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Sports Marketing can so easily be confused with selling the game on TV. In fact in its early days for the NFL and all that is American it used to be so true. Well, out here in Asia or for soccer, Europe, it is still very much true.
Think of a game, and automatically you think of the TV stars that made the game. The Tendulkars and the Sehwags in Cricket, the Bhaichung Bhutias in Indian soccer have an umbilical cord link with the game, and for us marketing people that cord is the TV Remote. India’s fortunes in Cricket are directly linked with its revenues from TV advertising. Other BRand promotions, events and the game itself were almost pushed to a secondary level everytime its revenues were at a peak.
The situation on the ground is the exact opposite. Players have struggled for real remuneration and spend retirement in various stages of ‘disuse’ and ‘disenchantment’. There are rare coaching opportunities, there are rare royalties and no one but yourself to remember your own records. The broadcasters and the marketers are conspicuous by their absence just 5-10 years ago. It was in this scenario that NEO Sports made a start in India as a game broadcaster, asking ESPN Star Sports and DD to face up to competition. The story of the NEO Sports franchise is thus as old as India’s new found hegemony in Sport.
Apart from its Cricket centric beginnings, it has also promoted the German Bundesliga with a recent 3 year contract. The Hockey World Cup is next. All NEO channels are paid additions to Cable and DTH households within the subcontinent and in the middle east and maybe UK. As recently as April 2009, NEO has received $64 million in funding from 3i and Oman Investment Fund.
Perfetti and Hero Honda are the anchor sponsors for NEO Sports and one can easily assume a less than $25 million billing for them at this stage when the entire cricket universe is $250 million, out of which a good $150 million goes to IPL. NEO Sports has made $95 million across the India Australia series in 2009 and the recent India Sri Lanka series. Even for the current SA visit, sponsorship bands are available for less than $2 million and advertising at $8k per 10s. Idea and Tata Docomo are both part of it since Airtel and Vodafone Zoozoos pretty much monpopolise everything IPL next month ( Our Telecom market is growing at 10 million connections a month and needs constant sustenance for the brand in the face of sometimes more than 5 players in each circle)
NEO also brings the Domestic Cricket league telecast to the 20 million DTH and over 80 million Cable Homes. The recent Lanka series infact crossed TRPs of 8 for the series where the Colors Big Boss and IPL opening matches and finals do not cross 12, A 5 or 6 average for TRP is good and that means 5 million TV Sets were on for the game 
NEO is floated by Nimbus sports and in an earlier round of funding it had raised $125 million from Deutsche Bank and Americorp with 3i. It has Indian cricket rights only till the end of this year.
Among competitors Times Global and Network 18 Viacom would be looking for public funding this year. In rights bidding, ESPN Star may be still competing with MAX for future Cricket, Hockey and Soccer rights. Doordarshan as the only Terrestrial partner gets to carry any and all TV telecasts of games free. .For the Commonwealth games, TEN in Australia, SIS (UK) and SKY TV ( NZ ) are among those who have landed broadcast rights. DD/Prasar Bharti are host broadcasters for the game, including the first ever HD broadcast.
NEO campaigns are noted for their bent as pioneers of the game. Its tagline in 2007 was ‘The home of Indian Cricket’, its campaigns used as fillers when air time could not be sold in the early struggles. ‘Dhak Dhak Go’ from Hero Honda supplements the taglines for the FIH Hockey World Cup promotions.
NEO won 11 awards in the 2008 Promax BDA Broadcast Awards for its campaign shorts after the rules of Cricket were changed to bkeep spectators engaged. This years promos to watch are Power play, Rusty Nail and ‘Tension’
Dhoni and Sachin are batting for India as we write, and India are still holding on to the #1 position in Cricket.
Even though the slight suffered by Pakis in not being bid may rankle sports lovers, the money train is here for the IPL. The Royals of Rajasthan, will now have the Cape Royals which could be as easy as $20 million, the Victoria Royals that could be a prize catch for $40 million, the TNT Royals and a couple more from England and Pakistan could go up for bidding for stakes from Manoj Badale and Lachlan Murdoch’s dream franchise in royal blue steed/. The Lion as mascot, btw, is Moochu singh and he may get a few avatars as well in each Na’vi land that the Emerging media team purchases. Sure to make thier 25% IPO a $! billion candidate, and the game could do with some money outside India. Downstream deals would solely depend on the right pricing at this juncture as many others would be eager to follow if the doors are opened. At this time, national sponsors fetch an annual $7.5 million and regional sponsors are being sought by IPL for $1.5 million. The team sponsors like Ultratech, Fly Kingfisher and Reebok in some cases each have been bagged by teams for $1-$10 million while smaller players like Wrigley’s and Nimbooz have contributed in bits nd pieces. The IPL franchise is currently valued at around $2 billion, while KFC T20 Bash and the SA Club tournament would each be $200 million and $100 million, presumably across 10-12 teams. Ofcourse there would be adjustments for the fact that IPL is a non profit in India’s case.
