INTRODUCTION

India Premiere League is a professional Twenty20 cricket league in India which contested
annually by franchise teams representing Indian cities. The league, founded by the Board of
Control for Cricket in India at 18th April 2008, the scheduled is over April and May of every year
the league timetable which broadcast with different media including streaming live by YouTube.
The title sponsor of India Premier League (IPL) is Vivo Electronics, thus the league is also
known as the Vivo Indian Premier League. The league is constitute with 11 teams which have to
compete from the begging of the league’s first season and then five till now have won the title at
least once such as Mumbai Indians, Kolkata Knight Riders and Chennai Super Kings have won
twice, while Rajasthan Royals and Deccan Chargers have won once. But the current champion of
the IPL 2015 season is Mumbai Indians which holding the cup till now. From entertainment
sector, sports are the leading category in terms of fans, annual contribution and the popularity
owing to different category contained. Sports touch many people’s heart and creating a brand
loyalty and love. For instance, during 2014 IPL was estimated to be US 2.2$ billion which
according to BCCI in 2015 IPL season contributed Rs. 0.5 billion (US$7.4 million) to the gross
domestic product of Indian economy. This shows that sports contribute at high percentage to the
economy of country as the consumer’s loyalty to the brand.

Brand love is the interpersonal relationship which customers have with their favorite product or
brand in the market. As the independent variable, brand love influence decision making of the
customers towards the brand or product in the market which is dependent variable and WOM
(word of mouth) as mediator between these two. We have seen brand love as the strong
independent variable to motivate and affect consumer behavior to create the brand image, brand
personality of the product in the market. As Researchers identified five possible theoretical
mechanisms through which anthropomorphism may influence brand love such as category-level
evaluation, cognitive fluency, cognitive consistency, self-extension and self-congruence, There is
relationship between brand love and anthropomorphism which is kindly strong to bring positive
attitude to brand love, In particular, perceived quality is an important predictor of brand love.

Due to love construct two brand love scale have been developed but they are subject to
conceptual limitation. There are 7 first order dimension uniqueness, pleasure, intimacy,
idealization, duration, dream, memories. There are other second solutions with two factors
labeled Passion and Affection, Love towards a brand is highly similar to interpersonal love.
From idea of brand resonance as the relationship built between the customers and the brand,
there are importance to build brand resonance, in the cutthroat competition they are ways of
maintaining the existence of brand in the market as to create brand loyalty and engagement.

LITERATURE REVIEW

Carroll and Ahuvia (2006) did a conceptual research to check that the brand can make its own
reputation through consumer by their word of mouth, loyalty and their satisfaction. The research
was all about that how (brand love)it can help in explaining and predicting the variations in the
rate of consumption or buying of products of satisfied consumer in future. There are also some
limitations that every consumer have different reason for the brand, some like because of
infetuation, some because of loyalty, liking, appearance and so on.

Albert, Merunka, Florence (2009) did a conceptual research in France to measure the feeling of
love consumer a might hold it, to investigate and measure love construct, to understand the
limitation of love in market, To measure issues linked to the two brand love scale currently. They
also found that due to love construct two brand love scale have been developed but they are
subject to conceptual limitation, There are 7 first order dimension uniqueness, pleasure,
intimacy, idealization, duration , dream , memories., There are other second solution with two
factors labeled Passion and Affection. Love towards a brand is highly similar to interpersonal
love. The limitation of the research is that It is difficult to determine wheather brand love can
bring effect on object or product, the study of brand love must be too much theoritiaclly, Many
researchers do not refer interpersonal theories on love, concept of love is more strongly linked to
interpersonal than brand/product.

Albert (2010) did a conceptual and explanatory research to measure research proposes a new
brand love scale that consists of interpersonal love items derived from different scales. The
finding was it is a conceptual and explanatory research which proposes a new brand love scale
that consists of interpersonal love items derived from different scales.

Sarkar (2011) did a conceptual and traditional research in India to investigate about the consumer
emotional relationship with the brand. The findings of the research was it is related with
conceptual and traditional research In which the consumer are emotionally attached with the
brand and also shows that why consumer are conscious for the brand it can be any reason, like
satisfaction, consumer delight and many others and the limitations were if the consumer is not
aware about any brand and it is existing in the market then there is no role/position of that brand
in market.

Ismail, spinelli (2012) did a conceptual research in UK to developing a causal model

incorporating brand love, brand personality, brand image and WOM, to investigate the causal
model and describe them, to address this gap between brand personality, love, and image. The
finding was only brand image is considered as a determinant of brand love that affects Word of
Mouth along with brand personality.

Batra, Ahuvia and Bagozzi (2012) did a grounded theory is to measure that can the consumer
pay premium for their brand. They found that how consumer like-dislike the brands by many
factors like experience, emotions, appearance and Word of Mouth. There was also some
limitation like sometime the brand is not able to comfort the need and satisfaction of the
consumer.

