For corporate Sri Lanka:
Seven lessons from ‘IPL’
Rohantha Athukorala
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[ The power of brands]
* The Indian Premier League (IPL)
within two years of business is valued at $311 million
* Sri Lanka’s power brand Dialog after
10 years of business is valued at $124 million
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The BCCI has estimated that IPL will bring in approximately $1.6
billion revenue in the next five to ten years
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The world of marketing has intrigued me not because I have spent most
my life in this profession and managed powerful brands like Dettol but,
why some brands become winners within a short period of time whilst
others struggle and then fade away.
One brand that has become a winner in the recent past is IPL. Some
call it Pyjama cricket but to me, it’s a brand that has raised above the
rest and has been valued at over $2 billion by the UK based valuation
consultancy Brand Finance whilst IPL as a brand is valued at over a $311
million dollars.
The BCCI has estimated that IPL will bring in approximately $1.6
billion revenue in the next five to ten years which gives us an idea of
the consumer power behind this brand. Let me capture some of the lessons
for corporate Sri Lanka.
Lesson 1 - Cutting edge decisions
The concept of selling cricket stars for big money can be termed
shrewd but to my mind it was the cutting edge decision that changed the
nature of the game.
In 2007 at the inception there was a lot of money but no one knew
whether this business of IPL will catch the world.
The one man who saw the future was Lalith Modi who was the Chief
Commissioner of this brand. Today the business is worth $2 billion
dollars. In 2008 for instance the Bangladesh seamer Musrafe Murtaza who
commanded a base price of just $50,000 at the auction ultimately traded
off at a commanding $600,000 which gives us an indication of the
consumer power behind him.
This tag alone catapults the value of the IPL brand to what it is
today. If I am to draw a parallel in Sri Lanka it is Mobitel who has
shown us in cutting edge decisions. With the mounting losses in the post
paid segment the company took a decision to focus on the public sector
which were very credit worthy and today it’s a power brand which has
some of the highest ratings on Consumer Relevancy’ and Consumer
Advantage against the main competitor. These are the decisions that can
change the rules of the game.
Lesson 2 - Move out of the safety net
Apparently the founder of the Modi empire Gujmal Modi, in 1932 had
started the company with only Rs 400 in his pocket and had to let go of
the security of his parents and home.
Today the company is within the largest conglomerates in India with
joint ventures with some of the top company’s like Philip Morris, Estee
Lauder, Revlon, Rank Xerox and Walt Disney to name a few.
A parallel in Sri Lanka is Orange Eclectricals who had to take a new
name from Clipsal within 48 hours due to an issue that arisen
internally. It was a very bold decision but today “Orange” is one of the
strongest brand names in Sri Lanka. It moved out of the safety net and
aggressive moved to take the high ground in the bulb business of the
country.
Lesson 3 - Work closely with the Govt
When the IPL season 2 ran into tough terrain due to the Indian
Government wanting to give priority to election from a security
allocation perspective Lalith Modi very clearly made it known to the
world that he will co-operate and not get into a ‘turf war’ even though
billions of rupees was at stake.
This came from the upbringing from one of his mentors Sri Kumar Modi
who personally used to work closely with the Government of India and
local state that resulted in the company having the space to venture out
to industries like Silk Mills, Nylon and Polyester threading, tyre and
tube manufacturing, industrial leather to name a few that boarders on
political power.
The relevance to Sri Lanka is that organizations cannot work in
isolation.
It has to be closely threaded to the Government policy. This might
require the organizations of today to recruit a person who has a new
skill set.
If corporate Sri Lanka does not do that the growth can be stunted.
Lesson 4 - Drive one idea hard
When Lalith Modi decided to commercialize the 20/20 cricket by
launching the IPL brand he believed that nothing was as powerful as an
idea that the time had come.
He passionately drove the idea when a few actually believed it. Today
this is a $311 million brand. I yet remember the day that it was
announced that IPL could not be staged in India due to the Indian
Election Lalith Modi took the high ground and said “I am going to export
this product to another market”. The event that was staged in South
Africa was a masterpiece.
It was an Indian-African mix that attracted the President of South
Africa to be the Chief Guest at the final which tells us how hard this 1
single idea was driven to.
I feel the implication to corporate Sri Lanka is that things will
never be perfect but what is required is to grab the opportunities in
the market place as it emerges.
Munchee did this very well by focusing on the ‘Trully Sri Lankan
Brand” proposition and overcame the melamine issue as well as the attack
from the giant Indian brand Britania to maintain its status quo as the
most powerful Sri Lankan brand in the country which to my mind is single
minded focus with all the issues the market place.
To be continued
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