Nokia Mobile declined to extend KKR sponsorship deal in India

One of the biggest promotions Nokia Mobile did in India for the Nokia brand was sponsoring Kolkata Knight Riders. The Nokia brand was there on their jerseys, Nokia Mobile did commercials during games and players also took part and appeared in the promo material.

According to InsideSport.co, Nokia Mobile declined to extend the sponsorship deal for 2020. The cost of the sponsorship is Rs. 16 crore, which converts to around 2 million euros or 2.2 million dollars per year. While this doesn’t sound that much considering how popular cricket in India is, one has to think about how much does Nokia Mobile get back from the partnership. Does the investment in sponsoring the team translate to actual sales?

As our well-known tipster points out, the deal could have been a huge springboard if Nokia Mobile launched a “mass appealing device”, because Vivo sponsored the cricket league (IPL) and saw dramatic rise in sales in the meantime. I would argue further that no such deal was ever needed for Nokia considering the brand awarenesses the brand had in 2016/2017 when it returned to the market.

Thanks NokiaMob lover for the tip. 🙂