IPL’s aggregate valuations could cross $3.5 billion this year including the two new teams.
The Rajasthan Royals co-owned by Raj Kundera, Lachlan Murdoch and chaired by Manoj Badale and Emerging Media were recently valued at $300 million. The team is set to grow the game franchise and take a larger piece of the growing pie. The Royals are on way to owning four more International T20 teams, The Victoria Bushrangers now to be known as the Victoria Royals, The Nashua Cape Cobras, The TNT team that will become the TNT Royals and maybe one more in England or Pakistan. All these teams made it to the Champions League of National Champions / Victors in the first edition of 2009. The Royals will own a sable stake in each of the teams and share revenues and expenses correspondingly with the current owners in each case.
IPL as definitely been the story of growing franchise and easy access to investment in the world’s greatest sport ( after the Saints kept their part of the bargain in NFL of course).
The no. of foreign players in each IPL franchise was recently raised from eight to ten, while four can play in each game. RR’s wider ownership of teams will de-risk team revenues from such patriotic and seasonal vagaries and bring more certain cash flows investment bankers love to see in any product for sale.
Punjab Kings XI meanwhile have recruited a local industry luminary to support its marketing and are looking to offload a similar ownership stake in India or abroad for their $300 million team, that fared well in the first edition and is looking to come back in the third edition with a new captain. Shane Warne captains the Jaipur based Rajasthan Royals
The Audi green police. We finally found the buzz hidden in that google ..thin.g :lol
We still thik the Spyder should come on during the game..You think?
It’s okay, we know you didn’t come here just for the superbowl ads. Let’s tell you more, anyway. Analytics, and not the garden fly variety, are taking over the social world. When Twitter first started paining the game last year with billions of microbuzz d’drib’ molecules last year, it wasn’t early days but a lot of newbies like us built our franchise on it. This time, motorola is shooting for it. Also, there is the other USA today ad meter and hash tags like the #brandbowl #sbads and #SB44 from the company (The Firm)
No longer is it just about wracking your network wires on the you tube page, but that does not mean we have the best ready yet. Here is the USA today page in case you are missing the broadcast..and we recommend the #brandbowl during the game.
The Super Bowl ad touts not a single phone, but Motoblur, the company’s proprietary service that collects social networking data and sends content such as Facebook and Twitter updates to a phone in real time.
I never rooted for any of the Mannings, that ’s a lie — only Manning, Eli mid way in the Giants Season..but Drew Brees is our fave. Get in there.
Like other advertisers, Motorola is building online buzz for its Super Bowl spot. Its Web site has a video of three short, seemingly unrelated vignettes: a boy staring at a phone while something explodes in a microwave behind him; an Asian couple sitting sullenly at a table; and a truck running over a taco stand. Meanwhile, a teaser image for the ad shows a stylish bathtub filled with suds.
Alterian, a Chicago-based marketing company, has been tracking Super Bowl ad-related online conversations since early December. Heading into the weekend, Motorola ranked eighth of 35 advertisers in total volume of social media buzz. The company was 19th on Alterian’s social engagement index, which measures reach and popularity, and 33rd in sentiment.
Keith Tsang, product marketing manager at Alterian, said Motorola’s relatively low ranking could stem from its decision not to reveal its full ad online, as other brands have done.
Marketing Launch events no longer need be smaller POP promotions. Here is one where the not so new kids on the block Whole Foods Market get together with the others that followed them into the Health is Wealth niche.
Whole Foods Market joined up with Function Drinks to organise this juicy outing for the food
While the new Prius tackles the sensitive car market after some big recalls and recovery is distant, in the foods market, Coke and Pepsico spend quite a lot of effort in introducing health drinks and water to fight with the aura created by Whole Foods Market
Function Drinks have defined a new category for light weight drinks – across Alternative Energy, light weight and urban detox. Alex partnered with longtime friends, Dayton Miller and Josh Simon to create a drink line that represents the marriage of mainstream, clinical science and beverages.
Today, each beverage in the Function line is a piece of intellectual property (bevnet) But then , to us the question still is, Can it beat the Starbucks Frappucino (rights free image desired).
