IPL6 has been a phenomenal success on social media with its integration strategy with Twitter enhancing the user engagement and delivering a social sporting experience to the viewers. The report looks into details of how Brands have leveraged the platforms to carry out their branding.

1. SIMPLIFY360 RESEARCH
Brand Analysis of IPL based on
Social Media Conversation
Period of the study: 2nd Apr, 2013 to
05th May, 2013

2. IPL6 SCORES ON SOCIAL MEDIA WITH TWITTER
IPL6 has been a phenomenal success on social media with its
integration strategy with Twitter enhancing the user
engagement and delivering a social sporting experience to the
viewers. The numbers have been suggesting that IPL6 has
outperformed IPL5 with the number of tweets and conversations
exceeding that of the previous edition. The number of tweets
for IPL6 are 5,743,211*. With the IPL buzz around the corner,
many brands have chipped in to drive their growth engine
further. Brands have acquired different means for this. While
some brands such as Pepsi and Vodafone went for sponsorship,
others such as Cadbury are achieving the same through their
robustly strategized social media campaign.
*As per the data on 15/05/2013
Firms have invested heavily for sponsorship rights and
association with Indian Premiere League (IPL). To achieve a
greater social media engagement and drive their growth on IPL
buzz, firms are responding with innovative social media
campaigns. We shall be analysing these brands on the scale of
their social media performance while highlighting the top
performers. We shall also look into the best practices for
content and influencers. We shall also look into the other
interests of the viewers. Finally we would look into the latest
trends and suggestions with a comparative look at social media
activities of brands at SuperBowl.

3. IPL6 & BRANDS - A SOCIAL MEDIA ANALYSIS
IPL6 has been phenomenal success in establishment of stronghold for many brands. The overwhelming verdict by
audience seems to prove that IPL gives advertisers their money's worth through better reach and recall. IPL6 took the
sporting experience to next level with integration of twitter as the social media channel to create a real-time engaging
atmosphere.
Most Popular Brands
Pepsi IPL
Cadbury
Pepsi
Vodafone
Kingfisher
SET India
Yes Bank
Star Plus
OLX
Godrej
Kent
Buzz Analysis of the brands during IPL Matches
Source: Simplify360 Social Matrix, Apr 02,2013 to May 05, 2013
Associated Keywords
#PepsiIPL
#Shubhaarambh
#Pepsi
#Vodafone #Zoozoo
#Kingfisher
#SetMax
#YesBankMaximum
#Nayisoch
#OLX
#Godrej
#Kent
Conversations with source country as India have been considered for the analysis
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PepsiIPL Cadbury Pepsi India Vodafone kingfisher Setmax yesbank starplus OLX godrej Kent videocon
ThousandsVolumeofconversations

4. WHAT WE’VE FOUND..
• Integrated social media campaigns highly increase the user engagement and brand conversations
• Brands can be successful in capturing the IPL buzz without putting tons of money on sponsorship
• Humor and entertainment emerge as the key factors for engagement of IPL viewers
• Online contests are an important but clichéd way for attracting viewers on social media
• Appropriate Influencers can do wonders in terms of user engagement and brand development
• Generic Hashtags can lead to greater reachability and deeper connect on social media

5. PEPSI INDIA

6. Buzz Analysis of the Pepsi during IPL Matches
Source: Simplify360 Social Matrix, Apr 02,2013 to May 05, 2013
Pepsi IPL has emerged as the most popular brand over
social media with its high social engagement.
Conversations for #Pepsi and #PepsiIPL have been
considered separately for better understanding of IPL
Campaign. Most conversation about Pepsi focused
around online competitions, new advertisement and
launch of ‘Pepsi Atom’. Conversations reached peak with
‘Pepsi IPL ka Boss’ and online cricket contests conducted
for a place in Pepsi IPL ‘VIP’ box. Key takeaway can be
the fact that most popular brands invest capital to focus
on customer engagement. Interestingly, conversations for
#Shubhaarambh (Cadbury) exceed those of #Pepsi. This
showcases the brilliance and success of Cadbury’s social
media strategy to be the part of IPL Buzz without
spending heavy bucks in sponsorship.
Hash Tag Conversations
#PepsiIPL 248,375
#Shubhaarambh 40,000
Pepsi 34,621
#Vodafone 11,565
#Kingfisher 8,220
#SetMax 5,407
#YesBankMaximum 5,276
#NayiSoch (Star Plus) 4,634 Conversations with source country as India have been considered for the analysis
18-Apr, 10046
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Volumeofconversations

