Making IPL a super brand

The Indian Premier League (IPL) final last weekend was one-sided and the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) won IPL-4 easily. Chris Gayle scored a zero and ended a tournament he dominated. That's IPL for you, sometimes unpredictable, many times predictable.

IPL-4 was followed closely for a number of reasons. The issues surrounding the inclusion of the Kochi and Pune teams, the emotions surrounding the non-renewal of contracts of many iconic players like Saurav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, V.V.S Laxman by the teams, a record bid of $2.4 million for Gautam Gambhir, the challenge of viewership after the India World Cup win, the values involved in a Club vs Country choice made by cricketers!

IPL-4 is a success. Ten teams, 51 days, 74 matches, everything went well, cumulative viewership this year was ahead of 170 million, a double-digit increase in viewership. Women and children continue to be attracted to this version. IPL-4 was impacted by more than 20 per cent all other general entertainment channels, i.e. viewership of soap operas.

No big Bollywood movies were released; Bollywood clearly has recognised the threat of IPL! So, apart from the perennial doubters, the BCCI and Sundar Raman, the IPL CEO, can feel proud that they have delivered a hit with IPL-4.

What does IPL-4 mean to the team owners, the team value, the sponsors, the players, the media and the game of cricket?

Owners fall in different categories and cannot be clubbed and analysed as one. Vijay Mallya of Royal Challengers Bangalore with his own set of brands will have a different philosophy on IPL compared to Nita Ambani of Mumbai Indians who possibly doesn't really need sponsors if she decided, vs Kolkata Knight Riders where Shah Rukh Khan and Mr and Mrs Jay and Juhi Chawla Mehta run a different business model.

One can see a strong relationship developing between owners and some of their key players. This can be good and bad for all concerned. Most owners would be happy with IPL-4; the two new teams of Kochi and Pune have a significant challenge because of their poor performance, their lack of sponsors and a business model to really turn in a profit with the bids they made. Just being part of IPL will not be enough for these teams; they will have to think really different to be commercially viable.

The top three teams in terms of excitement and fan attraction have been Mumbai Indians, KKR and CSK. The value of these three teams would definitely go up this year. Their sponsors have stood by them and got value.

The total sponsorship money in IPL-4 was about Rs 1,500 crore. Sponsors are crucial for the commercial viability of IPL and we have seen many sponsors come and go in the last four years. In the process, one can differentiate the wheat from the chaff in terms of sponsors. Team sponsors are still changing shirts while television sponsors seem to be far more focused in driving value of their sponsorships.

The corporate interest in the game has picked up and IPL-4 has shown us that. Corporate sponsorship will accelerate if the stadiums had the right facilities and a number of corporate boxes, which would attract corporates to do something for their employees and customers, the way it happens in the US or in Europe. The Indian sponsor needs to think a bit more long term and cannot treat sponsorship like a T-20 match!

The players are at the heart of IPL. This format and IPL has changed their lives forever. The demands on consistent performance has gone up, a player now has to be good at all departments of the game since you cannot hide poor performance in an IPL. It has given new Indian players such as Manoj Tiwary fresh impetus to be noticed and ex-Indian team members such as S. Badrinath a chance to resurrect their careers. It has also made it challenging for players to keep their reputations intact. A Zaheer Khan or a Muralitharan, so feared in the longer version, are treated like school bowlers in an IPL format. Reputations are made and unmade with every match and that's good news for any player with the right attitude and energy to make a mark. Doing well in IPL is a confirmed savings bank account for many players.

IPL-4 has also brought into sharp focus the divide between being a good player and a captain. Five teams had Indian captains and five teams had ‘foreign' captains. The value placed on leadership and the ‘price' of captaincy will go up since this game is about momentum and a few overs here and there and a few decisions alter the course and fortunes of a team.

The big debate of club vs country will not go away for many years. This has been so in European football and has just surfaced in IPL. Did Chris Gayle have a point to prove to the West Indies board? Absolutely yes! Did Malinga decide on what's best for his future? Absolutely yes! If the system puts monetary value on a player, then one must expect the player to do the same and not be different.

This week, Salim Durrani, the Yusuf Pathan of the 1970s and who is 77-years-old, will receive a cheque of Rs 15 lakh for his contribution to cricket. In accepting this, he said, “This money will keep me going for another five years!” Financial security is something everyone craves for, especially when the shelf life of a cricketer is getting shorter now. It will be rare where a player can maximise for both, the club and the country, maybe a Tendulkar or Dhoni are examples. For most cricketers, it will be a hard choice and most cricketers I forecast will choose money over country honour. I am not saying either is good, it's not for me to comment but for the player to weigh his options.

Going forward, clubs will set up funds to care for those who played for them, very much like a company's pension plan. So, if the BCCI wants a cricketer to place country ahead of club, then the BCCI must do something innovative that is emotionally and financially powerful for cricketers.

The media and the support staff for IPL have gained a lot with IPL. We have seen many more commentators, many more ex-cricketers employed as support staff. There will always be a divided house on the quality of the IPL coverage; the purist will say the coverage is crass; the entertainment seeker will love the casual, informal, glamorous coverage. To each his own!

And, finally, IPL and the game of cricket. Is there too much cricket? Yes. The ICC and BCCI need to figure out how to manage this. IPL is important and the leadership of IPL should not get arrogant. A similar format in England will be a viable competitor to IPL. Money in Indian cricket alone does not guarantee IPL's future. The future will be better if the IPL team works with the various stakeholders to ensure that all benefit and thus making IPL a super brand, a philosophy that's more than a six-week tournament!

(D. Shivakumar is Managing Director, Nokia India Pvt Ltd.)

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