One of the biggest sports leagues to have happened in the post-pandemic world, the Tokyo Olympics 2020 arena has caught the eye of marketers, with AdSpends estimated around INR 75-100 Crore; these numbers could go even higher, experts project. Here's a detailed look at the spending trends.
On July 23, the stadium hosted less than 1000 attendees at the opening ceremony of the Tokyo Olympics while it is reported that the TV viewership saw a decline in major global states. However, marketers are geared up to make the most out of the sporting milestone event. Indian Tokyo Olympics AdSpends are estimated to follow an upward trend as advertisers chart out robust plans to cheer up the contingent and garner massive eyeballs.
Indian Brands At Olympics
As India enters its 100th year of participation at the Olympics, brands across categories have shown immense interest in terms of sponsorship and associations with the Tokyo Olympics 2021. The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) has onboarded brands such as Nippon Paint, Edelweiss, INOX Group, and JSW Group as national sponsors. MPL Sports Foundation is the Principal sponsor while Adani Group, Amul, Raymond, Tanishq have come on board as partners.
As per reports, the JSW Group sponsorship deal with IOA stands at INR 1 crore as Amul, and MPL is reported to invest around INR 8 crore (including Asian Games and Commonwealth Games 2022) while also supplying the sports kit to the Indian contingent.
The official broadcaster Sony Pictures Sports Network (SPSN) has signed more than 10 sponsors for the multi-sports wherein FMCG giant Coca-Cola, Amul, Hero Motocorp, JSW, and MPL have come on-board as co-presenting sponsors; the Association of Mutual Funds in India (AMFI), RBI, Visa, Lenevo, Byju's, and Herbalife Nutrition are the associate sponsors.
Tokyo Olympics AdSpends Projections
Vanita Keswani, CEO at Madison Media Sigma estimates the adverting revenue to be upwards of INR 100 crores. “The demand is surely higher than last Olympics, with more number of sponsors,” she quips.
Sharing his observation on the media spends by Indian brands at Tokyo Olympics 2021, R. Venkatasubramanian, President & National Head – Investments, Havas Media Group India highlights that they are investing around INR 2 - 4 Crores for the association and that overall advertising spends will be more than INR 75 crore.
Indian brands are primarily looking at video platforms like TV, OTT, YouTube, and Facebook. Some of the brands will also explore Print as all key vernacular publications come up with Olympic-specific proposals.
Kaushik Chakraborty, Senior VP, iProspect India shares that brands that are sponsors on TV & OTT are going to spend around INR 3-4 Crore, others will spend around INR 1-2 crore, and depending on the nature of associations, an average cost of an Olympics campaign will vary from INR 3-4 Crore to INR 1-2 Crore.
Media Vehicles & Brand Innovations
Branding opportunities are being considered across Television and digital touchpoints. Sony Network on Cable TV, Doordarshan for FTA homes, and SonyLiv for Digital. Keswani believes that the efficiency and effectiveness of each can be evaluated basis the brand target group.
Like any other big sporting event, there are on-ground as well as on-air branding elements being considered by advertisers. Chakraborty thinks that key sponsors will go beyond the normal spot buys by associating with Studio-based shows/properties, highlights, active on-screen integrations like Split-screen, et al.
“As far as media touchpoints go, primarily TV, OTT and YouTube will be explored. Social media integrations will also play an important role in engaging with the younger audiences,” he adds.
Olympics is a very niche event compared to other events and different from what India watches regularly. Multiple sports are held simultaneously at the same time and it is difficult to follow everything at one go.
Venkatasubramanian asserts that the audience will not sit and watch the Olympics games continuously. “TV possibly would be the best medium to watch certain sports like wrestling, boxing, shooting, archery, badminton, weightlifting, where India stands a chance to win medals”, he adds.
On the sidelines, multiple innovations can be explored at the Olympics. He states, “Associate with medal tally - showcase your brand when India is winning any medal. Brands can associate with all-star Indian athletes and opt for contextual brand communication with sports etc.”
With the mega sporting event going live on SonyLIV, the network has put together a series of ‘Hum Honge Kamyab’ films on-air and on their social media platforms which have been led by eminent personalities as they send their best wishes to the Indian contingent for the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020.
Brands like PUMA and MIA by Tanishq have signed athletes representing the country in national and international events across sporting disciplines and have rolled out campaigns to explore how they have strived for fulfilling their dreams during extraordinary times.
A range of marketers have planned traditional BTL activities, social media campaigns, 360 degree integrated line-ups, in a bid to honor the sheer hard work that the players have shown throughout the years.
Advertisers, through the Tokyo Olympics Association, aim to reach out and engage better with their targeted audience and have also shown support for the athletes through various creatives and campaigns.
Brand Categories To Watch Out For...
“There is no specific category that is going to be big at the Olympics,” says Venkatasubramanian. “ Mostly brands targeting youth will associate with the Olympics because the engagement level for sports is very high among the youth.”
Meanwhile, Keswani opined that categories showing interest in the Olympics are the ones targeting Sports interest groups, like youth and/or men who are difficult to reach through regular television content. Some categories are Auto, Edtech, Cement, Food & Beverages.
Chakraborty sees India-based multinationals like Hero, JSW, and Thums Up as the biggest spenders and players from Auto, BFSI, and Edu Tech segments to also invest big time.
With strategic investments in sponsorships ranging from supporting individual athletes to representing the nation’s pride at the global stage to giving a voice to their stories of hope and inspiration, Indian brands are eyeing a positive sentiment in returns given the growing popularity for sports beyond cricket.
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