As the World Cup begins to consume our attention, are there inspirations that we can borrow from the rich history of one day cricket, pertinent to the domain of branding? As balls and bails fly around, there are some very interesting insights to be learnt.

Distinctive new identity

One day cricket very quickly assumed the proportions of a zipped up and revitalised version of the traditional game. It built bridges with a new generation, looking to rebel against the choices of their predecessors, and did this rather astutely by still keeping them within the cricketing fold.

At a similar level, Toyota, despite its much vaunted success in the American market, was essentially perceived as a value offering there. To exploit the opportunity at the luxury end of the market, the company introduced the highly successful Lexus - distinctively different in a lot many ways, talking to a Toyota elusive audience.

Challenging the Leader

India won the World Cup in 1983, much to everyone's surprise. The West Indies were absolutely ruling world cricket then. But that final was one day. And that made even a great team susceptible to what Vivian Richards famously said, 'was a bad day at the office'.

Likewise, the hegemony of traditional heavy weight brands can also be breached. One needs to look at beginning that task by winning one small battle at a time. Avis, the car rental brand, beyond the great advertising that it ran, also appropriated the challenger brand status by implying that Hertz could do better on customer service parameters.

Treading the Opposite Path

One day cricket perused the facets of test cricket and merrily proceeded in the opposite direction. For instance, in tests, the opening overs are marked with caution and pacers are given the new ball. One day cricket turned these and many more paradigms completely around.

During the 1996 World Cup, Pepsi smartly stole a march over all its rivals. With the others jostling to garner official associations with the event, Pepsi positioned itself in a highly unofficial, engaging and irreverent manner. This was not just very much in synergy with its overall positioning, but also led to marketing initiatives whose effects lingered for a very long time.

Realizing When One is Truly Onstage

Given busy modern day lives, there is an ebb and flow to the TV audience in one day cricket. Most people preferably tune in at the beginning, and then come back to watch the slog overs.

Jan Carlson gave us the famous concept of the 'moments of truth', when it came to customer service. This entailed that the customer was consciously or otherwise, evaluating every single interaction with the brand. But the human mind is more sensitive to fluctuations. It is perhaps the time to introduce 'customer service power plays'. Above and beyond the moments of truth, these represent apertures for enhanced and accentuated customer service moments that leave truly indelible impressions.

Finally, as the nations try different tactics to succeed, it makes sense to pay attention to what seems to be working. One just might get some valuable ideas to hit the competition for a six.

The writer is a Mumbai-based brand consultant, creative thinking trainer and author of 'The Madness Starts at 9'.

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