ICC Sponsorship: A Critical Evaluation of Strategies & Effectiveness

This essay provides a critical evaluation of the International Cricket Council's (ICC) present-day use of sponsorship. It begins with an introduction highlighting the increasing importance of sponsorship deals in sports and the financial dependence of sporting organizations on sponsors. The essay then presents an overview of the ICC, detailing its role as the governing body of cricket, its organizational structure, and the various tournaments it hosts. The discussion section delves into the unique two-dimensional involvement of sponsors, emphasizing the mutual benefits for both the ICC and its sponsor organizations. It analyzes how ICC leverages sponsorships to manage mega-events, develop infrastructure, and promote grassroots programs, while also providing sponsors with market visibility and opportunities to influence consumer behavior. The essay further highlights ICC's commercial intelligence in selecting sponsors and managing media and broadcast activities to maximize sponsor exposure. The conclusion reinforces the significant role of sponsorship deals in enhancing the attractiveness and sustainability of sporting organizations like the ICC, emphasizing the mutual benefits and strategic importance of these partnerships.

Running head: MARKETING
Marketing
Name of Student
Name of University
Author Note

1MARKETING
Table of Contents
Introduction:...............................................................................................................................3
Organizational Overview:..........................................................................................................4
Discussion:.................................................................................................................................4
Conclusion:................................................................................................................................7
References:.................................................................................................................................8
Bibliography:..............................................................................................................................9

2MARKETING
Introduction:
The importance of the sponsorship deals in the modern world of sports, is increasing
in a notable manner and that is visible with the enhanced urgency of the senior management
of the sporting organizations in acquiring largest number of sponsors for their organizations.
According to Fortunato (2013), the success of the sporting organizations is largely dependent
on their ability in restructuring their processes and procedures in place for efficient future
development and in such situation, the organizations do face the necessity of sufficient
amount of funding. According to the esteemed opinion of Biscaia et al. (2013), the financial
investment from the part of the sponsor organizations play a crucial role for the organizations
in enhancing the effectiveness and attractiveness associated with the sporting activities of the
organizations that spread the game across the globe and enhances the quality of the game in a
professional manner. Cornwell (2014) claimed that different sporting organizations require
the sponsors for different purposes For example, a football or cricket club’s preliminary
objective with the sponsorship is building an efficient team that has the capability to win the
championship and enhance the excellence of the club.
On the other hand, a sporting organization with the responsibility of governing the
game across the globe, has the objective of acquiring the sponsorship agreements for
conducting the sporting events in the best possible manner. However Alonso-Dos-Santos et
al. (2016) claimed that both such organizations will also have the objective of spreading the
game across the globe and continuously improving their grassroots programmes for
maintaining the sustainability associated with the game for a longer of period of time. The
study is focused in analysing the present day usage of the sponsorship of one of the eminent
sporting organization working across the globe named as International Cricket Council. The

3MARKETING
study presents a general overview of the company along with certain background information
on the operational activities of the organization.
Organizational Overview:
International Cricket Council is known as the governing body of the cricket across the
globe The organization was established by the representatives of South Africa, England and
Australia in 1909 in the form of Imperial Cricket Conference and in the year 1965, it got
renamed as International Cricket Council (Icc-cricket.com 2019). The organization is
currently headquartered in Dubai with 104 number of member nations (Icc-cricket.com
2019). The current chairman of the organization is an Indian administrator named Shashank
Manohar and the Chief Executive Officer of the organization is Manu Sawhney (Icc-
cricket.com 2019). Being the governing body of the international cricket activities, the
organization is observed to host a series of events and championships for the member
organizations which includes ICC Cricket World Cup, ICC Women's Cricket World Cup,
ICC T20 World Cup, ICC Women's T20 World Cup, ICC Champions Trophy, ICC U-19
Cricket World Cup, ICC World Test Championship, ICC Test Championship, ICC ODI
Championship, ICC Women's ODI Championship and ICC T20I Championship (Icc-
cricket.com 2019). In such situation, the necessity of the sponsorship deals and the financial
investment from the part of the sponsors for the maintaining the smooth conduct of the
operational activities of the organization, is pretty prominent.
Discussion:
The usage of the sponsorship from the part of the modern sporting organization is
observed to be unique in nature. According to Cornwell (2014), the uniqueness of the sponsor
activities is because of the two dimensional involvement. With a precise conisation towards
the concept of the sponsorship, Fortunato (2013) claimed that the companies consider the

4MARKETING
sponsorship to be a process where they tie up with their organizations to promote and market
their products and services with mutual commitment for benefits. According to the esteemed
opinion of Alonso-Dos-Santos et al. (2016), the sponsorship provides the scope to both the
parties in enhancing the sustainability of their operational activities. With a precise
consideration towards the operational activities of the organization, it is understandable that
the organization is determined in managing the mega events in a successful manner. In such
situation, the company requires considerable amount of monetary investment and that
influences them to acquire increased number of sponsorship deals. The financial support
provided by the sponsorship organizations enable the sporting organization in managing the
smooth occurrences of these events and the lead them towards the achievement of the
sustainability in conducting their operational activities. On the other hand, ICC is observed to
be in perfect place for providing the opportunity to these business companies the much
required market limelight in promoting and marketing their products and services.
With a precise consideration towards the significant viewership and the buzz
associated with the occurrences of the mega events initiated by ICC, Velija (2015) claimed
that the business companies have the opportunity to influence the purchase intention of
substantial collective global audience and at the same time, their promotional and marketing
activates in these global events play a crucial role in enhancing their capability in attracting
larger number of customers. According to Velija (2015), ICC is able to undertake an unique
role for achieving the much required financial sustainability in the managing the operational
expenses of their member nations in these sorts of mega events and that is evident with the
pool of sponsors that they are able to acquire over the years for each and every specific
activities related to the conduct of these mega events. With a precise consideration towards
the selection of the sponsors from the part of the esteemed sporting organization, the
reflection of the commercial intelligence of the senior management of the company is pretty