Kadapa (2013) did a conceptual research in India to examine 10keys that threaten the viability of
IPL, to provide some strategic recommendation to issue good structure of rational cost and
expenditure. The finding of the research was some people are taking cricket as a entertainment
but some are using as match fixing and gambling. The Limitation was IPL has archived huge
amount although its losing the popularity due to the match fixing scandal.

Yassin and Shamim (2013) did a Simple random sampling research in Pakistan to is to measure
role of word of mouth and intension towards brand. The finding was Brand trust, brand
experience, emotions towards brand, word of mouth and affective commitment affect the
purchase intension and the limitation of the research was sometime the finding and outcome do
not match exactly which can be applied to brand love.

Ranjabarian, Kazemi and Borandegi (2013) did a hypothesis structural Equation Modeling and
Amos Graphic research in Isfahanto how the companies are making relations with the consumer
by providing product/services so the consumer will love their brand. The finding of the research
was every time the consumer satisfaction is not enough to be loyal towards brand the researchers
have to understand the needs and wants of the consumer otherwise the consumer will shift to the
competitor and the limitation of the research was there are lot of competitors in the market if the
company will not understand the need and wants of the consumer then they will shift to the
competitor.

Sallam (2014) did a Conceptual research in Saudi Arabia to show the relationship between
brand love and the WOM with decision making, To indicate brand love as the independent
variable while WOM as the mediator and decision making as dependent variable. The finding of
the research was that it explain about the Word of Mouth as the mediator between consumer
purchasing decision and brand love, it create the consumer's decision making by building
consumer's brand love.

Rauschnabel , Ahuvia (2014) did a Conceptual Research in Germany to investigates the

influence of anthropomorphism on brand love in the context of defensive marketing, To
management with a focus on consumer–brand relationships and social media. The finding of the
research was researchers identified five possible theoretical mechanisms through which
anthropomorphism may influence brand love: category-level evaluation, cognitive fluency,
cognitive consistency, self-extension and self-congruence, There is relationship between brand
love and anthropomorphism which is kindly strong to bring positive attitude to brand love, In
particular, perceived quality is an important predictor of brand love.

Jouzaryan, Dehbini and Shekari (2015) did a research in Iran to explore the relations towards
brand love by different factors like brand personality and brand trust. The finding of the research
was the researchers have used non-probability random sampling to know how much people love
their brand with the help of questionnaire. The limitation of the research was brand personality
has a positive influence on brand preference, affection, loyalty and purchase.

Kang (2015) did a personal interview research in India to knowhow the marketers can
understand the needs and wants of Indian consumer and can attract consumers towards their
brand.The finding of the research was they are doing many researches by asking questions to
different people so they can come to know what are the changes they have to do to make
consumer to love their brand and now what the consumers are thinking about their brand. The
limitation of the research was every day there is a new product in a market with different brand
so the marketers work is so heavy they have to find each and every problem by which they can
beat the competitor, it consume lot of money and time too.

Sallam and Wahid (2015) did a conceptual research to explore different variables (brand
satisfaction, brand identification and emotion) whichconsumer thinks at the time of buying the
brand. The finding of the research was consumer focus on the positive aspects of the company
and brand, this lead the consumer to love their brand and they become loyal to it and it also help
the company to make long term relation and profit. The limitation of the research was if the
brand will not add up something in the consumer appearance and will not satisfy then the
consumer will shift to the other brand.

RESEARCH OBJECTIVE

 To measure the brand love towards IPL (Indian Premier League).

 To measure how many students in Lovely Professional University watch IPL.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Research methodology includes the various methods of collecting data which can be
secondary and primary data.
 Research Design
The framework for conducting the research project is known as research design. We are
doing our research by using a descriptive research design because we are finding brand
love towards IPL (Indian Premier League).
 Sources of Data
We can collect our data through primary data and secondary data. Primary data is a data
which is collected for first time, it is fresh data and not published before anywhere.
Primary data are collected by survey, interviews and observation method. To conduct
our survey we made a questionnaire to measure brand love towards IPL. Secondary data
is that data which has already been collected and published. We can collect it from
websites, journals, newspapers, magazines and books.
 Target Respondents
Our target respondents are the people who watch IPL matches live or on TV(especially
students in LPU).
  Methods of communication:
Personal interview using a questionnaire.
 Sampling technique
The method used for selecting sample from the population is simple random probability
sampling technique. In simple random technique everyone has equal chance for getting
selected for sampling.
 Sample Size
Sample size of our survey is 200 respondents who watch IPL.
 Area of survey:
Area of survey will be Lovely Professional University.
 Scaling techniques
Our scaling Technique is the Likert scale; (1) Extremely Dissatisfied (2) Moderately
Dissatisfied (3) Slightly Dissatisfied (4) Neutral (5) Slightly Satisfied (6)
Moderately Satisfied (7) Extremely Satisfied. We used the same independent variables
to make the questionnaire which are self-brand integration, passion-driven behaviors and
positive emotional connection.

