Fifty-two per cent of Indians consider India as the likely winner of the ICC Cricket World Cup in South Africa, according to an ACNielsen India Customised Research Services' syndicated survey.
The survey, titled 'Cup of Life', on the impact of media activity during the tournament was conducted in Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Lucknow and Ahmedabad.
The study used a door-to-door random sampling approach, with the survey activity conducted throughout the week to eliminate any match related and timing bias.
During the third week of the World Cup, consumers surveyed on their unprompted recall of brand advertising indicated that categories such as carbonated soft drinks, durables, automobiles and telecom have continued to register the highest recall.
While brands topping these categories on the recall charts have remained constant with Pepsi, LG, Hero Honda and Reliance hanging on to their position, the Dairy Milk brand has replaced Polo within the confectionery category.
"Across brands, Pepsi (91 per cent) and LG (49 per cent) top the list of brands recalled spontaneously during the third week of the World Cup," said Sarang Panchal, executive director, ACNielsen Customised Research Services.
The biggest shift in position has been Reliance India Mobile, jumping from the eighth position in the first week to the third slot with a 35 per cent recall value.
Hero Honda and Videocon are the other advertisers which have moved up the recall rankings.
"These changes are likely to coincide with shifts in volume of advertising for individual brands but should stabilise and offer a more interesting picture of non-sponsor activity as well, closer to the end of the event," said Panchal.
The ad-spend on television during the event is estimated to be in the region of Rs 450 crore (Rs 4.50 billion).
In the financial year ending March 31, 2003, the spend on TV will shoot up due to the cricket World Cup and aggressive promotions by several general entertainment TV channels, as per TAM India data.
According to the survey, the effectiveness of various non-TV advertising and branding platforms used during the event indicates that ground hoarding and ground paintings followed by action replays have proved the most effective in terms of recall.
Among platforms, Master Blaster appears to have pushed Boundary Pop Ups out of the top 5 most effective platforms compared to the first week of play.
