For franchisees the inaugural edition of the IPL has been a learning experience. The Hyderabad franchise is no different. While Deccan Chargers finished at the bottom of the table, the franchisee is confident that the investment will pay of in the long term. At the same time, the event was more difficult logistically and also physically than anybody imagined.
GroupM ESP acts as a consultant for the Deccan Chronicle, which owns the Deccan chargers. Ashwin Pinto caught up with GroupM ESP managing partner Hiren Pandit to find out his views on the event
Excerpts:
How has the IPL experience been for Deccan Chargers? |
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Overall what have the learnings been?
I believe that the IPL is looking for $ 7 to 8 million for ground co-sponsorship rights. Pepsi will go in for associate sponsorship as they want to block out Coca Cola. Each franchise and sponsor has had more than his fair share of learnings that will have to be put in place.
A lot of course correction will happen. This will be from a commercial angle, team management angle, player angle.
For the next three weeks people will lie low and detox from the IPL frenzy. Then they will start addressing issues. There will be a session with the IPL governing body to do a Swot analysis. Teams will look at their overall structure and check to see if all is right or if it needs to be re-looked at. Some problems may be common. |
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What were the logistical challenges?
Hats off to the players for performing. We played a match against Chandigarh. The next day we reached Hyderabad at 9:30 at night. The next day there was a match. Where is the time for player recovery? Players luggage also became an issue. It has to be at the airport. These logistics were more complex than had been first imagined.
Then there is media pressure. Several people want to interview a certain set of players at any given point of time. This needs to be scheduled better. |
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For Hyderabad what have the learnings been? Not just us, but everybody will handle this differently next time. We sold out tickets for many matches but we have to still understand the pattern in which ticket sales happen. With sponsors there was confusion due to outfits not being ready on time. For the first week we struggled to get a comprehensive photo of the team. Clothes designs and delivery were a challenge. It took us 15 days to do this. If we had time this would have been planned better. |
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Is it fair to say that the ones who did well did not have big stars? |
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Did attitude play a role? |
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Why did Hyderabad not fare better? |