Sandeep Walunj, Chief Marketing Officer, Reliance Nippon Life AMC

Kabaddi has amassed a following for itself. Thanks to Pro Kabaddi League, the homegrown sport has received a professional make-over and has now become a cool sport not just for the consumers but also for the brands by virtue of its inherent appeal to the roots and impactful promotional assets.

We interviewed Sandeep Walunj, Chief Marketing Officer, Reliance Nippon Life AMC, to know his views on the growing popularity of Kabaddi, along with Atif Shaikh, Group Head - Planning, PHD and Vamshidhar Yadagiri, Associate Vice President, OMD India.

Edited Excerpts:

POV:

In 4 years’ time, the way PKL has grown and consequently Kabaddi, it is not hard to picture it as a rival to its cricketing sibling IPL. However, there’s still a lot left. Digital and TV viewership metrics, meaningful associations, and high-level consumer engagements are yet to be explored completely. With leagues like PKL offering a good mix of on-air visibility along with on-ground activation opportunities, how best do you think marketers can leverage this relatively new property?

Atif Shaikh, Group Head - Planning, PHD

“PKL has definitely taken Indian sports by a storm and has proved to be a successful sporting property although it has a long way to go when it comes to challenging IPL. PKL has turned out to provide advertisers an inexpensive Non-cricket impact option in the Sports Genre. With the growth in the number of teams and the league reaching out to the hinterlands where the sport is most famous PKL is the most apt property for marketers looking to foray into “Rural” India.

As is the case with any sports, strong grassroots is a must for the sport and the league to grow, advertisers should fashion out partnerships with franchises and create grassroots level programs that go beyond the period of just the on-air season of two months. Coupling this sort of a program with high amplification on TV and digital during the live matches will enable brands to create an elongated and profound connect with its consumers.”

Vamshidhar Yadagiri , Associate Vice President, OMD India

With influx of emerging sports and our apetite to consume content across entertainment and Sports , leaguelization of Sports is on the rise across other sports.

PKL, PBL , ISL and PWL to quote some examples, These emerging sports with local connect are attracting eyeballs and brands started leveraging this connect and viewership to build brands and engage.

With Mobile handsets and Auto already in the race more and more brands are exploring to leverage the trend and with the Star players as emerging celebrities are helping brands to endorse at a low entry cost.