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The Business of Sports Brands | IPL grows fangs

January 23, 2010 2 Comments

At this stage after the third season of IPL got underway with capped auctions, Media rights continued to take the limelight. At the start of the first edition of the sport, GEO Super in Pakistan and Willow TV in North America had bought media rights for the extravaganza internationally, SET paying $2 b for the 10 year contract. SET MAX has already made profit in the two editions past, and new Outdoor/theater rights were awarded to ESD and MSM bought some before for DTH. The Cola wars were played in the marketing theater, Coke on Air with TV Advertising and Pepsi on ground with MSM. Another word on the sponsorships gone by, Sony SET paid $2 billion while ESD pitched in with an additional $71 million.

IPL’s rising valuation

Some of us thought that given the brand valuation riding two cliffs already, the third valuation cliff will bring direct benefice to the Franchisees. Again however, the League has stepped in, making it a rather well-managed larger cake to share. Yes it’s Google You Tube and given the fracas regarding free feed available and the growing no. of broadband users in India, the Commonwealth and across the pond in US, it is time that IPLT20.com shared the traffic with someone like Google who can definitely manage. the total brand valuation of each team now should cross $300 million and the two teams included would have a value of $3 billion which the teams are directly partaking

Go-(ogle)-ing Online

Also we know from our marketing reviews that Online advertising has already been assigned a higher than 2-3 times of the 2007 budget in 2008 and 2009. For regular Cricket and IPL sponsors, that budget has now got a real value for money click at you tube. A streaming IPL telecast, stopped by 5 minutes over the live feed on TV has not cannibalized much in audience terms. Of the universe of 20 million Indian Households ( assuming a peak of 10% of our Market, for TRPs/GRPs/Planning) and another 5 million in other Cricket playing nations, very few would switch off the TV for watching it online. However another 5 million in the USA and maybe an equal number in the 100 odd ICC affiliates would now e able to access live IPL from work and home without resorting to educational and pleading campaigns to promote the game. The USA has obviously thought about Cricket T20 leagues domestically, and the same can be sold much better with a near live feed from the pilgrim’s home as it were.

Going Social

Given the short version’s quick knocks, it isn’t surprising everyone with its popularity on social avenues. Everyone IPL has a presence on Facebook and Twitter and we will monetize together with Facebook and Twitter as well as with the IPL teams

An IPL Brand value for your brand

That said, there were other inelegant reasons, that plagued IPL’s media presence. Given the lesser budgets and the pressure to earn a tangible ROI, the first lot of advertisers would be a narrow set of new and committed brands. The Vodafone ZooZoos campaign took more than a year to come to IPL, Coke has designed a new campaign for the first time and Pepsi and Hero Honda were the other known brands in play earlier and would probably cross produce online ads as well. The smaller unknowns like Havells and Rajasthan Royals themselves have a unique opportunity to build something lasting, while teams would look to emulate the Royals in getting higher valuations and pawning off minor stakes in the team to build a reputation of positive brand valuation and a mean profit.

Two new teams right away

But enough of boring essays, the game deserves a quick repartee more than extremely long and broing writings and speeches right now. There would be many more chances to dice and slice the IPL’s universe of brands and media rights before we reach a stable set of teams, players and valuations.

The new teams would be more than willing to give a $300 million bid to get a team in IPL. I think the first ones were to be from Ahmedabad and probably Kanpur/Lucknow. Amar Singh would surely be around one of the teams in the latter case. The number of brand ambassadors and co-owners may be willing to lend a hand may not matter as there are only two teams this time around, with a purse that would easily reach $300 million for the franchise itself and only about $100 million from shared rights that Google would have paid coming in as defined revenues. It is a long term commitment and any serious brand missing the opportunity will not be able to come back in this short version of the game. Take out your chequebooks, gentlemen!

The few notes of caution

Some diplomacy would be hurt in each edition of the game with tangible and some larger intangible costs. NFL in its current form was worse off even after 80 years of the Sport and till the 60s. Here, the English, the Pakistani and the Aussies and the Boks would all feel like creating a turf to defend against this juggernaut. It would happen in some form or the other and has to be absorbed in the spirit of the game.

