IPL4, crowd attendance and World Cup impact

It has been just one week since IPL began, and teams have played a couple of matches each. But the hype that surrounds the T20 extravaganza, which is usually high during the start and end of the league stage, hasn’t been quite as it was during the previous editions. Though Set Max is doing a good job not covering the empty stands, it isn’t hard to guess attendance levels are an abysmal low.

Interestingly, people’s involvement and support for IPL was being talked about just five days before the start of the tournament. In fact, right after India won the World Cup. While some people said India’s win in the WC would further boost IPL attendance, a wise few hash tagged IPL with yawn even before it began.

What marketing whiz-kids should be studying is whether the decline in eyeballs and/or ticket sales linked to people’s behavioral pattern, or a failure to promote the product properly. Before discussing if this is due to people’s mindset, let us see if the IPL Marketing department has done enough from its side.

To start with, IPL never did announce its coming properly. Though the “Bharath Bandh” campaign by JWT India was fairly good, the advertisements were never in places where the eyeballs were. In the previous years, the IPL advertisements could be seen frequently even in regional channels. This year, considering that there was already a mammoth product (The World Cup) doing the rounds, they should have tried harder for advertising space. While most billboards, online space and TVCs were booked for the World Cup, the IPL should have had its share of presence to sell itself. From the knock-out stage of the WC, many top brands were ready to shell out millions of dollars to woo consumers. Considering that IPL itself is a billion dollar product, maybe it should have advertised strongly during the World Cup to win fan fervor.

What BCCI must keep in mind is that IPL never succeeded because of cricket. Well if it was cricket, ICL should’ve succeeded too, right? Lalit Modi knew this too well. There was always something to talk about the IPL. The parties, the cheer-girls, Bollywood, something interesting was always on. Mr. Modi made sure of that. The IPL chairman also led from the front, was always ready for an interview, was media friendly, and was everywhere.

Also, there seem to be no innovations this year. Or atleast, none that have been noticed, except better graphics for scorecards and players info. Think what the previous editions had to offer new to the consumers – player mics, the famed eagle cam, even an advertising stint like the MRF blimp was being talked about.

Some studies last year talked about good advertisements having a positive impact on game viewer ship. Many brands, which had a good run during the World Cup, have invested in IPL too, hoping for the momentum to continue, and not to lose out to competitors. These brands, if it is possible, must shoot fresh commercials, and not use the ones they used all through the long world cup. Only then, people will show interest. Else, they hardly seem to notice the advertisements.

And now, the impact of World Cup on IPL viewer ship. Indians had invested a lot of time and money for the World Cup. They might also be emotionally drained. After having seen the cricket’s most coveted prize being won by the country, everything else might seem trivial. Or maybe the World Cup hangover still lingers. Whatever it is, the IPL guys need to think quick, and bring back the crowds. Surely, Lalit Modi’s absence is being felt.

Case filed against 7UP

Muthukumar, a college student from Chennai has filed a complaint against soft drink company 7UP. He claims the 7UP advertisements screened during IPL on Set MAX are misleading, and that the company should immediately be booked for false claims.

Says Muthukumar - "My Tata Photon connection busted up right when I was watching porn. I guess it can't handle heavy stuff. So I decided to catch up on some soft porn atleast, and went out to buy a Times of India newspaper. Thats when a crow flew right up my head and shitted on me. I remembered this ad featuring Sharman Joshi, in which he says you become all cool about crow shit in 7 seconds, once you drink 7UP. "

"But damn! I got even angrier! Those 7 seconds I spent in drinking 7UP, the shit dried up and formed a patch on my shirt. People all around were laughing at me! Next time, I first cleaned up the shit, looked up and drank 7UP, and this time, right at the end of the 7th second, the same crow shitted right on my face, just when I was about to form the 'cool' expression on my face. I have filed a complaint to the Consumer court of India, and I'm confident justice will be served."

Meanwhile, 7UP has denied any allegations of misleading its consumers. Says its Marketing Chief - "The concerned person has failed to notice the star (*) and the "terms and conditions" apply tags. If one looks closely at the ad, one would notice that 7UP 7 second formula works only when the crow shits on the left shoulder, and when the concerned person is a brand ambassador of our company. We never hold any information from our consumers."

Anna Hazare, Sharad Pawar, and others

The indefinite hunger strike called on by Anna Hazare has stirred up the different reactions from different people. Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar, who also heads the ICC (read BCCI) has said that the Anna Hazare fasting at Jantar Mantar is a fake one, and people should not get carried away by his antics. "The real Anna Hazare is locked up in T3 Terminal. What has been presented to the people of India is a fake one." Mr. Pawar remained silent for sometime and let journalists photograph him, to arrive at a suitable #SharadPawarFace.

Asked if the government would react to the demands of Anna Hazare, Mr. Pawar gave a candid answer. "The government shall give two hoots to his demands, whatever they are." He took out a small trumpet from his pocket, usually reserved for the signature IPL tune, to give two hoots. "See? The government is serious about whatever it says." Meanwhile, PepsiCo, which had a successful world cup campaign, has decided to sponsor Hazare's fast-unto-death with its Kurkure brand of snacks. Coca-Cola, not willing to be left out, has gone the social-media way, engaging consumers with a "Click to feed Anna Hazare with two drops of Coke" Facebook application.

