Social Media and New Markets

I know what you all are thinking. Why suddenly a Kindle in Facebook vs Twitter wars? What about the Friendfeed and the dozen social networks to be branded me too! Where do they come in? Well, to me Kindle comes first because Amazon is a phenomenon on my personal list of Enterprise greats and the other start ups have still got something to prove in terms of viability. Not that the risk is any lesser for a Myspace or a Kindle but My space going down would be a turning point people would remember like AOL, eBay and the others who have had a not so easy time since they set up on the web and who have never graduated to the real Web 2.0 or near real time social collaboration. Amazon and Kindle however have that potential ( may be they will also drop out later like Starbucks) and they can handle innovation and complex consumer minds with a relative ease that would be critical.

Long back, during the days of Patricia Seybold’s customers.com and Guy Hagel’s ‘Net Worth’ we saw an expostulation of the success determining parameters of the new invisible continent by Kenichi Ohmae ( let’s face it, the guy was an other world icon but still made it as a strategist on the new web). What the Invisible Continent described in great detail was an Infomediary – An organization or ‘Trust agent’ that would broker all business transactions on the web because they would be entrusted with the Customers foibles and deep seated choices that would make the best buying decision and robust sales. Amazon and Kindle are the perfect intermediaries for such digital transactions like iPhone and iPod have been for music albeit non collaboratively till now.

I think the new web needs Kindle and amazon to ramp up the offering in tune with customers, learning the nuances along with the customer as they go along this adventure. For amazon to continue with its 50% market share of the World’s Book Sales has been relatively easy when compared with the others and a vital part of that has been the enriched customer experience which is really beautifully collaborative and store front’ish at the same time. It also highlights the other essential for social collaboration which Facebook and Twitter seem to make light of, ad that is the reading habit. For any transaction on the new web, one has to be a voracious reader to navigate the choices, discuss with friends, colleagues and competitors online and make instant decisions that are almost always right.

Kindle could easily include Video, Audio and twitter / friendfeed messaging on the device along with maps and the books to replace other devices you need to carry arund today for a complete mobile experience. I think that’s the way it’s going to go too.

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Sitting inside a conference room at Twitter, BlackBerry in hand, Kevin Thau is all business.In his first interview since taking charge of the San Francisco technology companys mobile business development a month ago, Thau is confident that cellphones will play a crucial role in helping the messaging service make money.

The four-year-old company, which has raised more than $35 million from Benchmark Capital, Spark Capital and others, offers its service free of charge, and hasn’t yet figured out how to generate revenues.

Thau, 36, says thats about to change. He says the number of text messages passing through Twitters platform has grown 1,000% in the last year. Add to that the fact that users are texting more substantive observations and opinions in real time, and the company has a valuable information database it can sell to businesses.

Thau says Twitter is developing a range of analytics and metrics products and services built around the information contained in “tweets,” the e-mail and text messages that pass through its platform. “We can measure the tweets,” he says. “Were trying to figure out what are the appropriate metrics around engagement and how to convey those.”

Thau, however, didnt say when Twitter plans to sell these services or how much it will charge for them.

Its an interesting business model, but can Twitter survive selling analytics and other services? “When it comes to enterprises, absolutely,” says Jeremiah Owyang, a social computing analyst with Forrester Research ($FORR ) . “I just got off a call with a client thats asking about how to engage on Twitter. There’s definitely interest.”

via ‘Forbes’

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Sitting inside a conference room at Twitter, BlackBerry in hand, Kevin Thau is all business.In his first interview since taking charge of the San Francisco technology companys mobile business development a month ago, Thau is confident that cellphones will play a crucial role in helping the messaging service make money.

The four-year-old company, which has raised more than $35 million from Benchmark Capital, Spark Capital and others, offers its service free of charge, and hasn’t yet figured out how to generate revenues.

Thau, 36, says thats about to change. He says the number of text messages passing through Twitters platform has grown 1,000% in the last year. Add to that the fact that users are texting more substantive observations and opinions in real time, and the company has a valuable information database it can sell to businesses.

