B®and-Aid

With the world-cup bidding farewell to a down and out Indian team asking them to try their luck the next time….the first thought that crosses my mind is that of those ‘scratch-n-win’ contests….usually after scratching several of them with no positive results….I ended up scratching my head instead ….wondering ‘mera number kab aayega’ .Similar has been the case with India in almost all the important tournaments…or better say ‘torments’.
A recent article in TOI about ‘the mathematics of sponsorship’ gives us an insight into the corporate melodrama going in and around the biggest brands and their associations (the former grinding their teeth as it may seem now). If the men-in-blue (feeling the blues already!) broke a billion hearts….why not kick some corporate asses too….after all it’s their turn back home.
So how does one feel when Sachin walks back to the pavilion and turns up endorsing ITC’s newly launched ‘sach kit’….the name ‘sach pit’ suites better or maybe even sach (a) pit(y) after his dismal performance in the WC. Statistics reveal that a whopping 750 CR is being spent on sponsorships involving the game….these figures being a subset of the total amount of 5000-6000 CR invested in the ad world. With almost 12-15% of the ad market being dominated by cricket it seems to be the biggest ‘brand concept’…. the fate of which is being speculated after the sudden and much debated (yet inexplicable) exit of India from the world cup.
Global brands like ‘Nike’ and ‘Pepsi’ hoping to rake in some moolah find themselves crashing instead of cashing. The only commercial that did well despite ‘the gr8 Indian disaster’ was that of Tate sky…..reason??...it discouraged ardent cricket fans from going to the Caribbean and urged them to get a tata sky subscription instead thus saving them their money. And would u even think of asking more if you get an opportunity to be with the one and only ‘hrithik roshan’?. I think it’s time our ‘viru’ paaji consider taking some lessons on ‘footwork’ from him…..Boy! He sure knows a lot about that..
So who takes the responsibility of trampling our dreams of bringing the world-cup home? What are the advertisers supposed to do now? ‘Collective responsibility’ is their answer. But I feel it’s us who are responsible. We treat them as gods. The more HYPE we provide the less HOPE we get in return. We are the ones creating undue pressure on them…. giving an excuse of ‘cricket is all about handling pressure’. We stop idolizing them and brands will shift their focus to other ideas. They need to get themselves out of the limelight and into the sunlight working harder than ever.
So the next time sachin tells you the secret of his fading energy or dhoni flaunts his colorful hairlines…let that remote do the talking.