IPL: It's not about cricket alone!

Despite a couple of losses in the Indian Premier League Cricket tournament, Kolkata Knight Riders have emerged as a strongest team brand that we have around and that's thanks to a heady combination of performance, spirit and star power. So how does it get to the next level and where does the IPL go from here.

 

Anuradha Sengupta CNBC-TV18 spoke in an exclusive interview with Shiv Kumar , VP & MD, Nokia India , Sunder Raman CEO of the IPL, and  Shah Rukh Khan , owner of Kolkata Knight Riders.

 

The Panel agreed that there would be a slack period where people might lose interest in the matches but then again get back to watching the matches during the Finals. They added that IPL is cricket alone; it's about entertainment and cricket.

 

Excerpts from the exclusive interview: 

 

Q: After the loss to Mumbai Indians, you told the team, "Haar kar jeetne wale Ko Baazigar Kehte Hai"?

 

Khan: Chris Gayle wants to act in Hindi films; so I was teaching him some Hindi so that he will be able to do that. But after the team lost, I have made a deal with them, I am actually not the owner, I actually call myself a fan Twelfth man of Kolkata Knight Riders because I go into the dressing room, and I do a new dance step for them so that they can smile a little. You will never succeed if you don't know how to fail. That's the ideology of the Knight Riders and that's what the kids and boys should believe and I make sure that every day of the match, whether we win or lose the dance doesn't stop.

 

Q: All the advertisers and brand gurus say that your team is the strongest brand. What would you isolate as that x-factor, because there are other teams which performance wise have put in strong performances, I am talking about Chennai Super Kings?

 

Khan: All the teams are good and they all came good as the 14 matches progress, that's one of the nicer parts of IPL, they will be quite keenly and closely contested otherwise it would get boring. If you know you are going to fail go ahead and do it because that's the worse that can happen, so the ideology is very strong and that's why Nokia is with us, because I didn't explain to them what we are going to do in marketing, I didn't explain to them how we are going to play cricket, I didn't explain to myself and neither has Sunder gone and made some promises via IPL about the teams, but what I explained to them was the ideology, that we believe that we do, fight and try and win or die trying and I think that ideology is what is, is the young Indian's ideology, which sticks with people. I have been saying this since day one, it's about bringing everyone together, closer by this ideology and that's why we fit with Nokia, they connect people through this ideology.

 

Q: Is that how you would isolate the X factor, today you are a sponsor on Kolkata Knight Riders, lets say you wanted to go the Kingfisher way and wanted to spend money on 2-3 other teams, what is the story here and what is the story you would look for as the sponsor?

 

Shivakumar: We didn't look at cricket, we thought its going to be entertainment plus cricket, and then we took a good hard look at all the contestants, for sponsorship. If it is going to be entertainment plus cricket, we thought the best would be Shah Rukh because he has a brand which is far bigger than most of the brands in this country, that was the best fit that Nokia could ever get, and I am sure there were other sponsors who were willing to pay Shah Rukh more.

 

There were other teams who wanted Nokia to work with them but we had worked together in the past and we trust each other, so we said okay, this is something that both of us will benefit from.

 

Q: We are in third week, if you were to sponsor two other teams, which ones would you go for and why?

 

Shivakumar: We don't want to pick any other.

 

Khan: Tell her Chennai, she wants to hear that.

 

Anchor: No I don't.

 

Khan: Make her day.

 

Q: Rajasthan royals are a good under dog story, challenger brand kind of thing?

 

Shivakumar: Purely rationally if you would have evaluated, I don't think we would have a second option.

 

Q: Why not the event and why a team?

 

A: If you go back to last year, we were the on air sponsors for the World cup and the Twenty20, we were in the World cup and with ICC for the T20. If you look at this format, and what IPL is trying to achieve here, they are trying to ensure that they build loyalty to a city and loyalty to a team. It was not about loyalty to cricket, it was about loyalty to build the 8 franchisees. So we looked at it and said, do we come in as sponsor of cricket over all, or do we take a team and drive it. I said, this is going to be about entertainment and cricket. Its not about cricket alone, and if it was entertainment and cricket, and Nokia needed to be involved with this innovation, then it had to go and do it with one of the Franchisees and that's why we picked Shah Rukh to do it.

 

Q: When you have an off day, when you have a loss, does that bother you because if you were doing the event you are safe because the event is a hit?

