David Ogilvy formulated what is perhaps now the most iconic rule in the annals of advertising – and that is that a good advertisement is one which sells the brand without drawing attention to itself. After years of wait, speculation, and efforts, the Delhi Commonwealth Games Organising Committee is facing their most critical question. Can their attempts to position the Commonwealth Games 2010 as a grand affair and a unique national advertisement actually succeed in making Brand India shine? Is there credible progress till date on that front? Will reality meet expectations? Or will the world, while acknowledging the brilliance of the ‘advertisement’, simply ignore the ‘product’ and move on post the games? 4Ps B&M presents a debate over the factual opening ceremony of Brand India much before the real showdown begins!
Specimen I – Rajesh Puri, CEO of Meru Cab is all busy scaling-up his cab-service fleet these days (he has increased the count of vehicles owned by his company by 100%, to 1200, in just the past three months). Yes, there are the usual ‘fuel’ mathematics and the daily negotiations with blue-collar personnel, but of course, the ‘new-thing’ about his professional life are his daily meetings with both the officials of the organising committee of the 2010 Commonwealth games (CWG) and various car manufacturers (from 600 cars in October 2009 to 1200 in January 2010 to 1800 by October 2010; he’s just happily giving in to the temptation!). For Puri, that’s not all there is to the overall excitement of this being a golden money-minting opportunity, for he is also mulling-over prospects of opening an English language training process to deal with all the foreign tourists who’d fly into the country around the CWG days (October 3-14, 2010).
Specimen II – Subhash Chander, a middle-class Indian, who owns a Bed and Breakfast facility (Inn@Delhi, in South Delhi). He is looking forward to upgrade his Bed and Breakfast capacity from three to six rooms. When asked about his expectations being met by demand, he chuckles, “We do not entertain walk-ins, and now we can’t even do that, because all the available rooms are already booked till October 2010...”
Specimen III – Abhishek Khurana, owner of a National Capital Region-based security agency. Khurana has already added 400 new security guards to the existing strength of 3000. His motive: to tap into the congregation of cash-rich V.I.P’s flying-in for the games.
Three specimens, one motive: make most of what the fiesta in October has in store for those seeking to garner rich returns! So there’s the question – should we bet big on the 2010 Commonwealth games? Will CWG be able to sell Brand India, both economically and diplomatically (with a focus on the former)? Looking positively, why not? With the Indian government spending upto Rs.10,555 crore for hosting the CWG in October 2010 in New Delhi, brand analysts are forecasting the marketing spendingduring the event to surpass the Rs.1,300 crore mark. With such an outflow waiting to happen, what is the most likely payoff for the big spenders of India Inc.? Historically speaking, such events have always been rich in terms of dividends. In a pre-event versus post-event survey conducted by Omnibus during the 2002 Commonwealth Games held in Manchester, it was found that the brand awareness of Imperial Leather (an official Personal Care Partner of the Games) had increased by 93%, while the awareness of its slogan had appreciated by 21% post-event. Here is another one for the hopefuls – National Australia Bank(NAB) received 2,773 media mentions as the Official Banking Partner of the 2006 Commonwealth Games held in Melbourne. As far as the forthcoming CWG goes, the numbers read encouraging too, with a minimum expected number of 100,000 visitors (including athletes and team management) coming to India for the CWG alone, a global audience of two billion watching the Games, $6 billion in total business opportunity (with revenues from sale of tickets alone forecasted at $25 million) with an employment figure of 2.47 million individuals! Looking at the bigger picture, the overall economic impact of is projected at $4.5 billion by 2012. In short, despite the much-talked 2010 CWG being plagued with controversies and debates over infrastructurural issues, it is being hailed as nothing less than a wonder bubble, something that has ‘real’ cheers in store for India Inc., dressed up as a marketing marvel!
Specimen I – Rajesh Puri, CEO of Meru Cab is all busy scaling-up his cab-service fleet these days (he has increased the count of vehicles owned by his company by 100%, to 1200, in just the past three months). Yes, there are the usual ‘fuel’ mathematics and the daily negotiations with blue-collar personnel, but of course, the ‘new-thing’ about his professional life are his daily meetings with both the officials of the organising committee of the 2010 Commonwealth games (CWG) and various car manufacturers (from 600 cars in October 2009 to 1200 in January 2010 to 1800 by October 2010; he’s just happily giving in to the temptation!). For Puri, that’s not all there is to the overall excitement of this being a golden money-minting opportunity, for he is also mulling-over prospects of opening an English language training process to deal with all the foreign tourists who’d fly into the country around the CWG days (October 3-14, 2010).
Specimen II – Subhash Chander, a middle-class Indian, who owns a Bed and Breakfast facility (Inn@Delhi, in South Delhi). He is looking forward to upgrade his Bed and Breakfast capacity from three to six rooms. When asked about his expectations being met by demand, he chuckles, “We do not entertain walk-ins, and now we can’t even do that, because all the available rooms are already booked till October 2010...”
Specimen III – Abhishek Khurana, owner of a National Capital Region-based security agency. Khurana has already added 400 new security guards to the existing strength of 3000. His motive: to tap into the congregation of cash-rich V.I.P’s flying-in for the games.
Three specimens, one motive: make most of what the fiesta in October has in store for those seeking to garner rich returns! So there’s the question – should we bet big on the 2010 Commonwealth games? Will CWG be able to sell Brand India, both economically and diplomatically (with a focus on the former)? Looking positively, why not? With the Indian government spending upto Rs.10,555 crore for hosting the CWG in October 2010 in New Delhi, brand analysts are forecasting the marketing spendingduring the event to surpass the Rs.1,300 crore mark. With such an outflow waiting to happen, what is the most likely payoff for the big spenders of India Inc.? Historically speaking, such events have always been rich in terms of dividends. In a pre-event versus post-event survey conducted by Omnibus during the 2002 Commonwealth Games held in Manchester, it was found that the brand awareness of Imperial Leather (an official Personal Care Partner of the Games) had increased by 93%, while the awareness of its slogan had appreciated by 21% post-event. Here is another one for the hopefuls – National Australia Bank(NAB) received 2,773 media mentions as the Official Banking Partner of the 2006 Commonwealth Games held in Melbourne. As far as the forthcoming CWG goes, the numbers read encouraging too, with a minimum expected number of 100,000 visitors (including athletes and team management) coming to India for the CWG alone, a global audience of two billion watching the Games, $6 billion in total business opportunity (with revenues from sale of tickets alone forecasted at $25 million) with an employment figure of 2.47 million individuals! Looking at the bigger picture, the overall economic impact of is projected at $4.5 billion by 2012. In short, despite the much-talked 2010 CWG being plagued with controversies and debates over infrastructurural issues, it is being hailed as nothing less than a wonder bubble, something that has ‘real’ cheers in store for India Inc., dressed up as a marketing marvel!
For more articles, Click on IIPM Article.
Source : IIPM Editorial, 2010.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).
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