Indian Solar Firms Bank On Cricket To Popularise Renewables

Indian solar industry in the last few months has increased its reliance on cricket to bolster the popularity of renewable energy in the country. With the passage of time, we have seen more solar firms especially the Indian solar module manufacturers jumping onto the bandwagon of using cricketers and the Indian Premier League (IPL) to attract more eyeballs towards solar. This comes at a time when the Indian government has announced adding solar rooftops to 1 crore new households through the PM Surya Ghar: Muft Bijli Yojana.

The latest news came from the Gujarat-based solar module manufacturer-Navitas which recently decided to partner with Royal Challengers Bangalore. “NavitasSolar is elated to announce that we are the official renewable energy partner of Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB). We are committed to combining clean energy with cricket to inspire fans and viewers towards a greener, better future,” the firm said in its statement on social media, one-day ago.

However, the entry of cricket in the marketing of solar is not alien in India. Although selected in numbers, but several Indian solar firms have tried their hands with cricket to boost the popularity of their solar products. Earlier, another Gujarat-based solar module maker Rayzon partnered with Gujarat Titans. In the latest addition, the firm also announced adding one more team for their sponsorship-Chennai Superkings. The move was recently announced by the team at the recently-held Inter Solar 2024 at Gandhinagar.

Besides Navitas, Rayzon, Saatvik Solar too have tried their hands on cricket with a different way. It used famous cricket Ravindra Jadeja as its National Brand Ambassador. The ads with the brand ambassador of Saatvik talked about the savings with solar power.

The whole solar marketing in India is undergoing a transition. While some of the solar firms have invested heavily on sponsoring IPL teams and cricketers, several other inverter and battery firms have also tried roping in cricketers and celebrities. Linking the solar firms with IPL teams and their matches often fetch good views for these firms with a wider audience.

Celebrities, newspapers and influencers 

The Indian solar sector which was initially reluctant to spend big for newspaper ads and celebrity endorsements have now also gone ahead to accept the new. For example, we have already seen the endorsement of Homescape by Amplus by Bollywood producer Gauri Khan. When it comes to big newspaper advertisements, we have already seen full-page ads by Indian solar EPC players like SolarSqaure.

However, another rising marketing route is to rope in social media influencers. While there are selected social media influencers dedicating their full time on renewable energy but tech product reviewers or the selected renewable energy and sustainability influencers have also been hired to showcase the solar modules, energy storage devices and others to reach out to the new segment of audience more glued to their mobiles.