The world of marketing has intrigue me not because I have spent most my life in this profession and managed powerful brands like Dettol but, why some brands become winners within a short period of time whilst others struggle and then fade away. One brand that has become a winner in the recent past is IPL. Some call it Pyjarma cricket but to me, it’s a brand that has raised above the rest and has been valued at over $2 billion by the UK based valuation consultancy Brand Finance whilst IPL as a brand is valued at over a $311 million dollars. The BCCI has estimated that IPL will bring in approximately $1.6 billion revenue in the next five to ten years which gives us an idea of the consumer power behind this brand. Let me capture some of the lessons to corporate Sri Lanka.

The concept of selling cricket stars for big money auctions can be termed shrewd but to my mind it was the cutting edge decision that changed the nature of the game. In 2007 at the inception there was a lot of money but no one knew if this business of IPL will catch the world. The one man who saw the future was Laith Modi who was the Chief Commissioner of this brand. Today the business is worth $2billion dollars. In 2008 for instance the Bangladeshi seamer Musrafe Murtaza who commanded a base price of just $50,000 at the auction ultimately traded off at a commanding $600,000 which gives us an indication of the consumer power behind him. This tag alone catapults the value of the IPL brand to what it is today. If I am to draw a parallel in Sri Lanka it is Mobitel who has shown us in cutting edge decisions. With the mounting losses in post paid segment the company took a decision to focus on the public sector which were very credit worthy and today it’s a power brand which is has some of the highest ratings on Relevancy’ and ‘Consumer Advantage’ against the main competitor. These are the decisions that can change the rules of the game.

Apparently the founder of the Modi empire Gujmal Modi, in 1932 had started the company with only Rs.400/- in his pocket and had to let go of the security of his parents and home. Today the company is within the largest conglomerates in India with joint ventures with some of the top company’s like Philip Morris, Estee Lauder, Revlon, Rank Xerox and Walt Disney to name a few. A parallel in Sri Lanka is Orange Eclectricals who had to take a new name from Clipsal within 48 hours due to an issue that arised internally. It was a very bold decision but today "Orange" is one of the strongest brand names in Sri Lanka. It moved out of the safety net and aggressive moved to take the high ground in the bulb business of the country.

When the IPL season 2 ran into tough terrain due to the Indian Government wanting to give priority to election from a security allocation perspective Lalith Modi very clearly made it known to the world that he will co-operate and not get into a ‘turf war’ even though billions of rupees was at stake. This came from the upbringing from one of his mentors Sri Kumar Modi who personally used to work closely with the government of India and local state that resulted in the company having the space to venture out to industries like Silk Mills, Nylon & Polyester threading, tyre & tube manufacturing, Industrial leather to name a few that boarders on political power. The relevance to Sri Lanka is that organizations cannot work in isolation. It has to be closely threaded to the government policy. This might require the organizations of today to recruit a person who has a new skill set. If corporate Sri Lanka does not do that the growth can be stunted.

When Lalith Modi decided to commercialize the 20/20 cricket by launching the IPL brand he believed that nothing was as powerful as an idea that the time had come. He passionately drove the idea when a few actually believed it. Today this is a $311 million brand. I yet remember the day that it was announced that IPL could not be staged in India due to the Indian Election Lalith Modi took the high ground and said "I am going to Export this product to another market". The event that was staged in South Africa was a master piece. It was an Indian-African mix that attracted the President of South Africa to be the Chief Guest at the final which tells us how hard this 1 single idea was driven to.

I feel the implication to corporate Sri Lanka is that things will never be perfect but what is required is to grab the opportunities in the market place as it emerges. Munchee did this very well by focusing on the ‘Trully Sri Lankan Brand" proposition and overcame the melamine issue as well as the attack from the giant Indain brand Britania to maintain its status quo as the most powerful Sri Lankan brand in the country which to my mind is single minded focus with all the issues the market place.

It may sound whipped concept but the reality is that at IPL just like any other consumer brand is targeting your own brother or sister. They are your consumer. They are your eyeballs. When it came to the IPL the competitors were the target consumers spending 2 hours at the gym working out, a group of friends enjoying an evening drink at a club or watching that favourite TV programme at home. Hence, the only way to lure them was to provide a carnival atmosphere with music, dancers and excitement with ruthless competitiveness that helped attract 40,000 eyeballs. In Sri Lanka the parallel is the brand Diva washing powder that understood the consumer insight and introduced a low priced washing powder converting laundry soap users to washing powder that has won 28% of households in Sri Lanka into this brand.

Laith Modi got the best talent to back him. Be it Sharuk Khan or Priety Zinta Dhoni at 1.5 million dollars, the best young lifestyle TV presenters to be the voice for IPL. The franchisees were told to focus on the 10-12 year olds as they will be the target consumers of tomorrow and they also have the power to influence the family. The brand will have a revenue turnover of over 1.6 billion dollars in the next ten years which is the strength of the demand pull. The best parallel to me in Sri Lanka is Cargills that has revolutionized the shopping experience with its ‘Food City’ brand. It now has a set of farmers who are part of the extended community. The other day Mr. Anthony page told me that the target is to open 100 more outlets and the investment required of 3 billion will be recouped through internally generated money. The power of consumer pull !

A key success factor at IPL was that big names did not count. All that matters was performance. In fact there were many instances where the top names of cricket were spectators. The winners were those with the right attitude with skill. Age was also not a barrier. Shane Warne proved it of being selected as the most valued player in season 1. In Sri Lanka, my pick from the corporate brands is Venival Soap. The herbal brand took away the consumers of the powerful beauty soaps which indicates that a Sri Lankan consumer also picks brands that perform and not just on past reputation