Lexus as a flagship auto sponsor attracts others
Franchise cricket leagues, especially emerging ones, have two primary income sources: broadcast rights and sponsorships.
Broadcast rights cover a finite number of territories, with a finite number of bidders in each territory. The rights are generally sold to the highest bidder for a price determined by market forces. So there is only so much a nascent league can control on this front.
Sponsorships, however, are a different matter. They allow for much more creativity and a much wider range of outcomes. Finding the right partners, convincing them of the value of association, and creating a combination of benefits — impressions, activations, promotions, content — is a critical undertaking with high potential upside.
Sponsorships thus end up being the lifeblood of a franchise league in its early years.
In MLC’s second season, the league secured three major partnerships which broke ground for the league and also helped lay the ground for the future: with Lexus, a leading luxury automotive brand, Stake, the largest gaming site online, and Royal, a division of LT Foods, a leading Indian global food group focused on rice and grains.
We will cover each of these deals in its own feature piece. In this first installment of the three-part series, we examine one of the crowning achievements of MLC’s Season 2, not just in the sponsorship realm but overall: its deal with Lexus.
Two Years in the Making, and a First for Lexus
This partnership, which saw Lexus become the official automotive partner of the MLC, was the culmination of a multi-year effort on the part of MLC VP of Commercial Partnerships Monica Sadhu. She recounts: “we were talking to them for two years.”
As it is, planning cycles for automotive campaigns and deals are known to be long: requiring initial pitches and decision making many quarters in advance.
What made this situation especially unique, and an even longer pitch cycle, was that Lexus had never directly sponsored a cricket event before.
According to Lisa McQueen, Media Manager at Lexus: “While we have long supported cricket through advertising, our MLC partnership is a first for Lexus.”
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Natural alignment: demographics and values
That said, once the parties engaged, the natural fit between Lexus and MLC became clear to all.
Most importantly, MLC offered Lexus a means to reach an extremely attractive and sought-after demographic: South Asian professionals primarily in the US, but also throughout the world.
As Sadhu emphasized: “the MLC fanbase is largely, though not exclusively, South Asian American, and that is a highly desirable demographic to sponsors.”
As McQueen says: “Cricket has massive cultural significance to our priority target audiences. Cricket is deeply rooted in South Asian culture with strong global interest. It is largely considered the world’s second-most popular sport – and now seeing an unparalleled spike in American fans.”
Beyond demographics, the extremely high level of engagement of the cricket fanbase was also attractive to Lexus. And delivering Lexus’s brand message via the MLC, which many US fans were passionately following, also provided a great opportunity. McQueen continues: “The communal nature of the sport allows Lexus to connect organically with this passionate fanbase. Lexus looks forward to deepening our connection with this passionate and growing fanbase through our partnership with MLC.”
Finally, for a global brand like Lexus, it is also critical to ensure that any partner’s values are aligned with its own. According to McQueen, that was the case here: “Lexus and MLC share an unwavering commitment to our customers.”
The Flagship Effect
The importance of landing a global, high-end consumer brand such as Lexus cannot be overstated. As Sadhu recounts: “this was a really big deal for us.”
Not only is it a validation of the stature of MLC as a tournament, it also attracts other such sponsors.
As Sadhu points out, this has a league-wide impact: “With Lexus on board, we see interest from other partners, and this also opens the conversation for teams locally.”
Such a major deal also attracts sponsors from all categories. “When you have a client like Lexus, it attracts the attention of other mainstream brands as well. The moment we signed Lexus, others got interested.”
Sadhu explained further how this dynamic works: “We at MLC have a very good product. And when you pair that with a prominent brand like Lexus and talk about it, it lends credibility.”
Growth in the future
While all sides were excited with the outcome in the first year of the partnership, there is still plenty of room to grow further.
For one, in future years, with more planning lead time, the partners can prepare activations and national campaigns to leverage the partnership.
Moreover, as cricket overall, and MLC in particular, continues to grow in the US, the partnership will grow as well.
As Lexus’s McQueen says: “We are excited about the opportunity to engage with passionate cricket fans – especially as the sport gains popularity in the US.”
