Ball on a string

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The IPL team brand is a reality today. Even as the bidding for the City Teams is done with, it is time to sit up and shake the paradigm of geography and its old value. At least in cricketing terms.

The IPL is different. This nascent brand of wannabe cricket wants to develop a whole new paradigm of consumer acceptance altogether. The key proposition: build Team-brand loyalty rather than just plain old National-brand or State-brand loyalty.

How can this be done? How long will it take? And what are the key hurdles to cross? And importantly, can it be done at all? Last question first. Can it be done at all?

Most certainly yes. Look closely at soccer and you see the emergence of the mega-buck teams that represent a passion of their own. Are you an Arsenal fan? Or a Man-U maniac? And is the Manchester United much more of a movement than national football? And what about the eyeballs that track the game? Do they follow Team-sport more than National soccer? And which one is a weekly passion? And which one attracts the biggest bucks?

The answer is blowing in the winds my dear friends. Team soccer is bigger than it all. Team sport is more profitable than it all. More eyeballs, more frequent eyeballs, and indeed more eyeballs to monetise literally every week. More eyeballs and indeed every other body part of the fan to monetise, not only in playing season, but in slack time as well. Every ball, every T-shirt and every wrist band is an opportunity that packs money.

My definition of a brand: A brand is a thought. A thought that lives in people’s minds. The Team Bengalooru of Vijay Mallya is a thought. A thought that will live in every mind. This thought is not only about cricket. It is about more. It is about a city. It is about the passion that Bengalooru evokes in every heart, body and soul that lives in Bengalooru. Add to it the heart, body, soul and every other sundry body part that thinks positively of Bengalooru but does not live there. To that extent, this team branding of cricket provides the opportunity to harvest the passion of every cricket enthusiast who lives in Bengalooru.

The brand is today essentially consumed not by geographic clusters. Not even by consumers who live in common and identified demographic clusters. The brand today is a psychographic reality. Never mind where you live, you will consume Team Bengalooru. The moment you consume the brand and enjoy a passion-link into it, you are saying it out loud that you live out there with your mind rather than your body. Team cricket provides for this key insight to be harvested.

Building this new paradigm of team cricket will take time. It is the early entrants to the game who will singe their hands and minds and pockets. They will then wait and build. Build with every season. Build with every marketing tool of viral connect there is to use.

In sum, team brand cricket is here to stay. The monies in it are just too big to ignore. Give it six years and you will watch nothing else but a Big Sunday game of Bengalooru versus Jaipur. Maybe even a Jaipur versus a Mysooru game in the future.

What say?