The other note of caution, the tangible returns of each such $1b in rights or $100 million in seasonal costs are not here yet. But they will come and projecting them should be very easy for the owners and the administrators. Also India is already bringing more than 85% of the money to the game of Cricket. The IPL is definitely tilting it into the nervous 90s. The new owners would need to back it with real commitment and the ability to hold themselves from wasting too much of it on the wrong thing. Enough Said.

Branding Cricketainment

Lalit Modi also declared new official entertainment partners in the new Viacom sensation “Colors’ doing it for Cricketainment. The deal would have easily fetched IPL franchisees $20m each if not another $100m. In fact, the price may be revised upward very soon

“Cricketainment has always been IPL’s nature. Today we add ‘Colors’, the number one entertainment channel, as our partner,” said IPL chief Lalit Modi to announce the three-year deal the Twenty20 league has entered into on behalf of its franchise teams.

“There will be pre-match and post-match fashion shows, rock star concerts and other events,” said Modi with Bollywood stars Preity Zinta and Shilpa Shetty, part owners of IPL teams Kings XI Punjab and Rajasthan Royals flanking him.

Modi said that the IPL was just a facilitator in the deal and all the money accruing from it would go to the franchise team owners.

The other partner following ESD in the poor brethren would be the on site ‘caterer’ or the food connoisseur who would be establishing standardised menus at all venues for Food and Drink. Probably coördinated color uniforms for the staff and some own sell out publicity . The new IPL Food and Beverage partner is “Red Partners” for just the current season ( One year) This deal would have come to $40 million or thereabouts, still adding INR 20 Crores of 200 million to each team’s kitty.

More profit

This year’s gate revenue would likely also cross $40 million while, Sony is set to make a cool $1 billion from ad bookings. Franchisees receive $120 m from Sony

Filed under Bollywood, Cricket, Facebook, Financial Services, IPL, Marketing, Premier League, Social Media, Sports, T20, Twitter Tagged with Ahmedabad Stringers, Colors, Cricket, Cricketainment, Deccan Chargers, Delhi Daredeveils, F&B, IPL, Kanpur Kolas, NFL, Rajasthan Royals, Red Partners, Social Media, Sports, Sports Marketing, T20, Viacom

Spanking new brands get into the Superbowl

January 13, 2010 1 Comment

We’re still talking Superbowl ads

Sports are back in town

We’ve tweeted about CBS’ success with Superbowl before. It is this year and it has won in more ways than one. The Superbowl’s runaway success brings to us a changing avatar with new brands that are more familiar to the global marketplace. We global travelers definitely look a li’l more acquiescing to the ads even if it is likely to be drab and dull on the field. Go Charlie!

Superbowl ads have been a favorite for new brand launches and the global professional fraternity has indeed been screaming loud and clear to get more meaningful brands and this CBS Superbowl is welcome in getting Unilever Dove men’s care brands, Papa Johns and Diamond Foods’ Popcorn and nuts a wider audience and greater brand recognition. A revolution brought about by us, Twitter and those global viewers that are also looking forward to a more direct competition between NFL and IPL in this season. And even as the greater games of Football and Cricket are headed for a more direct marketing showdown.

That subject in more details at the motherlode Advantage Brands

“Last year, time was being sold entering into a recession,” Mr. McClintock said. “This year, it’s being sold apparently coming out of one.”

Another difference is that a year ago, many marketers that bought Super Bowl spots were playing down their participation, fearing that the sour national mood made the usual hoopla seem inappropriate. Now, though, the hyperbole machine is being cranked up by many sponsors as they seek attention for their ad plans.

Although Super Bowl ad mainstays like FedEx, General Motors and Pepsi-Cola have said they will skip this year’s game, several newcomers have signed on, along with advertisers that buy Super Bowl spots irregularly.

They include Boost Mobile; the Census Bureau; Dockers, sold by Levi Strauss; a line of men’s skin care products from Dove, part of Unilever; Electronic Arts; HomeAway, a vacation-rental listing service; Knowledge Generation Bureau, which offers a text-message information service under the KGB brand; Motorola; Pop-Secret popcorn, to be advertised with a sibling Emerald Nuts in a spot being bought by Diamond Foods; the truTV cable channel, owned by Time Warner; and Volkswagen.

