Videocon Industries is not limiting itself to being the principal sponsor for the Mumbai Indians team during IPL 6. It is also looking forward to buying airtime on television to give its brand and summer-oriented products more visibility.
It has decided to hike investment up to Rs 40 crore in the tournament, to boost sales of its consumer durables brands during the season. A new ad campaign featuring the Mumbai Indians will soon be launched for its ‘new-look’ refrigerators and ACs.
Anirudh Dhoot, Director, Videocon Industries, said, “IPL will definitely help the Videocon brand but unlike last year, we have also decided to buy airtime during the tournament and not just sponsor an IPL team. There is an assigned budget just for IPL this season which is expected to go up to Rs 40 crore for the 45-odd days of the tournament. Deals have also been struck to make the Videocon logo more visible on the ground.”
As Videocon has launched a slew of premium big-screen LED televisions and refrigerators this summer, IPL would serve as one of the platforms to showcase them.
“We have launched big screen sizes like 80-inch and 65-inch LED models and even Smart TVs which we will feature in our campaign during IPL shortly. Viewership for IPL will go up as the holiday season is beginning and the stadiums are getting full,” added Dhoot.
Last season Videocon had sponsored the Kings XI Punjab team.
The slowdown in consumer durables sales during the first quarter of the year is prompting the company to step up visibility. “Sales volumes for categories such as air conditioners have been impacted due to inflation. But since summer has yet to start we expect the market to improve for the consumer durable category,” said Dhoot.
Videocon Industries’ consumer durables division recorded sales turnover of Rs 6,000 crore this fiscal. Apart from Videocon, it has other brands such as Sansui, Kenstar, Philips and Electrolux. Shah Rukh Khan will continue to be Videocon’s brand ambassador.
“Shah Rukh is still with us but we have not associated with his team as he has Nokia as the principal sponsor. We will continue to invest in cricket and Bollywood but there will be more weightage towards sports,” added Dhoot.
purvita@thehindu.co.in