IPL franchisees, as digital as 2003

Do you know what’s common between Diwali and the IPL?

It’s the sense of stagnancy that these events bring to your life. The same shit every year. Since the circus came to town 5 years back, IPL marketing, especially at the club level has done exactly that. It has flattered to deceive much like its Kazakistani cheer girls wearing ill fitting stockings.

Day before, I was going through a trade piece that suggested that IPL clubs are now spending big on digital. It’s not futuristic to be online today, but I have to say it gave me a sense of relief as in general I don’t want IPL the concept to fail.

Curious, I did the obvious thing, googled  <clubname> one by one to land on various official sites.  I’ve been disappointed before but what struck me harder was that afaqs (where i originally read about these big spends) and the likes are mere reporting/PR agents.

Some might argue a website is not the only media digital, and I agree but it is certainly the most evocative of the intent of a brand. I did look at the mundane social media efforts as well but to scope the evaluation, here’s a quick rundown of 7 top IPL teams and their expression of intent via club websites:

So when you look at the brief analysis above there are a few positives, however the absence of certain hygiene attributes for sports clubs and websites thereto reflect the short term outlook of the management. It’s the 5th edition and this lethargy towards developing and communicating their brand digitally is disappointing to say the least. But then you cant really blame them for the chaotic song and dance. They’re rich and their turnstiles do enough big ticket rotations, so, so far, so good.