REFERENCE

Albert, N., & Florence, P.V. (2009).Measuring the love feeling to a brand with interpersonal love
items, The Australasian Marketing Journal, 1-8.
Albert, N., & Florence, P.V. (2010).Measuring the Love Feeling for a Brand Using Interpersonal
Love Items, Journal of Marketing Development and Competitiveness, 5(1), 57-61.

Albert, N., Merunka, D., & Florence, P.V. (2009).The Feeling of Love Toward a Brand: Concept
and Measurement,Advance in Consumer Research, 36, 300-307.

Batra, R., Ahuvia, A., & Bagozzi, R.P. (2012). Brand Love, Journal of Marketing, 76, 1-16.

Carroll, B.A., & Ahuvia, A.C. (2006).Some Antecedents and Outcomes of Brand
Love.Marketing Letters, 17(2), 79-89.

Ismail, A.R., & Spinelli, G. (2012).Effects of Brand Love, Personality And Image on Word of
Mouth, Journal of Fashion Marketing and Management, 16(4), 386-398.
Jouzaryan, F., Dehbini, N., & Shekari, A. (2015). The Impact of Brand Personality, Brand
Trust, Brand Love and Brand Experience on Consumer Brand Loyalty, International
Journal of Review in Life Sciences, 5(10), 69-76.
Kadapa, S. (2013). How Sustainable is the Strategy of the Indian Premier League- IPL? A
Critical Review of 10 key issues that impact the IPL Strategy, International Journal of
Scientific and Research Publications,3 (12), 1-10.
Kang, A. (2015). Brand Love-Moving Beyond Loyalty, Arab Economics and Business Journal,
90-100.
Ranjbarian, B., Kazemi, A., & Borandegi, F. (2013). Analyzing the Antecedents and
Consequences of brand love with a case study on Apple Cell Phone Users, International
Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, 3(11), 320-326.
Rauschnabel, P.A., & Ahuvia, A.C. (2014). You’re so lovable: Anthropomorphism and brand
love, Journal of Brand Management, 21(5), 372-395.
Sallam, M.A. (2014). The Effects of Brand Image and Brand Identification on Brand Love and
Purchase Decision Making: The Role of WOM, International Business Research,
7(10),187-191.
Sallam, M.A., & Wahid, N.A. (2015). The Effects of Satisfaction and Brand Identification on
Brand Love and Brand Equity Outcome: The Role of Brand Loyalty, International
Journal of Economics, Commerce and Management, 3(2), 2015.
Sarkar, A. (2011). Romancing With a Brand: A Conceptual Analysis Of Romantic Consumer-
Brand Relationship,Management & Marketing, 6(1), 79-94.
Yasin, M., & Shamim, A. (2013).Brand Love: Mediating Role in Purchase Intentions and Word-
of-Mouth,Journal of Business and Management, 7(2),101-109.
 Section – A

Name: Gender: Male Female

Nationality: Indian Non-Indian Age (Yrs): 15-20 20-25 Above25

Education: UG PG Doctorate Other

Monthly household income (INR): Below 50,000 50000-1 Lakh Above 1 Lakh

Do You Prefer Online Shopping: Yes No

Which online site do you like: Flipkart Snapdeal Amazon ShopClues

Which Team Is yourfavourite:

Describe Your Interest in IPL: Low Average High Very High

What is the main reason for watching IPL? Interest in Cricket Interest in a team

Interest in a player Entertainment Value Any Other

Do You Follow IPL related News? Yes No

Dear Respondents,
We are going to ask some more questions related to brand love on self-brand integration,
passion-driven behavior & positive emotional connection. We are using 1-7 Likert Scale.
Please give your genuine answer. Give your answer according to scale:- (1) Extremely
Dissatisfied (2) Moderately Dissatisfied (3) Slightly Dissatisfied (4) Neutral
(5) Slightly Satisfied (6) Moderately Satisfied (7) Extremely Satisfied.
Variable 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Self-Brand Integration
Indian Premier League say something true and deep about who I am as a 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
person.
Indian Premier League show any important parts of self how I see 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
myself.
It makes me look like what I want to look. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

IPL makes me feel like how I want to feel. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

IPL show something that makes my life more meaningful. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Indian Premier League Contributes something that is making my life 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

worth living
I get to know about how to find myself through IPL. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
I get to know it keeps popping into my head. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Passion- Driven Behavior
I am willing to pay for every IPL Match. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

IPL makes me feel Desiring. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

I feel the sense of watching IPL. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

I am aware of the IPL Schedule /Time Table. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

I watched the latest matches. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Positive emotional Connection

IPL makes me feel a sense of natural fit. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

IPL fits me perfectly. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

I m emotionally connected. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

I have the feeling of bond with IPL? 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

It is fun. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7