Gujarat Lions and Rising Pune Supergiants are not late entrants; they are “limited edition” IPL teams. They are temporary franchises; i.e. they have a shelf life of just two years, after which they will probably not exist, with the prospect of the Chennai and Rajasthan teams being resurrected.
Franchisee teams generate advertising and merchandising revenue on the back of the loyal fan base that they build. On this count, most IPL teams have struggled to create a large and loyal fan base over an eight-year period, with the exception of Chennai and Mumbai.
Given that context, Gujarat Lions and Rising Pune Supergiants need to build their fan base very, very fast.
Considering that cricket is a high-involvement game, this set of fans would be well aware that the team they support may become extinct two years from now.
And therein lies the biggest challenge for these two franchisees: How do they rapidly build a loyal fan base in spite of having only a two-year window of existence, that too in an environment where loyalty has been hard to earn?
Now, that is a delicious mouth-watering challenge for any marketer to solve, much more challenging than just being a late entrant, one could argue. The trick lies in making the limited edition teams a badge of connoisseurs and showcase them as a statement of good taste.
Brands that do this well Alcohol brands and perfumes do this well. A limited edition Jack Daniels Sinatra Select appeals to more than just JD loyalists or Sinatra fanatics. It appeals to the regular whisky drinker who is in the market for a unique taste experience, but more importantly, a choice that earns him some bragging rights.
He will nurse and show the bottle way after it goes off the shelves because it lends him the status of a whisky/bourbon/music connoisseur.
That’s the opportunity these limited edition teams have, of creating a never-defined before cult of “cricket connoisseurs.” These could be a unique cult of cricket connoisseurs in a country of fanatics. This could be a cult of people who are defined by good cricketing taste, rather than just empty jingoism. The audience will be a set of men and women who are characterised by an erudite knowledge of the game. It’s this knowledge that makes them support these two teams.
The positioning could be that these two teams have been put together with taste, with a sound cricketing knowledge that only a connoisseur of the game will appreciate.
After that, the traditional and digital media need to do two things: First, they should position the “fans” of these teams as “connoisseurs” rather than as fanatics. Second, they must create stories that lend credibility to the fine taste.
The facts that could be highlighted include: Rising Supergiants has picked its team by merit and not status of players with solid T20 performers such as Rahane, Rajat Bhatia and M Ashwin whose records are taller than their stature.
Or the fact that Gujarat Lions has given Suresh Raina a chance to prove his credentials as a captain before the Indian team recognises it. Or that it has the best pick of all-rounders amongst any IPL team. The list of cricket facts that only the truly knowledgeable know can keep getting generated.
While cricket is a mass sport, there is a small but select set of people who watch cricket like experts, like true connoisseurs of the game.
By making these teams the choice of those people, Pune and Gujarat can become immortal. Because with just a two-year opportunity, their goal can be nothing short of immortality.