Keeping IPL exciting

With Pepsi out of it, IPL gets a new sponsor. Is this good or bad?

Chennai

Malathi, I do believe IPL has this uncanny way of inventing for itself good viewership season after season. I call it “inventing” because it is all about the process which makes every season packed with zing of both the positive and negative kind. The positive zing is certainly part of a contemplated plan, and the negative zing is of happenstance. Both add to the glory and glamour of this format of ‘cricketainment’. This is certainly not cricket, but this is cricketaiment, for sure.

I do believe viewership will be good. A change of sponsor makes little difference. We are told Vivo is in as a sponsor. This means a new and hungry sponsor, who believes that IPL gives it the best awareness score than any other property. The strange fact is that the mobile phone handset is the new Pepsi. By that I mean that the mobile phone handset is as much fast moving consumer good as any other in mobile-connected India. The new sponsor needs to invest time, energy, money and most importantly creativity in ensuring that the format of sponsorship is as exciting as what Pepsi brought to the game. And this needs to be done “Oh yes, abhi !” Not too much time left for that.

You recently called Bengaluru ‘Start-upUru’ on a television channel. Why?

Hyderabad

Rohit, cities love tags. It is part of their branding armour.

Tags are important. Bengaluru as we know it today has acquired very many tags in the past. Pensioner’s Paradise, Electronics City, Public Sector City, BPO city, IT city and what not. Add ‘Pub City’ to the list. Tags define the brand. The brand at the end of the day is a ‘meta-tag’, an amalgam of all the tags a city typically collects for itself as badges. Badges given to it spontaneously by the people, rather than badges thrust upon it through the advertising or marketing process.

Chicago is remembered as the ‘Windy City’ not because of an advertising and marketing process, but simply because people find it very, very windy. In many ways nature contributed to this tag.

Today, I call Bengaluru a ‘Start-upUru’. In a total 741 sq km area, we have a total of 6,119 start-ups to date. Add to this list the number of folks operating from home and who have not yet shown up with the funding bowl, and the numbers must be bigger. This means that across every sq km., you will find 8.2 start-ups. You throw a stone in Bengaluru, you will hit a start-up! This is really ‘Start-upUru’ for me. Add another tag from me then.

Can re-branding fail?

New Delhi

Mohita, re-branding can work, and re-branding can fail. It all depends on the logic pattern that drives the change. It is really all in the implementation, rather than deciding what to brand as what.

Re-branding is all about acquiring a new face for an old offering. The new face that you acquire needs to resonate well enough with your target customers. It should pack integrity in it as well. If not, you write a self-fulfilling prophecy of doom.

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