The Indian Premier League (IPL 2020) is likely to lose one of its biggest advertisers. Coca-Cola India which has been one of the biggest on-air spenders on IPL over the years is deliberating to stay out of the league season, as BCCI plans to conduct the season between September to November window.
According to a report in ET, the company is planning to scale-down its annual advertising was-chest of 500 Crore on Cricket and IPL 2020 is likely to be the casualty.
IPL 2020 to lose Coca-Cola fizz ?
Coca-Cola was one of the biggest on-air advertiser in the 2019 edition of IPL. The leading Cola brand last year ended up spending ₹ 135 crore with Star Sports as the on-air co-presenting sponsors for the IPL 2019.
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This year too the brand was in talks with the broadcaster to renew the on-air partnership. Other than this Coca-Cola also had signed and announced official beverage partnership with IPL Kolkata Knight Riders team. According to the sources, brand was also in talks with some other IPL teams for the same set of partnerships. But now all of those plans are put on hold and brand in all likelihood will stay away from IPL 2020.
ET has quoted an industry official to confirm the development, “The April-June quarter accounts for nearly half of annual soft drink sales in India, and remains the peak advertising and marketing window for soft drinks makers, coinciding with both IPL and the ICC World Cup. Even if the IPL is held later in the year, Coca-Cola may scale down exposure to cricket, in a reversal of its earlier plans,”
Long term ICC Partnership to stay intact
Coca-Cola India also has long term 5 year partnership with the International Cricket Council (ICC). The company signed with ICC in 2019 as its exclusive non-alcoholic beverage partner. The deal according to the industry sources is worth $24 to $25mn. Like IPL 2020, uncertainty is the second name for the T20 World Cup as well, but the sources in the company suggested that ICC deal will be honored as per the contracts.
“ICC for us is a long term deal and we will stay committed to the same”, declared one of the lead executive of the company.
It is worth noting that Coca-Company ended up spending in the range of 500Cr over cricket properties in 2019. The company had charted out these enormous spends on the sport of cricket after a self-imposed hiatus for very long time.
Once a prominent brand across cricket fields, Coca-Cola had absolutely opted out from the sport since 1999, leaving the field wide open for rival Pepsico. On its re-entry in cricket, the American soft drink giant the ICC global competitions running up to the 2023 ICC ODI World Cup last year.
Coca-Cola global sporting spends and relationships
The Coca-Cola Company has a long history of sponsoring major sporting events, organizations and projects around the world. Among the most well known sponsorships for the company are their long standing relationships with FIFA and the International Olympic Committee for the Olympic Games. Other than this Coca-Cola company further spends very heavily on their sponsorship deals with NASCAR, NBA, NCAA, MLB and others.
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