IPL: Love, Sex
and ‘Dhoka’
By Harish
Bijoor
I define a brand simply. My
definition: the brand is a thought. A thought that lives in people’s minds. To
that extent, IPL is a thought. A thought that lives in millions of people’s
minds. A thought that is positive, a thought that is negative, and a thought
that is even mixed-up in what it conveys.
IPL Season 5 has allegedly had it
all. Love, sex and ‘dhoka’! Lots of love with the WAGS all around, lots of sex
which none of us want to know about, and if one is to believe the match-fixing
allegations, ‘dhoka’ was there as well!
Let’s give it to IPL then. What
Lalit Modi created from scratch, is today a 5-year-old toddler that is more
than toddling. IPL is today a big brand property. A property that packs significant
value in the sphere of ‘cricketainment’. This is just not pure cricket for
sure. The purist fan of a 5-day version will baulk when he or she sees the kind
of innovation that this game is all about. This is really a cusp of cricket and
entertainment. The ultimate heady cocktail of the two. While cricket is the
national religion of India, Bollywood is the national way of vicarious living.
In the smallest of towns and villages of India, men and women live through the
lives of their Bollywood stars. No wonder then that Rakhee Sawant is an icon in
Tier 2 India among middle class women, who would otherwise never ever dress the
way a Rakhee Sawant does, or better still dance the way she does, or worse
still talk the way she does!
IPL married the realm of cricket
with Bollywood. IPL brought a Vijay Mallya and a Mukesh Ambani to cricket
stadiums across the country. IPL had politicians rubbing shoulders with film
stars and film stars rubbed shoulders and more with cricketers and cricketers
with bookies and bookies with I don’t know who else. IPL to that extent is the
heady cocktail of every mover and shaker that makes for business, cricket, politics,
cinema and more. IPL is therefore an amalgam of people we have never ever seen
together, all living a happy and unhappy life forever.
Never mind whether your latest
film was a flop, you were there. Never mind if your business was tanking, you
were there. Never mind if your government was going down the chute, you were
there. IPL somehow had everyone who wanted eyeballs converging on this one
little space called IPL. The brand therefore happened. And how!
The downsides of IPL have been
many. We have had spats on and off the field. Names such as Luke Pomersbach
came to the fore in hotel room spats, allegations of match-fixing had cricketers
being grilled, after-match parties had their own bits of fracas going and one
rave party got busted.
Is this all needed and necessary?
Is this all part of the IPL-brand toolkit?
I do believe it is. Let’s
remember IPL is not cricket. It is ‘cricketainment’ at large. Every incident
makes the game that much more memorable. That much more heady. Take a heady mix
of last-ball finishes, add to it cheer-leaders who bring glamour and glitz,
shake it all up with a Preity Zinta, a Vijay Mallya, a Shah Rukh Khan or a
Priyanka Chopra(till recently)! Stir it with bits and pieces of controversy.
And what do you have? IPL!
The point I make is a simple one.
IPL is a frivolous brand. Not a serious one. Controversies and negative brand
strokes are bad for serious brands. Controversies are bad for Satyam and Reebok
and Adidas. Controversies and bickering and rave parties are all a part of the
DNA of the frivolous brand. Frivolous brands need and seek out controversies.
All this makes for IPL.
What next then in Season 6 of IPL?
Obviously more of it.
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Harish Bijoor is a
brand-strategy specialist & CEO, Harish Bijoor Consults Inc.
Twitter.com
@harishbijoor
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