(Disclaimer: This is nothing but a "Knowledge is Power" post. No marketing or any form of endorsement intended. Also I do not have anything against Cricket or IPL.)
After the Asia Cup win not so long ago and the near - T20 World Cup – win, us Indians have been granted the opportunity to be at the edge of our seats and shout ourselves hoarse supporting India in what is “unofficially” called India’s national game – Cricket (For the record, India’s national game is hockey. Period.) Up until the time Sachin, the God; Dravid, the Wall; VVS; Sehwag and the other eminent players championed the game, I was hooked to it. The fervor became a little less when the ground was replaced by the protégés, who were awesome in style and passion, but were not “THE MASTERS”. Let’s fast forward a lot, the IPL (Indian Premier League) and the Champions League saw different cities from different states pitted against each other. Here, the game became hugely commercialized (not that it wasn’t before); but it was commercialization bordering on insanity (for want of a better word). From the auctioning of players to merchandising to TV ads, the money was churning in like you wouldn’t believe. Hailing from Tamil Nadu, I rooted for Chennai Super Kings (CSK) year after year till this particular year (CSK is banned from the IPL races for 2 years, long story short). My craze for CSK and IPL was extreme. As my Facebook Memories very kindly remind me every day (now that the IPL season has started), I was always on the ready to pounce and defame anybody else who would oppose CSK and I remember cussing loudly at the TV when the match wasn’t going in CSK’s favour.
Looking back, Kudos is in order to the marketers behind IPL. They got what they wanted and we fell for it – hook, line and sinker! Having been a marketing student, I believe this is one of the best case studies that gives you an example for every Marketing theory that Kotler spoke about. You’ve got to agree, right? While we celebrate the wins and boo the losses in cricket, we have forgotten other players representing other forms of sport. Those players who had to give up their dreams from lack of funds and learn to deal with an alternate life hoping that someday they will be able to help players like them realize their dreams. I came across an article, while Wikipedia-ing, on Kutraleeswaran – the swimming sensation who won accolades and broke records when he was just 13 (http://www.sportskeeda.com/swimming/kutraleeswaran-indias-forgotten-swimming-sensation). He went on to pursue an engineering degree and a Master’s degree from the US, due to lack of sponsors to support his swimming streak. He hopes to someday start a training academy to help other swimmers realize their potential. He is just one of the many hundreds of examples of potential Olympians and/or record breakers who have lost their dreams because the spotlight was on Cricket and we were forcibly made to look at the highlight. Sponsors looked away because of the perception that the money was in cricket and no other sport.
Looking back, Kudos is in order to the marketers behind IPL. They got what they wanted and we fell for it – hook, line and sinker! Having been a marketing student, I believe this is one of the best case studies that gives you an example for every Marketing theory that Kotler spoke about. You’ve got to agree, right? While we celebrate the wins and boo the losses in cricket, we have forgotten other players representing other forms of sport. Those players who had to give up their dreams from lack of funds and learn to deal with an alternate life hoping that someday they will be able to help players like them realize their dreams. I came across an article, while Wikipedia-ing, on Kutraleeswaran – the swimming sensation who won accolades and broke records when he was just 13 (http://www.sportskeeda.com/swimming/kutraleeswaran-indias-forgotten-swimming-sensation). He went on to pursue an engineering degree and a Master’s degree from the US, due to lack of sponsors to support his swimming streak. He hopes to someday start a training academy to help other swimmers realize their potential. He is just one of the many hundreds of examples of potential Olympians and/or record breakers who have lost their dreams because the spotlight was on Cricket and we were forcibly made to look at the highlight. Sponsors looked away because of the perception that the money was in cricket and no other sport.
Things are looking up though; Star Sports’ Pro Kabbadi and the Hockey India League have turned out to amass massive success. Sanjay Gupta, the COO of Star Sports, spoke recently about the online viewership numbers for the sport (majorly young people) growing to more than 18 times (7 lakh to 13 million viewers) the number from season one. And this is after just 2 weeks into season 2. Sadly, the marketing here as well is evident – what with catchy names, flashy uniforms and blazing commercials. I find solace in the fact that at least it is not cricket and that a lot many players are getting to compete for the well-deserved pedestal.
In conclusion, I agree a thousand times over that the entertainment factor in cricket is still prevalent, but it is rather garish & harsh. The spirit that we harbored while watching the golden days of cricket has been replaced by something else that I do not know how to name (yet). It has become a platform for misuse of power, monetary gains and sensationalism, crude remarks and stupidity (read: Cancellation of Harsha Bogle’s commentating contract. Listening to the Hindi commentators on the radio is so much better than tolerating Sidhu’s commentary)! But Kudos to the marketers though, wow!
PS: IPL’s Marketing Mix has 7Ps. Gasp! (http://www.marketing91.com/marketing-mix-ipl/)