“There comes a time to step out of your comfort zone,” said one first-timer, Chris Moss, creative chairman at KGB in New York. “We’re confident we can give viewers something entertaining to watch with a little more standout than the rest.”

via Advertising – Super Bowl Ads Sales as Economic Indicator – NYTimes.com.

Something for the new kids on the block

Of course we welcome the texting team from KGB on board. And their superior punch in 3 Q3 spots will definitely be their one and only chance to get yummy action. And we love the nuts even more. The KGB hotline is 542542.

However, CBS may not have won over the kingdom yet and the next Superbowl may be back with the old favorites GM, Pepsi and more Bud flowing..

Filed under Marketing, NFL, Sports, Sports Marketing, Superbowl Tagged with IPL, NFL, SMS, Social Media, Sports, Sports Marketing, Superbowl, Twitter

Sports Marketing – a good game for Twitter

October 21, 2009 Leave a comment

MLB.com just joined the social media revolution in a way that is still as obvious, but probably hasn’t found its way into public domain. The question is if sharing the brand with Twitter officially makes it business-friendly for the sport, ( or consumer brand and advertiser like P&G, Sprint ) In fact as one might feel to be important , does this spread of ‘co branded’ Twitter and MLB/NFL/IPL/NDTV/BofA count for more than the reputation management and the catching up?

Before we move on with the discussion, let’s give the @mashable it’s due

MLB.com Shows You How Twitter Reacts Inning-by-Inning to Playoff Games

With the MLB playoffs in full swing, it’s been hard to miss the chatter on Twitter during pivotal moments during games. MLB.com is now tracking all of that action, and compiling it in an interactive inning-by-inning timeline of each game that compiles Twitter buzz alongside video highlights.

The result is MLB’s “Pulse” feature which now accompanies the Wrap Up of each game. In addition to the graph for each team’s tweet volume and highlights, you can also see all of the tweets that MLB pulled in, so you can see specifically what people were saying at any point during the game.

Unfortunately, Pulse is only available after games, though the team that worked on the project tells me that real-time is in the works for next season. Nonetheless, during games, MLB.com has added a Twitterfeature to its GameDay view where you can both watch a pitch-by-pitch description of what’s happening, and also see all the tweets coming in about the game. There’s also an option to login and post your own updates.

One must first put the facts in place:

A. Twitter chatter has created its own distinctive brand and brand pull for the social maven, the sport and the consumer brand – as Steve Jobs might have once done to Microsoft, It’s hard to ignore.
B. Twitter chatter is fun only real-time for the sports brands, NFL, IPL, NBA or F1 – you can set the watch by the tweets that come, for the game, the plays, the controversial moments or some real tweets as well! – The chatter dies away in twitter gloop soon after the last hit of the game..FACT!
C. The most important for marketers right now is to get into Twitter and stop getting shredded by opinion makers, twitterati and the cognoscenti or just common folk and similarly capitalize on the happy moments for the brand and the game
D. Twitter hasn’t sold the Healthcare bill to anyone
E. Twitter isn’t getting paid. None of the Twitter tools are
F. I believe, in most cases above you can easily substitute Twitter for Facebook. Only that Facebook has advertising and Twitter has more content per second than you would ever think possible and you cannot ignore it! People love to ignore Facebook
G. A lot of celebrity mistakes are already floating around. Bad spats in public domain, recorded in history

So, what does it mean? Well, for one thing the marketers seem to be doing it right. Only there are not enough of them. As usual I find only the Giants of the business game taking notice and spending bucks on Twitter. That is where we are and we are repeating the mistake we made last time as well. This is the crowdsourcing moments that need capturing, revolutions by the moment that can give tremendous leverage to the game.

There is beginning of the rudiments of policy for social media from the NFLs, IPLs and MLB. There is a lot of intelligent analysis real-time that makes my game day much more interactive and me more responsive to the word play and the brand fabric. There is the immediate impact on the brand’s visibility. There has to be now a commercial framework that does not overcharge the premium but also that sheds unresponsible engagement. It does not have to be a discouragement to new users, because any paying mode could be a big discouragement for millions of students, but apart from the crowd’s sway in making you add value there has to be a firm style from each sport brand that keeps tweeters that well tweet great and those that just ride. There has to be encouragement for the millions of listeners who are not there to ruffle any feathers but curious to read on twitter and see where the trend is for the game going on. And there has to be measurable incentive for brand owners and influencers to provide that culture.

