This sports phenomenon is hardly two decades old but it has already set new records. Did you know that this was originally just a marketing experiment? It took genius marketing and today the T20 World Cup has become an iconic brand scaling new heights in the world of sports marketing. What can you take away for your business from the growth of the T20 brand? Let’s find out. Are you ready? 

T20 World Cup history – a marketing experiment that became the golden goose

Stuart Robertson can safely be called the father of the Twenty20 match format. He was the marketing manager of the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB). In the year 2000, when he was worried about the consistent decline in attendance at county cricket matches, he was looking for a strategy to spice things up. 

Stuart Robertson went on to conduct a thorough market study to find out the reason behind the drop in attendance. Based on the findings, plans to experiment with shorter versions of the matches – 20-over matches instead of the traditional 50-over matches were laid out. And these started out in county matches and slowly expanded to the international cricket landscape. The inaugural match of the T20 World Cup was held in 2007, hosted by South Africa. The rest, as we know, is history. 

Knowing the pulse of the audience, making amends to personalize the experience, daring to bend decades-old practices, and several other factors have helped the T20 World Cup tournaments to grow into a sensational brand in the world of sports. From the logo design changes to the promotional strategies, everything about these tournaments has been resourceful lessons in marketing. Let’s look at some of them in this blog. 

Marketing lessons from the growth and evolution of the T20 World Cup 

1. Your logo should pack a punch 

The above images show all the T20 World Cup logos so far. If you compare the T20 logos to the logos of traditional cricket tournament logos, you will notice a couple of things:

• The logos all have a more modern look. Considering that they represent a novel idea, the sleek logo designs look perfect. 
• These logos are more vibrant and in line with the current trends. Moreover, the T20 matches have always been about fast-paced entertainment. The lively colors aptly capture this idea. 
• Moreover, the logos also capture all the essential details like the year and host of the tournament. 

Kimp Tip 

More than being aesthetically appealing, your logo should appear relevant. Both to your brand and to your customers. Choose colors and fonts that capture the personality of your brand. That’s one way to make a lasting impression on your customers. In addition to this, ensure that your logo has a strong message to convey. Irrespective of the type of logo design you choose, ensure that your logo conveys what your brand is about and what it stands for. 

Need help creating logos that represent your brand accurately? Choose a Kimp Graphics subscription. 

2. Rebranding for all the right reasons yields numerous benefits 

In 2018, the ICC announced the rebranding of World T20 to ICC T20 World Cup. The change was a part of enhancing the event profile. And to ensure that the tournament was 

“aligned to the Global Cricket Strategy”. 

World T20 Renamed As T20 World Cup | https://t.co/rBQfK8Off3 pic.twitter.com/TQoANyyk2U

— WIPA (@wiplayers) November 23, 2018

The rebranding also happened when the plans for hosting separate men’s and women’s tournaments were in the cards. The rebranding happened as a part of globalizing the game and reaching out to new audiences. A change in direction or exploration of new markets can be wonderful opportunities for rebranding. And ICC made the most of it. 

Kimp Tip 

Rebranding can appear like an intimidating move for several brands. But when the reasons are right, it can make a drastic difference to your brand. Even win new customers, and strengthen your brand reputation. As it did, with the T20 World Cup rebranding. 

One other thing you might notice with respect to the rebranding of the T20 World Cup is that the logo design was not changed too much. Except for some minor changes, the logo retains the colors, fonts, and other noticeable aspects. All the previous logo versions for each tournament have been drastically different but the name was enough to make the connection. But this time since the name change was the biggest differentiator, not modifying the logo too much was a brilliant move. 

While rebranding, retain the most recognized bits of your logo. This makes it easier for your existing customers to recognize your brand. 

Wondering if it’s time to rebrand your business? Check out this Kimp blog on rebranding. 

3. Understand your audience hook, line, and sinker 

We told you that Stuart Robertson’s market research paved the way for the T20 match concept. But do you know what happened in this research? It was not to study the organization, not to study the teams or players involved but to study the consumers. After all, if you have questions about why consumers do not seem to be providing the same response as earlier, the answers will lie with these consumers. 

The market study targeted 30 focus groups and thousands of consumers. 4500+ questionnaires and days of research later the team found several common complaints. Factors like the matches being held on working days and matches being “long” and “boring” popped up as some common answers. The shorter version of the game with just 20 overs was proposed as an option to address these concerns. And today T20 cricket matches have turned out to be huge moneymakers. 

Kimp Tip 

If you think that your business is not progressing the way it should or if you are looking for ways to refine your marketing strategies, look at the experience through your consumers’ eyes. There are two ways to do this. 

• One is social listening. It is nothing but keenly observing social media and looking for posts and conversations that talk about your brand or niche. If customers are discussing concerns about your brand, you can promptly take measures to rectify them. And if they are talking about problems in your niche, you can curate content to propose solutions to these problems.  
• Second is to directly ask your customers for feedback. Even a simple follow-up email following a purchase or a cart abandonment or even after the first encounter with your website can be useful. You can also use social media Stories to collect customer opinions. 

