.
Vidur Naik, Marketing Manager, GMR Sports, said, “Our focus this year is on-field performance, and all our efforts are to bring the Trophy to Delhi. In terms of marketing, we have tied up with some leading international and Indian brands like Coke, Sony Ericsson, Fever, TOI, HT and Bigadda.com, to promote and interact with the fans of Delhi Daredevils. We are also in the process of launching a very extensive fan-based activation, which will create loyalty and affiliation for the citizens of the NCR.”
Naik added, “We are in the process of launching a very extensive on-ground, online and ATL campaign for fan activation, we also have very strong merchandising plans with our key partners like Adidas, who shall be the official kit supplier and official licensed product and shall sell the Delhi Daredevils range across over 70 exclusive stores and 12 cities. We also have a partner called Genesis, who shall be running the non-branded apparel and fan cheering items for our fans across various key locations across the NCR region and also at the stadium.”
Although Naik admitted that GMR Sports has been affected by the slowdown, he would not comment on the team’s ad-spends, the marketing budget for the campaign or their breakeven plans. He said, “We are very confident about finding the partners who share the same passion and vision for sports as we do.”
Hero Honda has been appointed the Delhi Daredevils’ principal sponsor although they are still looking out for other sponsors.