Hindware to rejuvenate its image with IPL sponsorship

Building products company Hindware has extended its marketing partnership with the Indian Premier League (IPL) for the ongoing 2023 season. The brand partnered with Punjab Kings (PBKS) last year. This year, it’s partnering with PBKS again, as well as Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB).

In an exclusive interaction with afaqs!, Charu Malhotra, VP & head of marketing, Hindware, explains that brands associated with cricket, tend to enjoy a premium stature. The IPL association also aligns with the brand’s current marketing plan.

“Although Hindware is a strong legacy brand and people associate with it strongly, there was a dire need to rejuvenate and refresh our identity. We’ve seen brands rebuilding and refreshing their identity by associating with the IPL, which aligns with our vision.”

Elaborating on the decision to extend the partnership with the IPL, Malhotra says that Hindware aims to position itself as a brand with which youth can relate to more. The IPL association solidifies the brand’s primary objective, as the competition attracts a diverse audience. For the brand, the IPL collaboration is a huge part of its marketing spends.

“In terms of investment on this collaboration, it’s four times higher than what it was last year. We are expecting greater traction this year as well. This association is definitely something that we will stick to for the next couple of years.”

Given the diverse audience that the IPL attracts, along with it now being streamed on digital platform JioCinema as well as Star Sports on TV, Malhotra acknowledges how the tournament is competitive for advertisers. In order to stand out with its advertising, Hindware is planning to execute a step by step marketing campaign around the two teams – PBKS and RCB.

“We’re working towards releasing two TVCs featuring players from both the teams. These campaigns will be released shortly. We also intend to have many contests and social media promotions around the IPL to engage with our consumers.”

Along with the TVCs, Virat Kohli (RCB) and Shikhar Dhawan (PBKS) will also feature in small digital films. Further, the brand also plans to sponsor a lot of social media posts around the IPL season. They will also be creating branded content around the teams, their matches over the course of the next two months.

“The idea is to go for a holistic 360-degree campaign, in terms of visibility. We’re aiming to get our presence felt on OTT platforms as well. We’ll also run some print campaigns and OOHs in relevant cities,” says Malhotra.

Hindware has about 500 franchise stores across India, where it will use this collaboration for on ground marketing. The brand will conduct some activation drives in these stores during the IPL to drive engagement with the consumers, who walk into these stores throughout the season.

“We’re putting activation areas in bigger stores, where we’re creating a small pitch, along with some other merchandise for cricket. We’re putting cutouts of some players and creating a selfie zone as well. Here, customers can walk in and get clicked. They can then probably tag us on social media as well,” Malhotra elaborates. These brand activation areas will be visible in the brand's stores soon.

Malhotra adds that with Hindware's recent brand image shift, it is now a very refreshed and rejuvenated brand. "It's so very important to connect with the today's consumer, the millennial audience and these kind of platforms like the IPL are definitely a good bet."