 

Shivakumar: That's a very valid observation, but you have to look at it in the totality, you win some and you loose some, but I think Kolkata Knight Riders will end up as one of the stronger teams in this format.

 

Q: The Aussies leave, how do you think that will affect the momentum of the IPL, and not just them, but you even have the Knight Riders, Brendon McCullum, the Kiwi going off to England?

 

Raman: It affects partly but we need to look at the South African side in good numbers. That adds to the respective team strength, depending on the combination. Most of the franchises have clearly thought out plans when they went in for the player options. They knew who was going to go when and they have a backup plan which is why none of the Franchises have picked up just four international players. Guys like Fleming haven't even played most of it, Gibbs hasn't played a single game yet. These are the guys who can single handedly win games for the teams, and the overall cricketing context definitely adds value. IPL's success is purely dependent on how good the game of cricket being played is on any given day.

 

Q: I know you don't know about brands and marketing, but clearly in these few weeks you have worked over time with great passion and enthusiasm to let the team build its identity, how long you will need to do, when do you think you can play a supporting role, when do you think you could afford to take a back seat.

 

Khan: When I say I don't know branding, its not that I don't understand the aspect of marketing at all. I make films I sell them to the audience and hopefully try to pass on the message to them. But this is the first time in years of my career, I have gotten into a field where I have the support of sponsors. I have never taken support like this, because my films are about story telling through me, and here I am not even going to play. I need to support them, I need to be very clear. So more than me, IPL itself has taken off, which is like 2 months of real hard work, I have lost 3.5kgs, and after a lot of hard work I have finally started feeling relaxed now. I don't think anyone is unhappy at this point in time, now we need to make sure that they are happier, and this is the whole reason that IPL and the individual teams are going to succeed beyond cricket. While the cricket is being played, this is not toned to that side, they just see that the final winner. If you have a great game then you have a great franchise, if you don't have good games, this franchise will never stick, but now we are having good games also, out of the 14-15 that we had, barring a couple of them, the first match everyone said its so one sided its not going to work.

 

Q: Then it became much more competitive?

 

Khan: Give it time, its going to be very competitive, in the beginning after winning the two matches every team has a great chance, T20 is a different league it just doesn't work on paper. It works on the field on that day depending on the pitch and a lot of other factors, so that's the reason I worked and come the finals, we win it and then I am off to film duties.

 

Q:  So whatever it takes, for as long as it takes

 

Khan: Just till the finals, I am not going to talk to Sundar, Lalit, these guys can wait for me till next year. My Nokia association is completely different. I have been told with a lot of love that I am one of the only celebrities who endorse Nokia around the world.

 

 

Q: Exactly 3 years ago, in April the Indo Pak Series, I remember you coming on to story board and questioning the ROI from cricket, you are completely singing a different tune today?

 

A: When I was on Story board 3 years ago, I did mention to you that there was no accountability in cricket that was the term I used. I said, there is no body accountable for the money which is being charged neither the sponsor nor the governing body. But if you look at it now,  there is an accountability at an ownership level.

 

Q: Even the prices have gone way up,

 

 

Shivakumar: Whatever the price, there is an ownership at the owner's end, and at the sponsor's end, and finally there is an ownership at the IPL level it self, because all three of us need to work, to make this work if it doesn't then all 3 of us have failed, its much higher ownership today than ever before.

 

Khan: So he says he trusts me more than the cricket.

 

Shivakumar: The other one is T20 and if you go back last year and look and even you look at Eden Gardens today, the number of women and children coming into this game are very different, so cricket is actually getting a much broader base of audience, thanks to T20.

 

Q: Shahrukh Khan has 5 vi pass on Star Plus, and he is also on the cricket, your money is only on the cricket? So you wanted to delay it?

 

Khan: I personally believe that IPL is going to have a fatigue factor there will be a time and a plateau somewhere around the middle, I am an entertainer I know this, this is the 2/3^rd part of story telling for the IPL, there are 59 matches and I am already tired after 14, but it will have a fatigue factor and peak again in the finals and I think the sponsors and the IPL understands that and lets not be unrealistic. I could tell you this is going to rock and the world already knows about it, it has rocked. It has a great beginning it has a great story to tell, but every story has a lag and there will be a time. There is going to be a time period when people are going to choose the teams, its not going to be all 8 teams, they are not going to be region based fan ship, there is going to be a team based and ideological based fan ship, some guys will go to the under dog and say I will always going to be stick on this some will say I am sticking only to the top guys.

