Thursday Nov 14, 2024
Thursday Nov 14, 2024
Tuesday, 3 June 2014 01:15 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
Some can argue that the issues that Modi left behind such as the Kochi issue and the Sony deal could have wrecked this brand but in my mind that was a failure on the part of corporate India for not supporting this power brand by giving an appropriate structure to drive IPL Inc to greater heights. Let’s accept it, top entrepreneurs are not good managers.
IPL, in my view, not only launched a new brand in South Asia that has garnered a following that not even Coke or Pepsi has been able to do, but it also made brand India young, vibrant and contemporary. The question is, what can Sri Lanka learn from this experience?
Pick-up 1 – Being relevant
The real power of the $ 4 billion worth business of IPL can be highlighted with the demand increasing for more brand names wanting to get into the fray of the mother brand IPL. In season 7 it attracted Pepsi to be the key sponsor apart from a multitude of other brands, which explains the power of branding in business if it’s relevant in the eyes of customer.
If I may draw a parallel to Sri Lanka, Shangri-La, Movenpick, ITC, Avani and brands like Subway entering the Sri Lankan economy that has expanded to $ 60 billion is all about being relevant in today’s global economy but we must also check the brand value hit that will happen given the fallout from Geneva and the appointment of the commission of inquiry by the OHCHR.
We have no option but to manage the new situation that is evolving in the world especially Modi voicing the 13 Plus implementation. Sri Lanka must start working on earning a reputation with performance rather than trying to construct an image with pre-publicity advertising and post-publicity damage control is the pragmatic view of many.
Pick-up 2 – Player cap of $ 9 m
To regulate the brand IPL where one team cannot grab the best talent, a player cap has been introduced at the seventh edition of IPL. This ensures that talent is evenly spread across the teams and also that a balanced perspective needs to be maintained by each team management.
The pick-up to Sri Lanka is that we also need drive one or two key initiatives that can propel Sri Lanka to the next level of development. Very clearly Ceylon Tea is one of them with a communication budget in excess of Rs. 5 billion as at last week. The good news is that on a novel private-public partnership, the marketing plan has been agreed by the stakeholders and the global pitch resulted in the short-listing of two agencies for implementation.
Now, bureaucracy approval and then the green light to launch the campaign are requried. The current Sri Lanka Cricket team sponsorships ads to the global image building platform for Sri Lanka.
Pick-up 3 – War on talent
At the 2014 edition the key finds were to my mind Manish Pandey, Saha and Chawal to name a few, which tells us that reputation and past strong brands have lesser impact on performance and the war is on talent.
I guess the lesson for Sri Lanka is that we also need to introduce the best talent to key public sector organisations as well as bring in a private sector operating structure to CPC, CEB, SriLankan Airlines and Mihin so that performance will be the ethos of evaluation. The good news is that CEB has registered profit as per the Sunday newspapers, which is encouraging.
Pick-up 4 – Allow to innovate
Sharukh Khan, the owner of Kolkata Knight Riders, commented after the victory that even though teams have contracted individuals, one must give the freedom for the players to innovate. If not, IPL cannot blossom and unleash the real talent of brand India.
My pick on this is that whilst there is a lot of focus on tourism as a future growth industry, the reality is that it is now bringing in almost $ 2 billion into the country. Maybe in 2016 we can make the 2.5 million tourist arrivals target a reality. On the other hand the BPO/IT industry that is not highlighted much on media attracts almost $ 0.7 billion. Hence, it is very important that whilst we focus on tourism there must be equal opportunity to other sectors with strong support from policymakers, be it Ceylon Cinnamon, Ceylon Sapphire or the FTA with China and one can also add the handloom industry of Sri Lanka.
Pick-up 5 – Know your consumer
In my view, IPL, just like any other consumer brand, targets consumers who have many other options to meet the same need – be it spending two hours at the gym, hanging out with a group of friends, chilling out in a night club or watching a favourite TV program at home. Hence, the only way to lure them was to provide a fun atmosphere with music, dancers and excitement with ruthless competitiveness that helped attract 80,000 eyeballs to a venue. In fact IPL has over taken the viewership ratings of Indian soap operas, which explains the share of mind captured.
The pick-up to Sri Lanka is that we need to understand the demands of super power nations like the US, Australia, Canada, UK and maybe France and develop a strong sharp foreign policy strategy which obviously will be diaspora-led. A few days ago media carried an interview with respected experts like Dr. Dayan Jayatilleka, who very clearly spelled out that the Geneva fallout was a result of weak foreign policy. I guess we must address this issue given the ramifications that this can have on Sri Lanka in the future. We must get the Modi factor on our side, if not it will be a tough challenge given the September oral briefing and the March 2015 formal briefing at the UN.
Pick-up 6 – Not working on nostalgia
The 2014 auction sent a signal to the world that performance was more important than the world’s nostalgia. Some of the big names like Gayle and Kohli were outsmarted by the young Mumbai Indian team having to score 190 runs in just 14.2 overs. At one time MI required 101 from 57 balls and then 43 from 19 balls. Then they went on to do the impossible by winning the match at the qualifying rounds. It just tells us that it’s sheer performance that works.
The pick-up to me on the reality of Sri Lanka is that all line ministries must be focused on the pressure on the purse for the consumer, which is taking form due to the recent price hikes. The agitation by the Weerawansa front is just the tip of the iceberg, in my view. We must build on the good work done on the Divi Negamu program and focus on industrial estate development in the regions.
Pick-up 7 – Working with anyone
If we carefully examine the players for IPL season 7, we see that until the auction was over, no one knew to which team they belonged, which is very different to the traditional game of cricket, where school, club and country is the routine. Hence, the skill required is that any player has to be ready to play the game with a new set of faces and this will also keep getting rotated as the game goes on.
The pick-up to me is that in today’s economy the world is moving at such a fast pace that there is no option but learning to work with the world. Some can be sympathisers of the LTTE whilst others can be supportive of the Government’s reconciliation and peace-building efforts. But the fact is that we must engage and work with every country. If not the good efforts of economic development done by the private and public sector can be lost in the next year.
Conclusion
Whilst IPL is a money-spinner for the players, franchise owners and the Government, the pick-ups to managing the economy or a country cannot be quantified. I guess the challenge for Sri Lanka is, how do we earn the reputation that the country deserves five years since the war came to a close?
(The author is marketer by profession and public policy maker by practice. He serves on many Private, Public and the International public sector Management boards of the country. The thoughts are strictly his personal views and not the views of any organisation he serves in Sri Lanka or internationally.)