7. CADBURY INDIA &
#SHUBHAARAMBH LEAGUE

8. Objectives: Growing the preference for Cadbury Dairy Milk,
broadening its user base and occasions of consumption, the firm
launched #Shubhaarambh League Campaign. Cadbury has
intelligently associated itself with the ongoing IPL fervour without
spending bucks in sponsorship activities.
 Creative pictorial tweets based on the
moments of celebrations in a match
 The conversations around ‘#Shubhaarambh’
have surpassed the conversations for #Pepsi
and Vodafone in India
 Conversational reach include about 47 million
people on Facebook and 3.8 million Twitter
users
 About 100% increase in followers on twitter
and an increase of 250,000 fans on Facebook
Buzz Analysis of the Cadbury India during IPL Matches Source: Simplify360 Social Matrix, Apr 02,2013 to May 05, 2013
Brands can perform magically over social media by
being innovative and investing in creative
engagement techniques
Insights
Conversations with source country as India have been considered for the analysis
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9. When conversations about a brand are neither
negative nor positive, it becomes very important for
the brand to drive those conversations in positive
directions with influencers and positive social media
engagement
Insights
 Third most popular brand associated with about
12,000 conversations generated in India only
 Zoo zoos remain the focal point of mots of the
conversations around the brand
 Brand popularity on social media increasing
with the progress of tournament
 Estimated fan growth of about 260,000 per
week
 Vodafone superfan contest for IPL can be
termed as a success with respect to the
conversations generated
 Conversations for Kingfisher brand on social
media have been mainly due to excellent
performance by Royal Challengers
Bangalore (RCB) and Chris Gayle in IPL6
 Over 8000 conversations by Indian users,
mostly jokes or sarcastic in nature
Conversations with source country as India have been considered for the analysis
10-Apr, 451
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Volumeofconversations

10. THE INFLUENCERS

11. ..AND THE WORLD FOLLOWED THEM !
Gabbar Singh
@GabbarSingh
Tweets- Humor
Gaurav Kalra
@Gauravcnnibn
CNN IBN Journalist,
Tweets about Sports
Cricket Ishaan
@BeingIshancric
Tweets about
cricket
@riya043
Tweets - general
Sir Ravindra jadeja
@SirJadeja
Tweets about
Cricket & humor
Alternative Cricket
@AltCricket
Tweets about
cricket
Mr. Shri
@MrShri
Tweets- general
@Sanjay_Dixit
Tweets- general
Harsha Bhogle
@bhogleharsha
Tweets about
Cricket & news
Sundar Raman
@ramansunda
Tweets about
cricket
Gaurav Kapur
@gauravkapur
Tweets about
cricket and politics
Jay Rajagopal
@Jaitwits
Tweets about
cricket and news
THE INFLUENCERS

12. HOW BRANDS CAN LEVERAGE INFLUENCERS FOR CUSTOMER ENGAGEMENT?
 Overall genre of posts/influencer is an important factor in the selection of an appropriate influencer
 Audience of an influencer is another important factor in the selection of an appropriate influencer
 Direct marketing of content about the brand by influencers can have significant ramifications but it is
‘subtle’ involvement of the brand in daily life/ posts (i.e. suggestive in nature or in a light manner)
holds the key
 Humor – the key to establishing the vital connect to audience
 Content is the strength of influencers!
Influencers like @GabbarSingh and @CoolFunnytshirt
helped Cadbury in trending #Shubhaarambh on
Twitter. With young audience base, these humorous
‘tweeters’ were the perfect communication channel for
the firm.
Insights