Thau says Twitter is developing a range of analytics and metrics products and services built around the information contained in “tweets,” the e-mail and text messages that pass through its platform. “We can measure the tweets,” he says. “Were trying to figure out what are the appropriate metrics around engagement and how to convey those.”

Thau, however, didnt say when Twitter plans to sell these services or how much it will charge for them.

Its an interesting business model, but can Twitter survive selling analytics and other services? “When it comes to enterprises, absolutely,” says Jeremiah Owyang, a social computing analyst with Forrester Research ($FORR ) . “I just got off a call with a client thats asking about how to engage on Twitter. There’s definitely interest.”

via ‘Forbes’

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The roof is not the only technological revolution at Wimbledon this year. This is also the first Wimbledon when a lot of the players are using Twitter to communicate with their fans.

Andy Roddick, Andy Murray and Serena Williams are some of the notable names sharing their thoughts during the tournament. A sample from Roddick via Twitter on Monday night: “get to play another day … watching night tennis at wimby.. too cool.”

Roddick has over 40,000 people following him on Twitter. But looking at who he is following is also interesting. He is following 22 people, many of them tennis notables such as trainer Doug Speen, Jim Courier (who once wrote a tweet while playing a senior tournament match), Bob Bryan and Murray.

via Stars Tweet Away as Tournament Rolls On – Straight Sets Blog – NYTimes.com.

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using hootsuite with ping.fm gives me a double tweet to the twitter account!

and causes me tremendous pain with arranging multiple profiles when i don’t primarily want to avoid sending to everyone

while only friendfeed and facebook allow me to have a meaningful conversation with friends on a subject, note ( thanks scobie, @jesse)

But one has to admit, chi.mp (chk http://zyaada.mp) is best in some ways as you can pull all feeds into one place and read rather than push

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Also, our technorati rank is 8 now (Top 0.6% and better). The mix of financial and marketing posts is published together at http://twitterone.mobi ( not a dotmobi site) while http://zyaada.mobi republishes our marketing effort on mobile…(dotmobi)

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Sanjay Nayar at KKR India make a public appearance and states KKR’s interest in rare #Indian #Stocks Will it be infrastructure this year?

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Facebook Raises $200M; Now Valued at $10 Billion – http://bit.ly/44glfm @mashable @tweetmeme

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I feel the potential is such that at least the Daredevils will start earning closer to 300 crores from edition 3 http://tr.im/ipldeccan

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R P Singh - A stock , An IPL phenomenon

