Reliance India Mobile and BSNL hog day one of World Cup

Telecom giants Reliance Infocomm and Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) seem to have bet big bucks on cricket. Day one of the World Cup 2003 saw the two companies clocking the highest ad spends, lending maximum visibility and prominence to their respective brands. According to a TAM ADEX analysis, the former's WLL service, Reliance India Mobile, has emerged as the brand with the maximum expenditure on MAX. The percentile figure is 11 per cent, followed by cola brand Pepsi (7 per cent) and HLL's fairness cream brand, Fair & Lovely (5 per cent), respectively.

Pubcaster Doordarshan, which also telecast the South Africa-West Indies one dayer on February 9, has BSNL in the lead (8 per cent), followed by Bajaj Pulsar, Pepsodent Germicheck Plus and Pepsi (6 per cent each). Cola giant Coca-Cola comes in at number three with a spend level in the region of 5 per cent.

Interestingly, a category-wise break-up shows parity on both MAX and DD, with soft drinks and two-wheelers emerging as the most prominent sectors, walking away with spends in excess of 25 per cent, put together. Further, television - regarded as a strong sector - has aggregated spends in the region of 7 per cent on both MAX and DD, while toothpaste has 5 per cent on MAX, and 8 per cent on DD.

Predictably, HLL is the top advertiser on both MAX and DD, with spends of 16 and 18 per cent, respectively. On MAX, Pepsi Foods and Reliance Infocomm follow with 12 and 11 per cent, respectively, while DD has LG Electronics and Hero Honda, at 15 per cent and 9 per cent, respectively. © 2003 agencyfaqs!