Change the Game

Preface
I'm no marketing guru. I'm normal.

So it starts.

For a marketer, the loss of rich and intelligent people from the consumption base can be dangerous. That's happened to cricket. But luckily for the sport those who have control of the reins are all not daft. Thus it being unlikely that either the beautiful sport or the oft inane marketing around it would cease any time soon. These astute folks are not only marketing it, but managing it. Folks, who despite the lures of the game are level headed enough to be aware that without good management it’ll be difficult to sustain the lure.

People have faltered in marketing the sport but that was in a way bound to happen. Bad marketing is always more prevalent than good marketing. Especially in cash rich ventures. Marketing, being the science of the brain, is limited by the human knowledge of the organ. No one has has yet come to define the brain in its entirety and thus none have perfected marketing in a manner akin to computing or even manufacturing. Back to cricket.

The T-20 World Cup didn’t catch my attention till today. There could be many reasons: Too much cricket with too much noise, some not so knowledgeable folks of the game (read ‘politicians’) having too much control, the tournament being in its early stages, not being clear about how come Afghanistan suddenly start playing cricket and wondering what’s the world come to, etc.

I’ll refrain from talking about the teams since I haven’t seen all of them fully yet, but I was charmed by the way the sport was presented. The bane of poor marketing fuelled by greed has had a deep impact on T-20 cricket. In our country, IPL has defined the twenty over format under the tight control of the politicians and the elite class. The sport’s intelligentsia was busy mostly away from the format and so I’d presumed that the buffoonery would’ve been integral to the T-20 world cup. Delightfully wrongly proved!

The people managing it are doing a tremendous job in moving T-20’s imagery away from one being merely associated with glam-dolls, some popular some not-so celebrities, corruption, a few odd great games, some unforeseen innings, a tainted ex-owner, a few national heroes and being affected by the limited sensibilities of the people anchoring the monetary end of the sport. For any sport, the monetary end and the purist end are often the furthest apart before the game starts de-growing. Both ends are important for the game and the closer they are, the more aspirational the game becomes. The game has started degrowing but some sport purists and some savvy marketers will salvage it for some time.

With Rahul Dravid, Kevin Pieterson, Wasim Akram and an anchor who can hold his end of the job, the marketers are building a camp of rich and intelligent who would’ve been dangerous to lose, as I first spoke. Hearing these people speak was music to the ears. After a really long time, most viewers could’ve learned a thing or two about the game today! Everyone’s aware of Rahul Dravid’s skills in all aspects of his personal and professional life, but the impression about Pieterson was newly formed. Wasim Akram, like most Pakistanis is passionate but unlike most of the talents lost over the course of the nation’s cricketing history is beyond just that. The conversations were enriching, richly witty and more importantly made sense.

Cricket too, like everything else in the world, without sense is nothing but nonsense. I too wanted to distance myself from the game. It’s anyway not ‘the coolest game’ to shout about on social networking sites. There is a crowd of passionate souls (including me) flooding Facebook and Twitter with a myriad of opinions and comments some of which you don’t want to be associated with. After all, being on social networks is like living in a society and you don’t want to be heard or seen with the wrong people!

There are wrong people who’ve anchored the game too; at times being strongly opinionated about players or situations, making the game appear unintelligent. The game had become a little less enjoyable and a little more embarrassing. It takes a bit to stand up to the sport knowing the follies that surround it.

This T-20 World Cup’s analytical instead of critical coverage of the game makes it suddenly so much more enjoyable. There are many enchanting aspects of the contest on hand. There is obvious interest in the home side along with the foreign nations like West Indies or Australia brimming with IPL superheroes. Not to be missed is a young side from Pakistan. A struggling English nation, whose T-20 Team’s knowledge of the conditions pales in comparison to their test team. They’ll have to start learning from scratch.

The resurgence of the West Indian team is analogous to the start of the Indian rise a decade or so ago. There is a superstar in Chris Gayle, who apart from being talented is also a level headed man with a great sense of humour. Very marketable by the way! More than Tendulkar in 2001! If only he was Indian. Alas, thanks to his IPL exploits, not only is he famous in India but also in home country. The young cricketers look up to him, lured by their love for the game and the love for fame, money and attention that the man has shown can come from the game. The team is skilled and spirited. There is a smiling captain who doesn’t play much of a role in the team’s batting or bowling performance, but under him the team is performing and the environment is good.

The sub-continent teams are fully conditioned for these surfaces and grounds. The other teams though could struggle due to the sheer lack of experience despite possessing some exceptionall sharp young talents.


Thankfully this time around though the young talents aren't restricted to being on field, but are very much off it too! I’d recommend people who have love the sport to watch the coverage on Star Cricket.

It's being marketed well to us. We’ll buy it!