The latest theater rights sell down here

ROYAL CHALLENGERS BANGALORE
Owners: United Spirits Ltd
Team captain: Kevin Pietersen (first six matches), Anil Kumble (for the remaining)
Franchisee fee: $111.6 mn
Brand value: $14 mn
Brand score: 50%
Sponsorships/brand associations: Wrigley’s and mostly in-house brands such as Kingfisher
Income from central pool: 2008: Rs35 crore
2009: approx. Rs76.5 crore
Income from team sponsorships: 2008: Not applicable, as all were in-house brands
2009: Rs10 crore
Total: 2008: Rs35 crore
2009: Rs86.5 crore
Restructuring shows results
From being a laggard in the first season to runner-up this year, Royal Challengers Bangalore was a spectacular success story in IPL 2. And if there was one star the team owed its success to, it was its flamboyant owner, liquor baron Vijay Mallya. After the team’s poor show in the first season, Mallya restructured his team and redefined its key result areas. His personal charisma added to the team’s brand appeal, says the MTI study.
“RCB had a lot of glamour associated with it as it had cheerleaders from the Washington Redskins as its own cheerleaders, and the glamour quotient was furthered by the presence of (actor) Katrina Kaif as the brand ambassador,” it says. The study pegged the brand value of Mallya’s team at $14 million (around Rs66.08 crore), but this is sure to pick up after this year’s comeback.
The team has not had too many sponsors but the owners say that was a conscious strategy.
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RAJASTHAN ROYALS
Owners: Jaipur IPL Cricket Pvt. Ltd
Team captain: Shane Warne
Franchisee fee: $67 mn
Brand value: $10 mn
Brand score: 47%
Sponsorships/brand associations: At least nine; UltraTech Cement, Kingfisher, Royal Challenge, HDFC Standard Life, Puma, 7Up, TCS, Boost, Wrigley’s, fashion designer Kunal Rawal
Income from central pool:
2008:Rs35 crore
2009: approx. Rs76.5 crore
Income from sponsorships:
2008: Rs15 crore
2009: Rs100-110 crore
Total*:
2008: Rs50 crore
2009: Rs176.5-186.5 crore
Defending champions lose steam, gain ground in getting sponsorships
Rajasthan Royals surprised everyone when it stole the show in 2008. It was the least expensive team and its owners Jaipur IPL Cricket Pvt. Ltd did little to change the frugal image, with no marketing buzz and no celebrity endorser.
Winning the tournament in 2008 helped Rajasthan Royals attract bigger sponsors this year. The absence of star players, lesser-known owners and no brand ambassador last year combined to prevent it from creating a differentiated brand identity, but all that changed after the win. This year, the team’s glamour quotient went up when Bollywood actor Shilpa Shetty, with partner Raj Kundra, bought a 12% stake for $16.8 million, pushing the team’s total valuation to $140 million, against the $67 million the team owners had spent to buy it.
All this helped the team attract new sponsors, nine against four last year. The MTI study pegged Rajasthan Royals’ brand value at $10 million (around Rs47.2 crore), the lowest among all teams. Things may be worse next year given the team’s lacklustre performance this time.
**********************
MUMBAI INDIANS
Owners: Reliance Industries Ltd
Team captain: Sachin Tendulkar
Franchisee fee: $111.9 mn
Brand value: $17 mn
Brand score: 51%
Sponsorships/brand associations: At least 13, including MasterCard, Idea Cellular, Royal Stag, Kingfisher, Pepsi, Adidas, Zandu Balm, Red FM, Wrigley’s and Luminous Technology
Income from central pool:
2008: Rs35 crore
2009: approx. Rs76.5 crore
Income from team sponsorships:
2008: Rs15 crore
2009: Rs80-90 crore
Total*:
2008: Rs50 crore
2009: Rs156.5-166.5 crore
An average showing, loyalty factor driven by icon Tendulkar
The most expensive team, Mumbai Indians, bought by Reliance Industries Ltd, had an average run in IPL, both in terms of performance and valuation. Stuck in the middle of the grid, Mumbai Indians was eliminated at the quarter-final stage in both seasons.
The team, however, managed to attract an impressive number of sponsors this year. The MTI study put its brand value at $17 million (around Rs80.24 crore), the fourth highest in the league.
Although Bollywood actor Hrithik Roshan did lend himself to marketing initiatives through music videos and advertisements in 2008, it was icon player Sachin Tendulkar who really drove the loyalty factor for the team and brought in brands such as MasterCard, Pepsi and Adidas, among others.
The team’s biggest strength, according to the MTI study, was its huge fan following among cricket lovers.
**********************
KINGS XI PUNJAB
Owners: Preity Zinta, Ness Wadia and Mohit Burman
Team captain: Yuvraj Singh
Franchisee fee: $76 mn
Brand value: $15 mn
Brand score: 54%
Sponsorships/brand associations: At least nine; Emirates, Gulf Oil, Reebok, Springbok International, Nimbooz, Netlinkblue, Royal Challenge, Dabur Glucose-D, Orbit
Income from central pool:
2008: Rs35 crore
2009: approx. Rs76.5 crore
Income from team sponsorships:
2008: Rs15-18 crore
