“We definitely look forward to taking this association with IPL forward”: Sashank Bhandaru, Marketing Manager, Gigabyte

With the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022 nearing the business end of the season, similar to the teams on the field, brands associated with the marquee tournament and each of the teams have gone all out to capitalise on the exposure and opportunity afforded by the cricketing extravaganza that has gripped the nation.

While brands across categories like fintech, consumer goods and services, etc. have regularly been known to associate themselves with the IPL, this season also has also seen a refreshing change when computer hardware company Gigabyte came on board as an Associate Sponsor of newbies Lucknow Super Giants for the IPL 2022 season.

This partnership has seen the brand's logo showcased on the Lucknow team’s headgear (helmet and cap) on the side while the logo of the company’s gaming PCs brand Aorus has been seen on the back.

Speaking with Sashank Bhandaru, Marketing Manager at Gigabyte, Sportskeeda’s Business of Sports (BOS) team deep dived into the brand’s motivations, goals, and targets behind the ongoing sponsorship.

Given that esports and gaming continue to grow at an exponential rate and is seeing interest from endemic as well as non-endemic brands, it can be rare for a gaming brand like Gigabyte/Aorus to turn to traditional sport for marketing purposes. Reflecting on this approach of sponsoring an IPL team especially in light of the fact that the brand already has a presence in the gaming market via partnerships that allow it to reach gamers directly, Sashank mentioned:

“We were looking to reach out to a wider spectrum of audience, thereby increasing brand awareness and (there was) no better platform than IPL to have that established.”

Being a new entrant to sponsoring traditional sport, Sashank also spoke in length about the difference in approach for the brand for gaming versus non-gaming partnerships, saying:

“Esports is of a different pedigree altogether. With esports and gaming rapidly expanding its footprint in India, the strategy is a little complex compared to that of traditional sports. The social group/community built around gaming and esports are more inclusive in terms of engagement, they congregate online and experience great excitement, which encourages brands to do more of digital marketing than taking a traditional approach to advertising/ marketing.”

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Gigabyte and Aorus leveraging LSG to the hilt in activation efforts

While the brand has certainly been going strong in the ongoing season, keen observers would also have picked up on Gigabyte’s presence at the time of the mega auction that took place prior to the current season. The brand’s presence in this case was through an Aorus laptop being used by the LSG team management.

Additionally, LSG players have been in for a treat through the #GameBeforeTheGame campaign being run by Gigabyte at the Taj Vivanta hotel where the team has been staying this season. Speaking about the activation at the hotel, Sashank mentioned:

“We have set up a best in class PC gaming zone for players to relax and enjoy some gaming sessions with teammates during their leisure time, which gives them the much needed adrenaline rush off the field too! The ad that we have shot with the players also resembles the same theme #GameBeforeTheGame.”

Further commenting on how Gigabyte and Aorus have been providing value to LSG during the season, Sashank added:

“Additionally, LSG team's analysts have been actively using our laptops to strategise during the tournament, leveraging the advanced features we provide on the laptop.”

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Gigabyte giving fans the metaverse experience with LSG

Showing no signs of slowing down, Gigabyte has also put the pedal to the metal and has come up with an innovative metaverse experience with the Lucknow Super Giants team. Touching upon this innovation in fan engagement and on the theme of how the brand is looking to take the sponsorship activation beyond a mere logo presence, Sashank said:

“In our one-of-a-kind LSG x GIGABYTE metaverse experience, our fans get to see new product offerings and also get to assemble a PC online. There will also be a meet-and-greet contest with fans who will get a chance to meet LSG players and interact with them in the metaverse. A lucky draw hosted on the metaverse will also see winners get cooler merch from us and also a chance to win a special edition LSG themed gaming PC.”

In another case of the lines between traditional sport and gaming blurring, he also added:

“Apart from this we will also be doing a fun gaming live session / streaming activity with popular gaming streamers / influencers and marquee players from LSG on the AORUS India YouTube channel.”

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Gigabyte’s shot at brand differentiation in a competitive environment

With the explosion in popularity of gaming in recent years, as one can easily surmise, the gaming hardware market is a competitive one. Gigabyte’s product line up includes motherboards, graphics cards, gaming monitors, SSDs, power supply, RAMs, coolers and cabinets which caters to the wide variety of needs of gamers, content creators, etc.

Delving into the competitive gaming hardware market and how Gigabyte is aiming to differentiate itself, Sashank credited Gigabyte as being the no.1 motherboard brand in India for more than six years, and further added:

“Our brand is known for quality products and services products that we offer to our customers. We are the only consumer PC components brand in India which has 6 company service centres and 5 collection points along with 42 authorised collection points across India.”

In a teaser for gamers and content creators, he also dropped some welcome news for users, saying:

“We are poised to extend our scope in the laptop business in India. We will soon be launching the AERO series of laptops under the GIGABYTE brand catering to content creators and the AORUS series of laptops catered to gamers.”

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Keen to continue associating with the IPL and traditional sports

The Indian Premier League can easily be termed as India’s biggest success story in the commercialisation of sport over the past fifteen years and one which continues to grow in popularity.

Having gotten a taste of the exposure that the IPL affords, Sashank admitted that this sponsorship has taken the brand a step closer to their target audience as the larger community of online gamers are also known to passionately follow traditional sports like cricket and football.

Signing off by dropping a clue of the brand’s future plans, Sashank mentioned:

“This foray into sponsorship for GIGABYTE / AORUS for this season's IPL is just a start of many more such associations with world-class sporting events. We are already working on expanding our footprints there and definitely look forward to taking this association with IPL forward. Further, we are keenly looking to associate with a wide array of sports in the near future.”

With a rich first experience of sponsoring one of the most exciting teams in the biggest sports property of the country, and as a brand which keenly understands that its target audience is not limited to certain interests, i.e. gaming, Gigabyte and Aorus are surely set to be a brand to watch out for in the sports sponsorship space going forward.