Maybe we are the infomediaries of this Invisible Continent. But, maybe there is another revolution around the corner..The consumer’s ‘infrastructure’ requests have changed irrevocably, however.

Filed under Facebook, Marketing, MLB, Social Media, Sports Marketing, Twitter Tagged with Branding, Crowdsourcing, Facebook, IPL, Marketing, MLB, NBAReputation Management, NFL, Social Media, Sports Marketing, Twitter

Is NFL the most twitterised brand?

September 30, 2009 Leave a comment

NFL Shield

A lot of NFL gets on Twitter too. Apart from the fact that NFL Network has exclusive high quality coverage online with 100% video support and lots of fantasy games for the fans, most NFL players incl Chris Johnson are alive and ‘speakalot’ on Twitter. Featured here is how one of the better known teams of the NFL, the New England Patriots have made a distinctive interactive app for Facebook..going into grapping the attention and mindshare of a 100 million odd users..it’s great to see something as entrenched as the NFL going out to bat with the invisible continent and get more touchdowns,! Fire away. (mixed metaphors!, maybe just the Dallas Cowboys losing their hold on the game after not making the playoffs)

Goodell’s NFL has also allowed players tweeting 90 minutes before and fter games, while players were initially even ready to tweet ( or ghost tweet) in between the game. There is a definite affinity for sports and celebrities along with all retail brands to harness the new social media and while accidents have happened, the future of the game is now riding on the new social media first and digital marketing mechanics later.

New England Patriots Choose Facebook as Primary Social Media Hub

You know how bands often tend to put more importance on their MySpace page than on their dot com website? Well, the New England Patriots are now doing something similar on Facebook.

They’ve partnered with Buddy Media to create a new section of their Facebook page, dubbed the “Fan Zone“, where fans can check out a calendar of Patriots-related events, play a Fantasy Forecast game, test their Patriots knowledge in the Patriots Trivia Challenge, send virtual Patriots gifts to their friends and more.

What’s interesting about this new initiative is the fact that none of this is available on the official Patriots website. True, some parts of the Facebook Fan Zone still link to that website, but for the most part, fans would do better to visit the Facebook page than the official, dot com page.

As the importance of social media increases, I reckon that more and more big brands will put emphasis on their presence on social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter instead on their official websites. Patriots’ Director of Interactive Media Fred Kirsch explains the move: “We really weren’t anywhere [before] as it relates to social media. We had to get into the game, and to have that kind of audience we have on Facebook, you can’t get that kind of immediate impact on [Patriots.com].”

For more on this topic, check out this article: Is Social Media Making Corporate Websites Irrelevant?

Tags: facebook, New England Patriots, social media

via New England Patriots Choose Facebook as Primary Social Media Hub.

Filed under Facebook, Marketing, NFL, Online Marketing, Social Media, Sports, Sports Marketing, Superbowl, Twitter Tagged with Cowboys, Facebook, NFL, Patriots, Sports Marketing, Twitter

NFL is the world’s biggest sports brand | Sports Blogs

June 28, 2009 Leave a comment

IPL in the dugout

zyakaira notes: it’s here NFL (Superbowl ) $4.5 billion, IPL $1.6 billion Watch out for edition 3 of the IPL! and I’m still backing the New York Giants

IPL - home to the starry eyed

The NFL is the world’s strongest sports brand according to Sports Pro Magazine. The National Football League, not surprisingly, is valued at a whopping $4.5 billion. That’s a little more than Major League Baseball, about double the value of the NBA, but still probably less than Larry King’s per show kitty.

In Sports Pro’s recent “most valuable brands survey”, the Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket competition amazingly featured amongst the biggest brands too. Despite being only two years old, the IPL is valued at US$1.6 billion, or just under the cost of Mr. King’s monthly hairdressing bill. That’s when you know you’ve made it folks.

via The Sports Brand Review – News – NFL is the world’s biggest sports brand.