2009: Rs50-55 crore
Total*:
2008: Rs50-53 crore
2009: Rs126.5-129.5 crore
Zinta brought in advertisers; consistency won loyalty
More than its performance on the pitch, Mohali’s Kings XI Punjab is known for its perky co-owner, Bollywood actor Preity Zinta. The team’s performance in both seasons was average. Although the team made it to the semi-finals in 2008, this year it was eliminated at an earlier stage. The MTI report valued the team at $15 million (around Rs70.8 crore), fifth from the top in the list of franchisees.
“With consistent performance throughout the season, the team was able to attract consistent audience numbers and developed a loyal viewership,” the report says.
Zinta’s association with several brands as their ambassador helped the team get several sponsors and it is likely to have earned about Rs55 crore in sponsorships this year. Popular cricketers such as Brett Lee and Yuvraj Singh also upped the ante of the team.
**********************
KOLKATA KNIGHT RIDERS
Owners: Red Chillies Entertainment Pvt. Ltd
Team captain: Brendon McCullum
Franchisee fee: $75.09 mn
Brand value: $22 mn
Brand score: 52%
Sponsorships/brand associations: At least 12; Nokia, Belmonte, Star Plus, Gitanjali Jewellers, Sprite, Boomer, Reebok, Bilt, Tag Heuer, PlanetM, Next
Income from central pool:
2008: Rs35 crore
2009: approx. Rs76.5 crore
Income from sponsorships:
2008: Rs30 crore
2009: Rs90-100 crore
Total:
2008: Rs65 crore
2009: Rs166.5-176.5 crore
Brand value upped by Khan, likely to be most profitable this time too
It did not have a good run on the field last year and this year, Kolkata Knight Riders, or KKR, was the first team to be ousted from the IPL. Yet the team with Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan, or SRK, as its owner topped the league in terms of brand value.
The MTI study pegged the team’s brand value at $22 million (Rs103.84 crore), 16% more than the second highest team with a brand value of $19 million. “The Shah Rukh Khan brand and the in-stadium marketing strategies of the teams have influenced the team’s brand value, resulting in higher income from gate receipts, merchandising revenues and attracting new team sponsors,” says the study.
The team’s below-average performance on the ground notwithstanding, KKR had the maximum buzz mainly because of SRK’s personal charisma and partly because of team member Saurav Ganguly. This year, an anonymous blogger, Fakeiplplayer, who wrote about KKR’s “inside story”, also kept the brand name bustling. The result: It was reported to be the most profitable team last year, and is likely to have repeated the feat this time as well.
**********************
CHENNAI SUPER KINGS
Owners: India Cements Ltd
Team captain: M.S. Dhoni
Franchisee fee: $91 mn
Brand value: $18 mn
Brand score: 53%
Sponsorships/brand associations: At least 15; Aircel, Cloud 9, Nivaran 90, Reebok, 7Up, Band-Aid, Peter England, Nivea, Lays, Orbit, Boomer, Star Vijay, Hello, Big Bazaar, Coromandel King
Income from central pool:
2008: Rs35 crore
2009: approx. Rs76.5 crore
Income from team sponsorships:
2008: Rs20 crore
2009: Rs100-110 crore
Total*:
2008: Rs55 crore
2009: Rs176.5-186.5 crore
Dhoni key in creating a strong brand
Last year’s runner-up and this year’s semi-finalist, Chennai Super Kings successfully delivered what its owners, India Cements Ltd, expected it to—creating brand awareness for the holding company. “IPL has given us a pan-India presence and strengthened our brand name in southern India,” Rakesh Singh, chief marketing officer of the team, had said earlier.
The brand, according to the MTI study, enjoyed a strong valuation at $18 million (around Rs85 crore), the third highest among the eight teams. With Mahendra Singh Dhoni as the captain and icon player, the brand benefited from his associations with brands such as Aircel, Reebok, Big Bazaar and 7Up.
“The purchase of M.S. Dhoni, under whose captaincy India won the world T20 championship, was the key factor in creating a large awareness, a stronger perception and gave great mileage for creating a strong brand for Chennai Super Kings,” says the study.
**********************
DELHI DAREDEVILS
Owners: GMR Holdings Pvt. Ltd
Team captain: Virender Sehwag
Franchisee fee: $84 mn
Brand value: $19 mn
Brand score: 55%
Sponsorships/brand associations: At least 13; Hero Honda, Kingfisher, Royal Challenge, Coca-Cola, Adidas, Fever 104 FM, Orbit, IBN7, CNN IBN, Cricketnext.com, designer Karan Nasir, Buzzintown.com
Income from central pool:
2008: Rs35 crore
2009: approx. Rs76.5 crore
Income from sponsorships:
2008: Rs15 crore
2009: Rs60 crore
Total*:
2008: Rs50 crore
2009: Rs136.5 crore
A balanced team, Sehwag’s popularity generated advertiser interest
The MTI study valued the Delhi Daredevils brand at $19 million (around Rs89.68 crore), the second highest among the eight teams. The reason: A strong squad, a popular brand ambassador (in 2008) and a well-known owner helped Delhi Daredevils create a good awareness and perception about the team, it says.

