Home-grown denim company Spykar Lifestyles is investing ₹20 crore on a sponsorship deal with the new Pune-based IPL team, Rising Pune Supergiants. This is the first time that the Mumbai-based company has decided to engage with the IPL with a backing of a jersey deal which is expected to last for the next two seasons of the tournament.

Brand building

“Spykar as a brand has been quiet all these years and now wants to start a conversation with its consumers. The business is now growing 30-35 per cent and we have been weeding and adding stores. This is the first time we have invested in IPL and the sole positioning on the back jersey of the Pune team is expected to give us the necessary eyeballs, Sanjay Vakharia, Chief Operating Officer, Spykar Lifestyles, told BusinessLine .

Stabilising its business under its new investor, UK-based HNI fund owned by entrepreneur Apurva Bagri, has also given the 25-year-old denim brand leeway to make investments into brand building and marketing.

“With the Bagri family picking up 90-per cent stake in the company in 2014, we now feel the need to up the voice of Spykar across the spectrum and have extended our sponsorship with the IPL team for its ninth and tenth season,” he added.

With a turnover of ₹245 crore, Spykar expects to have about 200 stores across 10 cities with a distribution network reaching 1,000 outlets.

Increasing competition from international denim brands such as Levi’s and Lee, and even domestic brands such as Killer, is making Spykar invest in its own brand.

“Denim continues to be the fastest-growing category — growing 12-15 per cent — in which we are competing with companies such as Levi’s that have a large top-line,” said Vakharia.

Local sponsors

This IPL season, there has been a strong trend of domestic companies and brands investing in the property. “While we have first-time domestic companies such as Spykar coming on board as a sponsor, there has been a trend of greater number of Indian companies using the IPL platform to gain visibility this season. Most of them have been spending twice as much of what they spent in the previous season,” said Raghu Iyer, CEO, Rising Pune Supergiants.

The Pune IPL team has also got domestic companies Oxigen, Finolex, LYF and Gulf Lubricants as sponsors and advertisers.

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