The higher education service provider, Sunstone Eduversity has inked a sponsorship deal with one of the Indian Premier League’s (IPL) new franchises, Lucknow Super Giants (LSG). In this association, the higher education service firm has been labelled as the Lucknow-based team’s associate partner for IPL 2022.
SportsMint Media reached out to the Head of Marketing of Sunstone Eduversity, Mr Alekhya Chakrabarty, who mentioned that they chose a new team because there were resemblances in terms of inception and brand image. Chakrabarty also revealed a few more fascinating details about Sunstone Eduversity’s relationship with the KL Rahul-led franchise.
• Since Sunstone Eduversity is a Haryana based firm, why did the company choose to partner with Lucknow SuperGiants and no other team?
We wanted to partner with IPL this year to connect with the youngsters. Sunstone has a pan-India presence across 30+ campuses in 25+ cities and a significant part of that presence is in the Northern region. Many of our students and partner universities are based out of North India and we really wanted to focus on the current and potential target group here. Through our IPL partnership, we want to connect with a vernacular Hindi speaking audience and become a household name in the region. Moreover, both Sunstone and LSG being the new kids on the block, they were a natural choice of partners for us. They align with our brand and messaging.
• If the firm wanted to partner with a new team then why not Gujarat Titans? What made the company go with LSG?
Sunstone wants to utilize their significant presence in the north and familiarity with the region to tap into the massive market potential the region has to offer. The partnership also allows us to gain visibility and reach out to the wider Hindi speaking population of neighboring states like Bihar, Jharkhand and more. We chose a new team because there were similarities in terms of inception and brand identity. We identify with the “proving themselves” energy that LSG brings to the IPL scene and we want to capitalize on all these similarities.
• How difficult was it for Sunstone Eduversity to get into a collaboration with LSG?
Sunstone is a start-up and an emerging education brand while LSG is a new IPL team, so we both share an intense energy and the drive to deliver. Sunstone’s and LSG’s identity align in terms of both being new and focused in the northern region. Both teams bring an energetic element to their respective fields and are eager to make their mark.
Sunstone and LSG are quite aligned in their partnership and are very enthusiastic about it. LSG has supported Sunstone for many of its initiatives. From Sunstone’s logo on LSG’s jersey to the ad film created for Sunstone in collaboration with LSG, featuring their players – the partnership is channeling multiple touchpoints – visibility on-ground, digital, and social media. We have also recorded personalized video messages featuring LSG players to be shared with students. It has been an interesting and productive experience for both groups.
• What is the company’s aim with the contest held on social media and what are Sunstone Eduversity’s expectations from the exposure that the company will get through this partnership?
We are running contests parallelly with LSG IPL matches on our social media to engage with our young audience through various interesting channels. We are also providing scholarships worth Rs. 4 crores to students throughout IPL. The aim of these contests and rewards is to reach out to higher-education seeking students and engage them with us via a fun activity. In this process, we are also fulfilling Sunstone’s objective of making education accessible to students by rewarding scholarships to them.
IPL attracts more reach and viewership when compared to other similar mediums, platforms or sports competition. And with our logo on LSG’s jersey, we expect a great deal of exposure. We are also running ads featuring LSG players on digital channels. Our ad film has already amassed over a million views on YouTube in two weeks.
• What is the brand’s next step, will Sunstone Eduversity be keen on extending collaboration with LSG next year or will the company be more interested in signing sponsorship deals with more teams?
Currently, we are focused on our partnership with Lucknow Super Giants for IPL 2022. Under the IPL campaign #JeetegaSparkHi, we are taking up multiple activities. We have announced scholarships for students and have released an ad-film featuring KL Rahul, Krunal Pandya, and other LSG players. We will also come out with personalized inspirational messages from LSG players for students for a more grassroots outreach. Our 7 episode interview series, “Sparks off the pitch” featuring professionals behind the scenes of the IPL tournament is also slated to come out soon.