Even cricket experts hailed Delhi Daredevils as one of the most balanced teams on the field.
[picapp src="a/4/2/3/PicImg_Indian_Cricketers_Unveil_e9e6.JPG?adImageId=5052460&imageId=4514590" width="234" height="161" /]Owned by Bangalore-based infrastructure and construction group GMR Holdings Pvt. Ltd, the team established itself as a serious player with strong performances in both the first and second seasons of IPL.
The popularity of captain Virender Sehwag, along with Bollywood actor Akshay Kumar as the face of the team in 2008, helped it build a loyal fan base and generated interest among advertisers.
According to industry estimates, the team generated Rs15 crore in sponsorships in 2008, and this was likely to have increased to Rs60 crore this year, thanks to the deals signed with brands such as Coca-Cola, Fever 104 FM and Kingfisher Airlines.
**********************
DECCAN CHARGERS
Owners: Deccan Chronicle Holdings Ltd
Team captain: Adam Gilchrist
Franchisee fee: $107.01 mn
Current brand value: $11 mn
Current brand score: 44%
Sponsorships/brand associations: At least nine, including Odyssey, Puma, Kingfisher, McDowell’s, Big 92.7 FM, Boomer, Pepsi, Serendipity Tours
Income from central pool:
2008: Rs35 crore
2009: approx. Rs76.5 crore
Income from team sponsorships:
2008: Rs20 crore
2009: Rs50 crore
Total*:
2008: Rs55 crore
2009: Rs126.5 crore
Valuations remained low but win may change things
The team was, indeed, all charged up this year. Beating Royal Challengers by six runs in the final, the Deccan Chargers team not only scored in terms of popularity, but also made its team owners, Hyderabad-based media company, Deccan Chronicle Holdings Ltd richer by the Rs4.8 crore that it won in prize money.
The team’s valuation at $11 million (around Rs52 crore) was, however, not too impressive. The absence of a popular brand ambassador, lower awareness about its owners and fewer marketing and branding efforts prevented Deccan Chargers from building a popular brand, says the MTI study.
However, there was enough advertiser interest in the team this year, with the number of brand associations jumping from five to nine.
The team owners have been keen to sell a strategic stake in the team, but had not found any takers at the price they were quoting. This may now change.
* The total income does not include gate receipts, revenue from merchandising and prize money.

zyakaira notes: this being an official study, we will be using this to work on all things IPL here and at http://twitterone.mobi

All IPL brands have earned 150-200 crores in 2009 edition with 110 million viewers ratifying the IPL’s tag of 8200 crores ($1.3 bllion) for media rights. Now apart from their going public, i feel the potential is such that at least a couple of these franchises like the Daredevils will start earning closer to 300 crores from edition 3

via Brand valuation | How the teams fared

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