5MARKETING
visible. Joe Levy in one of the newsletters of SportsPro, commented on the excellence of the
organization in selecting their sponsors with the claim that “There is a case that the ICC’s
commercial intelligence has grown in recent years, with the global media rights deal with
Disney-owned Star cited as an example of the benefits of securing a long-term broadcast
partner. (Sportspromedia.com 2019)” According to Joe Levy, one of the major responsibility
for the sporting organizations in managing their sponsors is the activities that they conduct
for providing a broader scope to the companies in promoting their products and services. In
such situation, ICC is seen to portray excellent efficiency in managing the media and
broadcast of these mega events which is visible with the comments of Joe Levy.
“The ICC also recently extended its live production agreement with UK-based media
company Sunset +Vine to manage the live production of its major tournaments through 2023.
This World Cup is also set to be one of the most inclusive yet as Steve Elworthy, the
tournament’s managing director, revealed at SportsPro Live 2019. (Sportspromedia.com
2019)”
On the other hand, the success of the promotional activities of the business companies
in these mega events is largely dependent on the capability of the companies in influencing
larger number of customers in consuming the same. Having said that, the reservation of the
game for the individuals of a specific gender had the possibility of limiting the scope of the
sponsor companies in influencing the desired number of existing and probable customers.
With a specific consideration towards such a limitations, ICC is seen to put strong emphasis
on the women viewership and that is visible sales of tickets to approximately 150,000 number
of women spectators which is recognized as significant from the perspective of cricket and
sponsorship (Sportspromedia.com 2019). On the other hand, VII (2017) claimed the urge of
ICC in promoting the game amongst the female spectators is also supported by their objective
of inviting the participation of the female individuals. Apart from this, VII (2017) stated that

6MARKETING
one of the important objective of ICC in managing or in acquiring larger number of sponsor
organizations is the grassroot development and the infrastructural development. Though the
funding from the part of the sponsor organizations has the capability to reduce the difficulty
of ICC in conducting the mega events, however, a great share of the contribution of sponsor
organizations is invested in the development of the infrastructure of ICC. The necessity of
modern facilities and infrastructure in the enhancement of the quality of the game and in
improving the accuracy of the decisions in the context of game, has certainly influenced the
governing body in managing the funds in this specific field in a professional manner. Other
than this, Biscaia et al. (2013) mentioned that the senior management of ICC is able to
understand the importance of the grassroot development for the efficient maintenance of the
sustainability of the game. In such situation, the effective management of the monetary
investment for opening the excellence centres, academies and continuously improving the
infrastructure of the same, has become one of the top most priority for ICC.
Conclusion:
On an ending note, it is visible that the sponsorship deals play a significant role in the
improvement of the attractiveness of the operational actions of the sporting organizations.
The monetary investment from the part of the sponsor organizations for the efficient
management of the mega events, infrastructural development and for the grassroot
development, is pretty significant in contributing to the potential of the sporting organization.
On the other hand, ICC is seen to add greater flexibility to their activities for providing
certain scope to the business companies in promoting and marketing their services and
products.

7MARKETING
References:
Alonso-Dos-Santos, M., Vveinhardt, J., Calabuig-Moreno, F. and Montoro-Ríos, F., 2016.
Involvement and image transfer in sports sponsorship. Engineering Economics, 27(1), pp.78-
89.
Biscaia, R., Correia, A., Rosado, A.F., Ross, S.D. and Maroco, J., 2013. Sport sponsorship:
The relationship between team loyalty, sponsorship awareness, attitude toward the sponsor,
and purchase intentions. Journal of Sport Management, 27(4), pp.288-302.
Cornwell, T.B., 2014. Sponsorship in marketing: Effective communication through sports,
arts and events. Routledge.
Fortunato, J.A., 2013. Sports sponsorship: Principles and practices. McFarland.
Icc-cricket.com 2019. International Cricket Council. (2019). Retrieved 11 December 2019,
from https://www.icc-cricket.com/
Sportspromedia.com 2019. ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 commercial preview: Every team,
every sponsor, every broadcaster. Retrieved 11 December 2019, from
http://www.sportspromedia.com/analysis/icc-cricket-world-cup-2019-tv-rights-sponsors
Velija, P., 2015. Women’s Cricket, International Governance and Organisation of the Global
Game. In Women’s Cricket and Global Processes (pp. 89-118). Palgrave Macmillan, London.
VII, P., 2017. Sport development. Routledge Handbook of International Sport Business.

8MARKETING
Bibliography:
Icc-cricket.com 2019. International Cricket Council. Retrieved 11 December 2019, from
https://www.icc-cricket.com/about/development/icc-academy
Icc-cricket.com 2019. International Cricket Council. Retrieved 11 December 2019, from
https://www.icc-cricket.com/about/development
Moneycontrol.com 2019. Sports advertising to boom during ICC Cricket World Cup 2019.
Retrieved 11 December 2019, from https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/trends/sports-
trends/sports-advertising-to-boom-during-icc-cricket-world-cup-2019-4044111.html