Sponsors vote with their wallet for Mumbai Indians

While the IPL team bids adieu to Adidas, its long-term sponsor (kit partner), it signs on two sponsors for three-year terms besides getting fresh ones

Mumbai Indians, the Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise owned by Reliance Industrial Investments and Holdings, has seen a 10 per cent jump in sponsorship revenues this year. Sources close to the team reveal that the team stands to make Rs 88-90 crore in brand associations, compared to around Rs 80 crore last year.

The team, captained by Rohit Sharma, has extended its association with its principal sponsors - Videocon d2h and Jet-Etihad - for another three years (till 2017). Estimates peg that the two sponsorships will fetch it around Rs 38-40 crore a year. Both the sponsors had come onboard with one-year deals in the earlier season.

While Videocon d2h will occupy prime position on the front of the jersey, the Jet and Etihad logos will be seen on the back.

In order to accommodate both the airlines brands, the players will have two jerseys. The one for the home-ground matches will feature the Etihad logo, while the other with the Jet Airways logo will be donned for the rest of the matches.

This was the practice adopted last year as well, when the JV came on board as a principal sponsor, initially for one year.

The team has also retained the associate sponsors from last year - Dheeraj Realty and DHFL. These two brands have also extended their contract by three years, and estimates peg the combined income from the associate sponsorships at Rs 18 crore.

"Mumbai Indians is a popular team thanks to its players and the recall it has in the audience's mind. Moreover, winning the tournament in 2013 has helped the team amp up its game. Now, it has the means to leverage its brand equity and sign deals for longer durations. Also, being associated with players like Ricky Ponting and Sachin Tendulkar lent credibility to the team, especially when there is apprehension around the credibility of the tournament," says a sports manager.

He, of course, is referring to the IPL match-fixing controversy that erupted in 2013 and was in court for almost two years.

While many officials from the Board for Control of Cricket in India and players and officials from Rajasthan Royals and Chennai Super Kings came under scrutiny, Mumbai Indians and other teams remained unscathed.

Another sports manager, who has dealings with IPL franchises, believes that for a team like Mumbai Indians, there will be a 10 per cent increase in overall revenues from sponsorships.

PERFORMAX BECOMES THE KIT PARTNER

An in-house brand, belonging to Reliance Trends, Performax, is replacing a major Mumbai Indians sponsor.

Its erstwhile kit partner, Adidas, has been replaced by the men’s sportswear brand. It will also provide the official team jersey.

The one-and-a-half-year old brand will be cross-leveraging the team association (belonging to the same parent conglomerate) to increase its recall.

It is expected to be extensively involved in the licensing and merchandising of the team from now on.

“The brand stands to benefit from the Mumbai Indians’ brand image, with players like Rohit Sharma now associated with Performax. Moreover, with MI merchandise being sold under Performax at Reliance Retail and select Jack and Jones outlets, the brand can gain in visibility and sales,” says a person close to the development.

Performax has a range for different sporting and training needs ranging from training, running, tennis, football, basketball and cricket. It also offers accessories such as caps, ergonomic socks, wristbands, headbands and gym sling bags at a price starting from Rs 249/- onwards.

Performax has associated with several sporting events as title sponsors or associate partners. These include the ATP Chennai Open, Bangalore Ultra Marathon, Tour de India (cycling), GFK Run, Vodafone Cycling Marathon and Ajmera Thump Marathon.
"It has performed consistently and has had some cricketing stars from the beginning. Unlike teams like Kings XI Punjab that peaked only in 2014, Mumbai Indians has seen conservative year on year growth," he adds.

The Kings XI Punjab team is expected to see a 30 per cent jump in sponsorship revenues on the back of a successful season last year (ended the tournament as the runner-up), albeit on a base much smaller than of Mumbai Indians. It, too, has retained its principal sponsor, Tata Prima, albeit for a 50 per cent premium over 2014's sponsorship fees.

The new brands in Mumbai Indians' kitty are Jack and Jones, HTC, Paytm, Tinyowl (food ordering site/app) and SAP. These sponsorships have come for Rs 3-5 crore a year, and are one-year deals.

The team continues its association with brands like Bookmyshow, Kingfisher, Videocon, Pepsi, Usha International, DNA Networks (live-event organiser) and Fever 104.8 FM.

NOTE
Corrects Usha International mentioned earlier as Usha Electricals