 

Fortunately these guys have gotten into a lot of controversies, but there will be a fatigue level. I was very clear about Paanchvi paas. The first week post IPL, when it comes in, it will suffer a bit for another 5-7 days, but it's a weekend show, so after these 5-7 days go through it will come back on the weekend, women and kids come to watch me so they will watch a lot of Paanchvi Paas.

 

Q: So you are counting on the fact that there will be no Sharukh Khan Fatigue factor?

 

Khan: No I cant tire you, you cant get tired of more of me, you want  6 then you want  8 packs and then you want more. You don't get tired of Sharukh Khan.

 

 

 

 

Q: Ricky Ponting told us that test cricket is untouchable but seeing the impact ODI has seen on Test cricket, but it's the ODI format that he feels it may get affected quite a bit when the IPL taking off, you know the concerns, how are you sort of managing working the delicate balance because you need to ensure that those two for mats are protected otherwise there will be Hue and Cry and on the other hand,  you need to have at least  2 seasons of IPL for this to pick up momentum as you go forward?

 

Raman: I am not sure whether one is eating into the currency of one or the other, you have to look at cricket on a slightly holistic context, you have 365 days of cricket, our  belief is that consumers will still watch it, there is no better reality entertainment than 3 runs to score of the last ball, you don't know what will happen, most of the movies you know, the Hero will get it.

 

Q: The three formats of Hit viz because looking at the ratings, looking at India-Australia earlier this year and looking at the IPL openings, almost close to the final of T20 world cup, so isn't it going to be distinctive to want to go where ratings come in and therefore the viewer ship is and the money is?

 

Raman: What we are forgetting here is a large bucket of daily soaps and serials which is the staple food of the Indian entertainment, never heard of a complaint that I am tired of Kyunki, etc, people go and watch it Monday to Friday ever other week, that the general opportunity in the market is a huge one which I believe cricket can significantly occupy and take some portion off that audience in realistic entertainment terms.

 

 

Q: So all three formats of cricket will thrive?

 

Raman: All 3 formats will co-exist.

 

Q: as some one who is investing in the game, when you look at the ratings do you see an inevitable decline or perhaps fading away of one of the other formats?

 

Shivakumar: It depends on what each format does, when the one day format came in, people said Test Cricekt will die, and did it die for quite some time, We should give Australians the credit for saying how can someone score 300 runs in days and why cant we score 4 runs an over, they re defined the game completely and then suddenly and then test became enjoyable. The Ashes series between Australia and England, was one of the best watch in sporting events that was 3-4 years ago, so each format will be re invented.

 

Q: Your Favourite Format?

 

Khan: The bottom line is, what keeps any sport alive, whether it's the test or the one day match, or the T20 is the two competing teams, so I would say that there are some test matches, with due respect to all the teams, which are not so interesting and suffer. But there will be some rivalries, like suddenly you have the Indo-Australian rivalry, you had the Sri Lanka-Paksitan, enough rivalries in cricket in terms of competitiveness that we really look forward to and very soon you will find Zimbabwe, Bangladesh, and other countries also rising up to that level and having maybe smaller rivalries, so whichever form at that point of time, has that kind of competitiveness, you will watch it, if its Test cricket,  I would like to watch an England Australia match and also an Australia India match now, one day also will have such rivalries, T20 itself will bring this lead kind of stuff, World Cup is a new format, so it will take a little while but none of them will suffer as long as the competitive rival teams are there.

 

Q: As a business, what happens next to the teams are we getting ahead of ourselves?

 

Khan: I don't understand this aspect of business at all, so I don't know what my comment would be, I am greedy and I want to own my team and I will stick with it even if I have to sell my body for it. There are some great business opportunities that I am venturing into with IPO etc, I have never understood virtual money. I understand money earned by blood and sweat put in your business put a shop, at the end of the day be able to pay for the lights and be able to eat your food, I am an old fashion retailer, so I know that kind of business. I don't understand any of this and I am not selling my team to anybody, this is my team.

 

Q: Closing Words on IPL?

 

Shivakumar: The experienced part is something which is going to be big enough, whether it's music, whether it's video, merchandise, if you went to Calcutta today, you will see so many people with merchandise, for all the games in the country over the 75 years, we haven't seen that happen, so the experienced part, people are saying they want the piece of the action I want to belong to a club or a Franchisee that's something which is going to be big.

 

Raman: The game has just began.

 

Khan:  He will sell his soul for this.