IPL - heady concoction of Cricket and Bollywood...

If one were to name two things which has over the years captivated the interests of we Indians it would be ...................Bollywood and Cricket....

IPL with the new twenty-20 format tournament running currently has managed to capture both these interests, the presence of huge number of Bollywood actors in the Stadium is adding to the glamor of cricket. The following for the tournament is seen to be believed. On the inaugural day I was unfortunate enough to be stuck near the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore. Any doubts that the skeptics had about the success of the tournament would have been silenced in the traffic jam....

There are many things which are in favor of the tournament including the shorter format of the game, which makes it more exciting. The timing of the matches, from 7-11 pm, is also a added plus as it is the prime TV watching time at home. But questions were raised on whether the format of having cities compete against one another make sense to Indian viewers, and the ads shown initially did not help much either...... But then as one of my friend said " In India even if Galli Cricket is shown live , people would watch it", and he was proven right, seeing the crowds in the stadiums and the TV ratings of matches...

The question of how does one decide which of these new events would actually be succeed and how much to invest in purchasing air-time , sponsorship ...if it succeeds then even before you react the prices are hiked. Seeing the success of the tournament Sony Max has hiked the rates of 10 sec ad slots from 2.5 - 3-4 lakhs, Link.

I think predicting the success of new events be it IPL or KBC or the new show panchvi pass... would always remain more of an art...

The issue of how the franchises would make money is one which would be answered as the tournament progresses, link

Additional Links

Article in business standard gives us a good over-view of the issues related to sponsorship of IPL Link. ET on mix of cricket and bollywood, link

Two Important Marketing events

I couldn’t resist the temptation of writing on the two important marketing events across the world. First, the launch of iphone by Apple yesterday, and the launch of the seventh and the last book in the Harry potter series. Both of these events are I would say the most hyped events of the last few months. For the i-phone, Apple and Steve Jobs have done a fantastic job creating buzz in the blog world and there are many reviews on the internet. The phone itself would take time some to reach India, though the grey market is promising unlocked phones in a matter of few weeks.

The second event - the launch of the seventh Harry potter book would happen simultaneously in India and many of the country’s prominent book retailer are preparing for a gala launch for the book. The retailers expect the sale of the book to be good, but an article in Business week points out that the book is no longer profitable for the retailer in the US and UK , as most of the retailers are selling the book below cost. They are using the book a loss-leader to attract millions of consumers into their shops by offering heavy discount on the Potter book. Even the shares of the original publisher Bloomsbury also plummeted by three-quarters as revenues fell during the period the author was busy writing the book. If J K Rowling’s does end up killing the Harry in her seventh book, one can only guess what would happen to the shares of company. Though the consumer is not complaining about the discounts that they would getting in the new book .....

Cosmetic Changes in a Product

Direct consumer contact through setting-up small exclusive stalls in front of malls is an idea which is picking up in the country. In the last few months I have seen many of them in front of the various malls which i have visited across the country. Yesterday I did decide to go into a stall/ exhibition organized by Godrej for the home appliances division. Actually this was my second visit in the first visit none of the people in the stall had any interest in speaking to me , but this time atleast on of the sales guys came up to me to show the appliances. The exhibition as specifically to promote the "Eon" range of home appliances. I was shown all the variety which was there, my interest was in the "Eon" fridge range. My first question - as would be of any consumer was 'what is new in this fridge versus the old versions you have?'. I was told that it had more vents than the older fridge so provided better cooling, for second advantage was i was shown some clips which were put on the freezer, and was told that they could be used to hang poly-packs. The third was that in the frisge there was more space for bottles and one could store 2.5 liter bottles. The seperators were made of plastic and warranty and other stuff. I was expeting the saleman to come up with some thing more about the product, when he brought out a book and asked me to give my name and address.I gave hime my card and went on to watch the movie which was about to start.

But later on reflecting on the experience two things struck me as odd, one was a minor one, on the use of having such stalls in the first place, when you don't have staff or have staff which is inadequately trained to explain the benefits of a new product to a consumer.I though with all the money going in for creating a sub-brand Godrej must be having some thing up its sleeve to corner more market share, I decided to a Google to find out about the product features, and all the information I could get was what the salesman had told me at the stall.I went to the company website to find out more about the new range , but there also couldn't get any additional information. This brings us to the second and more important point, do companies like Godrej expect to attract customers through such cosmetic changes to a product. For me as a consumer I couldn't see even a single compelling reason why I should go and buy the 'Eon" range.

PS: When i opened one of the refrigerators in the stall i found it was stuffed with promotional material, of which i was not given any. How much would it cost for the company to keep the fridge running during the time the stall, runs, and give a chance to the consumer to experience the product in its running condition.