Communications Minister Kapil Sibal, who famously said that there was zero-loss to the exchequer in the 2G scam, maintained that there was zero-corruption in the government, and that Anna Hazare was not fasting, but dieting, to burn some extra calories. The anti-corruption issue has however found enormous support from Indians worldwide.People across the world are working hard to come up with "Sharad Pawar, Kapil Sibal, Manmohan, Lokpal Bill and Anna Hazare" anagrams. Said a regular wanna-be anagram tweeter. " Manmohan, 'Anna Hazare' ke upar 'Nazar hae na'?.....I'm hoping my anagram makes sense and gets re-tweeted by @rameshsrivats."

Poonam Pandey, who was in the limelight for her strip offer to the victorious Indian team, has also offered to do her 'bit' for the nation. "I love my country. I shall strip naked till corruption is abolished in India. I am doing it out of love for the nation. I have written a letter to the Prime Minister's Office seeking permission to strip naked. If the laws of the land don't permit stripping, I shall definitely strip against corruption in Cayman Islands or Switzerland."

President of India, Mrs. Pratibha Patil has said that she would host a tea party to Anna Hazare if he was victorious. "I shall also use my previous cooking experience to cook some food and serve it to Hazare ji if he decides to end his fast."

Shah Rukh responsible for Eden Gardens cancellation

Here's the latest twist in the Eden Gardens fiasco: CAB has squarely blamed Kolkata Knight Riders owner Shah Rukh Khan for the World Cup venue cancellation. Says CAB chief Jagmohan Dalmiya - "Ever since SRK didn't retain Saurav Ganguly in Kolkata IPL team, there's been growing dissent in West Bengal, more particularly among the construction workers in Eden Gardens. They have stopped working, and are threatening to blow up completed portions of the stadium, if Saurav isn't offered a place in KKR. They have taken up jobs in hartals and strikes elsewhere in the country, and won't return till they hear a positive result about Dada."

Says Bhattacharya, a worker - "This is atrocious! Dada underperformed in the IPLs deliberately, out of concern for Bengalis. He didn't want us to see the gory sight of Shah Rukh Khan dancing naked on the field. Dada was even under tremendous pressure from Karan Johar to win the IPL for KKR. But being the true Bengali that he is, he dropped catches and scored ducks to save the nation from obscene embarrasments. Saurav Ganguly must be awarded the Bharath Rathna for what he did!"

When mediapersons questioned about Ganguly's omission from KKR, here's what SRK had to say. " I really cannot comment on why the other teams haven't chosen Dada. Everyone has their own plans, and its upto the owners to choose or not to choose a player. All I can say is that Saurav is a fantastic player and a sportsman." When irritated mediapersons again questioned SRK about why HE didn't pick Saurav, they got the same answer. Apparently, Shah Rukh's PR hasn't returned yet from Christmas holidays.

Meanwhile, the bottling industry in West Bengal has hit an all time low. Anticipating a huge turnout for world cup, several bottles were being manufactured for throwing on players' heads. With the match being cancelled, orders have been withdrawn and severe losses have been reported. Reports have it that an attempt to loot all bottles by Tamilnadu CM Karunanidhi, for free distribution in his state, have been thwarted.

Interestingly, Yuvraj Singh seemed very happy at the cancellation of Eden Gardens venue. He has even suggested alternate venues like Dharmasala and Goa. Says Yuvraj - "Its a nightmare for any cricketer to be called 'waterboy' by an 80,000 odd crowd. Hence I've suggested alternate venues with lesser crowd capacity, where a collective 'waterboy' chant will sound like a hymn, rather than a boo." As the saying goes, one's loss is one's gain.

Why Ravindra Jadeja was bought for $950000

Kochi IPL franchisee has defended its $950000 bid to buy Ravindra Jadeja. After an exciting auction, Vivek Venugopal, one of the owners of the consortium spoke to reporters from near the BCCI notice board. Asked about the odd location for an interview, Vivek said he checked the notice board every evening to see if his franchisee had been forwarded any show-cause by BCCI.

“Sreesanth has been the longest serving Kerala cricketer. Our brand value would be greatly increased with Sreesanth as our captain. Having said that, we needed someone miserable on the field to make Sreesanth look like Wisden Cricketer of the Year. The obvious choice was Ravindra Jadeja, and we went all out to buy him.” Mr. Venugopal’s lips tweaked at odd angles every time he mentioned Jadeja’s name.

“The rest of the auction room obviously didn’t know of our strategy, and we were met with hostility after winning Jadeja. The waiters in the hotel stopped replacing our water bottles. The auctioneer stood paralyzed, and we had to inject steroids on him to hit the hammer one final time to confirm Jadeja’s bid. We even received condolence messages from Kochi and other parts of Kerala like Dubai and Bahrain.”

Ravindra Jadeja, buoyed by his auction prices, has reportedly negotiated a deal with Manchester United. Sources have confirmed that IPL new boss Chirayu Amin has already slapped a show-cause notice to Manchester United, and is considering extending Jadeja’s IPL ban to one more year.

Meanwhile, corporates and general public who searched for IPL Kochi’s website on Google were met with dismay. Said Omanakuttan from Allepey – “This is atrocious! First, Sashi Tharoor disappears from Twitter. Next, we find no website for our IPL team. This must be a collaborative work of Lalit Modi and Pakistani hackers!” Others, who managed to find sites kochiipl.com and kochiteam.com were confused which was the official site, though they maintained that both sites looked equally awful and comparable to bcci.tv.

Moving on to other related news, Sony Max has confirmed that it has got premium sponsors for the Pune vs Kochi match tosses. With Smith’s name being on the rounds for Pune IPL captaincy, and Sreesanth almost having been confirmed as Kochi captain, the match tosses should be more interesting than the matches themselves. Sreesanth is expected to invite Graeme Smith’s family for the toss.