4. The art of building anticipation is essential in marketing 

The above ad was released by ICC several months ahead of the T20 World Cup 2022. For massive events like these, promotions have to start quite early. There is a lot happening – brand partnerships, the battle for ad slots, ticket sales, merchandise marketing, and so on. So, ICC starts quite early and builds anticipation for the upcoming tournaments. 

T20 World Cup uses fan-focused content like the one above and celebrity endorsements too. You will also see regional ads featuring local favorites. That’s one way to get to your localized audiences. 

Kimp Tip 

Good marketing teases the idea and gives a peek into the product or campaign as the first step. This is one of the ways to build anticipation. The nuances here depend more on your niche and the kind of audiences you target. But everybody loves surprises. So, keep them guessing. Instead of blatantly announcing something, set the stage for the big announcement. Get creative and then go for the big reveal. That’s one way to get customers as excited about your brand as you are. 

5. Explore the many faces of social media 

Both the ICC pages and the T20 World Cup brand pages on social media talk about upcoming tournaments and past matches consistently. You will see content featuring fan moments, sponsored content, memorable moments from the matches, and a whole lot more. 

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by ICC (@icc)

Sharing moments from iconic matches is one way the brand keeps kindling FOMO in its audience. Cricket fans who enjoyed these moments will love to relive them. And those that missed them will ensure that they tune in to future games. 

Another creative idea that T20 World Cup uses to leverage social media is Facebook groups. 

You will find squads of all the teams participating in the tournament. This gives fans a way to connect with their fellow cricket lovers. Community-building through measures like these has long-term benefits. They help keep their consumers engaged and also strengthen loyalty. 

Kimp Tip 

The sheer variety of content on the T20 World Cup shows the need for creating diverse content to cater to all types of customers. It shows the need for regularly coming up with creative ideas to keep your audiences engaged. 

You will notice a lot of video content on the T20 World Cup pages. That is in line with the growing popularity of video on social media. The fact that even big brands make use of videos to keep their audiences hooked gives you enough reasons to start working on your video strategy right away. 

Worried about keeping up with the video content requirements of social media? Sign up for a Kimp Video subscription to simplify things. 

6. Be open to trends 

ICC has a long history in the world of cricket. In traditional organizations like these, there are many traditional practices. But that has never stopped the organization from experimenting with and adopting relevant trends. After all, that flexibility is what helped ICC make T20 World Cup this spectacle to look forward to. 

Another example lies in Crictos, the official NFTs for T20 World Cup fans. NFTs have recently been quite popular among sports brands but in the world of cricket, this is a first. With these NFTs, fans get to “own” a piece of their favorite game in the form of game moments. These are video NFTs and you can find moments based on your favorite team or player. 

The brand does not stop with circulating NFTs as most others do. It also adds more value to the NFTs through gamified content and rewards. Fans can use these NFTs to play flash games and win cash rewards and other gifts. 

Kimp Tip

Unconventional marketing trends like using NFTs have been doing rounds in various industries. If you are too skeptical you miss the boat and your competitor jumps on the bandwagon. Keep a close eye on your industry and the general market trends and be open to embracing them. This sometimes takes drastic measures and slight changes to your marketing approach and it’s alright. 

Want to try NFTs but don’t have a plan of action for designing them? Leave it to the Kimp team. 

7. Omnichannel presence is not a luxury any longer 

TV ads, newspaper ads, and billboard announcements were some of the most popular modes of promotion for cricket tournaments in the past. But things have changed now. T20 World Cup is a good example. 

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by ICC (@icc)

There is an official mobile app where fans can watch the live stream of matches. This puts mobile marketing to good use. Advertising through mobile app also opens up new sources of revenue. Moreover, for fans who are watching the matches on the go, a mobile app feels like the most convenient way to get updates. 

While that is one way the brand takes care of the digital space, it also goes strong with merchandise marketing, an old-school approach that never goes out of style. On the official store, you will find a wide range of T20 World Cup branded merchandise for men, women, and kids. The brand keeps all of its customer segments in mind and delivers diverse products to keep all of its fans happy. 

Kimp Tip

Marketing is more of a war zone nowadays with the constant struggle to keep up with your customers. In such times, an omnichannel presence for your brand is a must-have. Even if you do not have a dedicated mobile app in the scope of your marketing plan, you can always tap into mobile marketing through social media and other channels. Having a mobile-friendly website and creating mobile-optimized emails and landing pages count too. 

While you are at it, you cannot ignore print designs and other traditional advertising channels. They still matter. 

And what’s one way to combine both these channels without putting too much strain on your marketing team? A Kimp subscription to take care of both print and digital designs! 

Design for your T20 World Cup inspired campaign ideas with Kimp 

The popularity of T20 World Cup games did not happen overnight. It took several calculated steps. Years of consistent marketing across print and digital media, strong customer engagement, experiential marketing through fan events, celebrity endorsement, and other influencer marketing strategies to name a few. Strong branding and creative marketing visuals have always been at the crux of the T20 World Cup brand’s growth. If you wish to experience this for your brand too, then start today and work on strengthening your branding strategy and marketing approach. For the visuals you need to get the ball rolling, the Kimp team is here to help. 

Sign up for a free trial today.