Vivo wants to build on IPL gains after striking mammoth deal

NEW DELHI: The association with the IPL has been extremely beneficial for their brand, said a senior Vivo official after the mobile-phone maker bagged the T20 league's title sponsorship rights for the next five years with a whopping Rs 2,199 crore bid.

Vivo, which was roped in as the IPL title sponsor for the last two seasons after Pepsi's exit, won the bid for the next five-year cycle yesterday.

The winning bid saw a mammoth 554 per cent increase from the previous contract in which Vivo paid around Rs 100 crore per year. With the current contract, BCCI stands to gain approximately Rs 440 crore per year.

"The association with the IPL proved to be really beneficial for our brand and it was natural to continue the strong partnership," Vivek Zhang, Vivo chief marketing officer, told PTI.

"Cricket is big in India and IPL is only getting better and bigger with each passing year. And not just cricket we believe in promoting other sports too and therefore the association with Kabaddi. We recently got associated with the FIFA World Cup for the next six years," added Zhang.

In another year five-year deal, Vivo was named the title sponsor of Pro Kabaddi in May. Later in the same month, the company struck a deal with FIFA for the 2018 and 2022 World Cup.