13. INFLUENCERS & CONTENT
Influencer tweeting about the
Cadbury gems in a subtle way.
Such kind of promotions do not
look like paid promotions and
are readily accepted by
audience.
Appreciation of an already
successful campaign by an
influencer on social media adds
to credibility of the campaign.
Influencer’s use of humor makes
the brand recall easier !
Different influencers need to be selected for
different purposes. Influencers with humor can help
in user engagement while celebrity influencers can
help in trust building for brands
Insights

14. THAT’S AN EPIC POST!
BEST CONTENT STRATEGIES

15. THAT’S AN EPIC POST !
BEST CONTENT STRATEGIES
 Vodafone – humorous content focused
on a social appeal for its ‘Zoo Zoos’
 Online contests and competitions help
in gaining attention
 #Shubhaarambh League on social
media successful due to its common
nature of hashtag which symbolizes
the company strategy of extending the
occasions of its consumption
 Spontaneous and witty tweets on
recent happenings in a cricket match
leading to more shares and
conversation driven by viewer
sentiments and emotions
 Keeping it humorous makes it easy to
connect to people easily
 Contests on social media used as a
way to reward the users
 Online contests such Tweet20- a key
strategy for viewer engagements
 Youth engagement through favorite
youth icon content- both pictures and
videos
 A social website dedicated to
interactions, gaming and engagement
(www.pepsiohyesabhi.com)
 Contests and humor- the driving force
for the online campaigns
 #BechDe twitter campaign smartly
uses cricket quotient to increase its
reach
 Quotes and other positive sentiment
pictures which makes people happy to
share and like the content

16. USER INTERESTS
 48% of the IPL viewers interested in music and entertainment
(including cinema)
 17% of IPL viewers also follow football leagues
 15% of IPL viewers passionate for automobiles (cars and bikes)
 14% of IPL viewers more likely to own latest gadgets & technology
 A growing proportion includes viewers interested in contests, travel,
fashion and photography
Music and
Entertainment
48%
Automobiles
15%
Gadgets &
Technology
14%
Football
17%
Others
6%
Music and Entertainment Automobiles Gadgets & Technology
Football Others
IPL viewers have a greater interest in entertainment
and humor. Brand engagement in such case would
require humorous content creation and promotion.
Insights

17. BRANDS, SOCIAL
MEDIA & SUPER
BOWL

18. Superbowl brands tend
to go for deeper
integration on their own
website and leverage
hashtags for various
events. Isolated
Facebook falls in favour
for these real time
events, but it is likely
provide a deeper brand
engagement beyond the
immediate event.
Hashtags, which can be
used in a variety of
social networks, are
permeable to multiple
networks, creating
broader engagement.

19. SOCIAL MEDIA TRENDS: SUPERBOWL
 Superbowl : 75% of Brands integrated Social Quotient into advertisements
 2013 Super bowl advertisements favour Hashtags, URLs - not Facebook
 Hashtags, presumably aimed for Twitter, dominate over Facebook
 Twitter mentioned in about 50% of the Superbowl commercials
 Only 7% of brand advertisers integrated Facebook URLs with their social campaigns
 Most mentioned brands went on for a Hashtag generic in nature and different from the brand name itself
 Next level of social engagement- connected stadium, Wi-Fi, twitter screen, & mobile contests
http://www.forbes.com/sites/tjmccue/2013/02/05/super-bowl-data-75-of-brands-integrated-social-into-ads/
Brands in IPL can use this lesson of creating generic
Hashtags and integrating social media with TV
commercials to build an engaging ecosystem.
Cadbury #Shubhaarambh League is one such
example.
Insights

21. CONTACT US AT
contact@simplify360.com
www.simplify360.com
www.twitter.com/simplify360
www.facebook.com/simplify360
Data Collection and Analytics
through Simplify360