Whole Foods Market also organize in-shop beer offs, recipe contests and other interesting galas for the food they rack up. This month is a revue for the Parmigiano Reggiano Cheese they sell.
The time when there was no banking crisis in the air is now distinctly 5 years ago. But the world survived on other controversies in that time. In 2007 and 2008 when the markets were engaged in the biggest beastly moves that really changed the denominations of the investors dreams twice, the media including the business papers like WSJ and FT were going through a churn of megalithic proportions. That News Corp has turned a profit last week, was thence an epic saga’s anticlimactic first break.
The show isn’t over yet by a long mile. Conan will be back in a few days. Jay Leno has managed to be the King and beat others to the new preferences of a DVR drunk time shifted audience that is demanding content from the networks. Even smaller stations in mid-town America will be more demanding now and if and when Conan comes back with another $30 million, he may just realize his folly in messing with the King. That one’s a no show, really There cannot be any Conan vs Leno and it won’t be a paying proposition for Rupert Murdoch or Lachlan either. Star was not, for so many years in the Asia Pacific even as it was on the fringe of the most watched TV programming and really his network was a quality assurance program live for the upwardly mobile audience in the region stuck in competitive jobs with ever growing salaries and ever increasing uncertainty. Today there are more cars in China than in the US in one year and an Indian household is likely to spend $100,000 of disposable income for the latest in dining, gadgetry that’s closer to the heart and so many more avenues of entertainment than ever before.
Avatar’s paid off for Murdoch, adduning $324 million from movies to the bottomline and his news properties delivered another $260 million for the year which is an eye opener. His MySpace is undergoing pain and his paywall experience needs to be refined by his market’s readers and publishers. But anyone who can see content delivering the windfall everytime, I’d say has he right mind to do the job.
The newly available avenues of entertainment and content across digital web, cameras and video capturing devices, mobiles and iPads/iPods are exponentially generating higher demand for quality ‘content’ and real entertainment without boundaries and each element raising the bar of expectations. Also increasingly, all these channels are looking similar as it becomes easier for content to propagate without overtly changing form, whether it is news, or a business document with video or an entertainment megathon like Avatar, or the Harry Potter series. You will see more of that in a while.
I think the Web Marketers of these last 5 years need to move aside and sit and learn the social experience, see the uniformity of content and let digital media grow as a part of the social whole than an alien world of misplaced metrics. The revolution is here. We’re on it. And no Letterman is not the next ticket to paradise.
Oh BTW, thanks to aci Stephen at the Independent for just four words..
and Saurabh wh came up and asked me ( on Aardvark) how many digital cameras are being sold in India..
and this news filler a comment on the way the open source movement finds solace in social marketing…
We’ve seen quite a bit of resignation notes in the IT world over the years, but this one takes the cake when it comes to originality. Jonathan Schwartz, CEO of Sun Microsystems, has tweeted his resignation, explaining it with a haiku poem: “Today’s my last day at Sun. I’ll miss it. Seems only fitting to end on a #haiku. Financial crisis/Stalled too many customers/CEO no more”
The reasons for Schwartz’s resignation were more or less known from before; recently, Oracle has acquired Sun, and Oracle CEO Larry Ellison said in an interview last week he expects Schwartz to resign. Last week, Schwartz already announced that he’s probably resigning, tweeting a link to his last blog at Sun.
According to the New York Times, Schwartz was the first Fortune 200 boss to tweet his resignation. Well, why not: if you have to leave, you might as well leave in style
Those space frames look awesome. Again the adverts look stunning and might even be mandatory viewing during the Superbowl. Nah! just sayin’
Story courtesy who else, Mashable
UK mob boss Colin Gunn has been playing a very real game of Mafia Wars from his jail cell in a maximum-security prison.
According to Times Online, Gunn was incarcerated after he ordered executions during his tenure as a mob boss in a criminal empire so dangerous it helped earn Nottingham the nickname “Assassination City.”
He says that the folks overseeing the prison allowed him to set up a Facebook account after he claimed it was a basic right. The prison denies this. Either way, he has since used the account to threaten enemies.
For example, he posted a status update promising that he would soon return to the streets: “Some of you will be in for a good slagging, some have let me down badly, and will be named and shamed, f****** rats.” It’s not known whether or not he used private messages or other tools to contact people in his crime ring. Once the media caught on to what Gunn was doing, authorities killed his Facebook page.
Facebook and crime seem to be strange but consistent bedfellows. A few months ago a 19-year-old diamond thief was caught because he checked his account at the victims’ home and forgot to log out. And last month an escaped convict mocked police officers with status updates, clues and photos using Facebook.
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