Yoga guru Baba Ramdev led Patanjali Ayurveda likely to bid for Indian Premier League 2020 title sponsorship slot after the sudden exit of the Chinese brand Vivo on 6th August. Vivo, who had signed a 5-year contract in 2018 decided to step back amidst backlash faced by the BCCI.
“We are considering the IPL title sponsorship for this year since we want to give the Patanjali brand a global marketing platform,” Patanjali spokesperson SK Tijarawala said as per a report by the Economic Times. Market watchers are wary of the replacement of a Chinese brand with a brand that doesn’t have the star power of a multinational company.
“Patanjali as a title sponsor for IPL will do more for Patanjali than for IPL. While the caste hierarchy among brands could play out, Patanjali owning the title sponsorship would be contextual from a nationalist perspective, since there is an enormous anti-China sentiment prevailing in the country,” said brand strategist Harish Bijoor said as per the report.
Patanjali will likely face competition from heavyweights like Jio, Amazon, TATA group, Byjus with the BCCI offering almost 50% discount to potential titleholders. “I wouldn’t call it as a financial crisis, BCCI, it’s a very a strong foundation – the game, the players, the administrators in the past have made this game so strong that BCCI is able to handle all these blips” said BCCI president Sourav Ganguly addressing the turn of events.
This year’s IPL, which was shifted to the UAE, will be played from September 19 to November 10.
