LaLiga talks cricket in a football field, starts campaign with Rohit Sharma

The Spanish football league turns to Rohit Sharma to kick one into the net for the brand, build its appeal among fans and young footballers

For the first time ever in the history of the league, the Spanish born and bred LaLiga has turned to someone outside the game to further its brand. Where it has always had an iconic footballer as its face, a cricketer will now spread the word about the league and the game. In its first India-specific campaign since it set up office here almost four years ago, Rohit Sharma is drumming up the buzz around the league, its mentorship programme in local schools and, its new broadcast destination, Facebook.

Sharma’s large fan base and social media following are expected to bring visibility and recall. José Antonio Cachaza, managing director, LaLiga India said they chose Sharma because he stands for excellence, teamwork, authenticity, respect, commitment and passion, as does the league. 

It helps that Sharma is a football fan. Speaking at the launch of the campaign he said, “Football in India, is in its global growth trajectory and it is heartening to see that it is no more considered as the ‘sleeping giant’.”

Sharma will help drive LaLiga’s on-the ground branding initiatives too. “We constantly organise events or launch different kinds of projects, so this (the digital campaign) is just another step in our strategy,” Cachaza said. 

He is referring to LaLiga Football Schools, a key component of the brand’s expansion strategy across the globe. In many nations, the programme has helped nurture young footballers, who have later emerged as stars for the league. Sharma’s involvement, the LaLiga team hopes, will help find more schools ready to welcome them into their fold.

The choice of an endorser from outside the game is not an easy one for a football league, especially one that has had some of the best names on its list. But the truth is that all sports clubs, leagues and teams need stars, their heft on and off the field rests on the shoulders of the titans of the game. And in this context, the Indian market presented a dilemma. While there is a legion of football fans in the country, there is no international star that could become the face of the league. Hence, the need to ride on the coattails of a popular figure from a more popular sport, said several experts.

Ashish Mishra, CEO, Interbrand India, said, “(Internationally) it lost its sheen post Ronaldo’s departure and of late, Messi has been out of form too. The India push is an attempt to shore things up, this is a good market and growing too. And (Sharma as ambassador) that’s confirmation of the market’s potential.” 

Sharma’s choice was further clinched by his wide appeal on social media. The media-shy batsman has been a keen participant on several social platforms in recent years and that has helped him find favour with many brands. He also endorses Adidas, Hublot watches, Rasna, Dream 11 among many others. 

The campaign has been launched digitally at present and plans are to roll it out across media platforms and other cricket playing countries such as UK, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. The league has Santander (Spanish bank) as its title sponsor and among its global partners are Puma, Rexona and Budweiser.

LaLiga has adopted an aggressive digital marketing strategy, especially since its partnership with Facebook. It is offering all matches free for its Indian audiences, bringing a top European club, Girona FC to India for the first time and says it has many more plans up its sleeve. According to the league’s spokespersons, audience data has been hugely satisfactory and there is a high level of engagement with fans during Facebook broadcasts.

In four years, LaLiga’s social media following has exploded too. From under 500,000 followers to almost five million, the company said. “LaLiga has 10 million followers in the Indian subcontinent (India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bhutan and Maldives), which is equivalent of 10 per cent of its followers worldwide” and Cachaza adds that by roping in Sharma, “The message is clear; no matter how much you love cricket, you can love football and LaLiga.”