The Hindu : Sport : Sports Marketing, a success formula

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Sport - Sports : General

Sports Marketing, a success formula

Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI: The idea of sports as business and the business of sports in the modern scenario was discussed at length in the Sports Marketing Summit organised by SportzPR here on Friday.

The sports editor of Sahara Samay, G. Rajaraman, highlighted the indifference of the Indian media to its own stars, while it has been busy popularising global stars like Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, David Beckham, Michael Schumacher etc.

Countering the argument Lathika Khaneja, whose company has been managing cricket star Virender Sehwag, said brands build themselves in a certain way. She highlighted that the success of a sportsman did not necessarily mean his success as a brand in the marketing world, and pointed at the examples of Anil Kumble and V.V.S. Lakshman.

The overwhelming success of the Indian Premier League (IPL) in the 20-20 format of cricket was viewed as a classic example of a game evolving to the needs of the audience.

“Cricket has grown by shrinking,” said Amrit Mathur, who has been associated with GMR Sports, in the conduct of the IPL.

With India winning its first ever individual Olympic gold through shooter Abhinav Bindra, it was felt that there were tremendous opportunities to project other sport stars and market other games better.

”Cricket is the surface of the ice berg. Other sports are under the water”, said Subhinder Singh Prem, the managing director of Reebok, as he expressed his conviction that there was scope for different games to flourish with varying degrees of success.

Sundar Raman, one of the brains behind the success of the IPL, was vehement in his statement that the quality and intensity of the package was real and everything else was secondary, in the overwhelming reception of the first edition.

Anita Nayyar of Havas Media, was of the view that the State, the media and the marketer, can combine to make Indian sports a success story for all.

Basabdatta Chowdhuri of Madison Media Plus, was categorical that sports cannot be looking up to the marketers for charity. The product had to be packaged well to sell.

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