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IMG pockets a Rs 1.06 billion catch

Shuchi Bansal

IMG, the wholly-owned Indian subsidiary of the $1.3 billion sports marketing company IMG Worldwide, is selling sponsorship rights of the Indian cricket team for a whopping Rs 355 million a year.

This is much higher than the Rs 190 million being paid by cigarette major, ITC Ltd, to the Board of Control for Cricket in India for sponsoring the team till recently.

Today, any company or brand interested in sponsoring the Indian cricket team, will need to shell out at least Rs 1.06 billion for a three-year contract with IMG.

The marketing company is understood to have acquired the rights for the Indian cricket team sponsorship from BCCI for approximately Rs 270 million.

Ravi Krishnan, joint managing director at IMG said it is already speaking to several companies in different product categories for sponsorship rights. "We will close the deal shortly," he added. With its annual advertising budget of nearly Rs 800 million, Britannia Industries is understood to be one of the leading contenders.

IMG's Delhi-based joint MD, Peter Hutton, too, refused to confirm the potential sponsors or the sponsorship rates. Advertising industry sources, however, say that IMG has sent out proposals to advertisers as well as agencies, asking for Rs 6 million per Test match and Rs 5 million for every One-Dayer.

Besides, it is separately hawking logo space on the sleeve of the non-leading arm of the players at Rs 700,000 for every Test match and Rs 600,000 for every One-Dayer.

Most advertisers and agencies feel that the sponsorship fee is too high. Says Coca Cola India's vice-president (marketing) Shripad Nadkarni: "At the current rates, sponsorship is not viable."

Adds a senior advertising agency professional: "We have at least a couple of clients who are interested in cricket sponsorship, but not at this price." He says that besides paying IMG, the company will need to invest another Rs 100 to 150 million on promoting the event. Also, according to the contract the sponsorship fee would increase 10 per cent each year.

For the Rs 1.06 billion that a company or brand would pay for three years, it would get the title sponsorship of the cricket team and the sponsor's logo will be located on the left chest pocket of all the players.

The logo will also be displayed on uniforms for practice sessions as well as on their travel bags etc. Among other benefits, the sponsor could use between 3 to 6 members of the team to advertise the sponsorship of the team.

Brands\companies can, however, bid for the sponsorship rights for a year.

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