Chennai Super Kings: The Roar Gets Louder

EVENT FORMAT

PRELIMINARY ROUND

1. Analyze the given case carefully and come up with a summarized presentation based on the

deliverables mentioned.

2. The submission should be in the form of a PowerPoint presentation not exceeding 10 slides

including the cover slide and Appendix if any.

3. Submission Link: https://goo.gl/forms/Uy14M4mrZxrMgtSJ2

FINAL ROUND

Based on the submissions, the top 5 teams will be shortlisted and invited to IIM Kozhikode (during 3rd

- 5th November) to present their solution to a panel of judges. Exact dates of the final round will be

communicated to the shortlisted teams at a later point in time.

PRIZE MONEY

FIRST PRIZE: INR 70,000

SECOND PRIZE: INR 40,000

CASE

Chennai Super Kings in 2018: Growing and Leveraging Brand Equity

Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Rajasthan Royals (RR), the old warhorses are back into the fray for the next

season of IPL after serving the ban for 2 years. Chennai Super Kings have been the most consistent team

in IPL history reaching the qualifiers on all 8 occasions (2008-15) it participated in and winning the crown

on 2 occasions (2010, 2011).

With the ban being lifted in July 2017, CSK is looking forward to rekindling the old spirit of ruthless

dominance and entertaining cricket in the 11th avatar of IPL. Mr. George John, Chennai Super Kings

Director, in an interview with The New Indian Express, attributed the consistency and success to the core

group players and support staff who were retained by the management and formed the bedrock of the

team. He further made his intentions clear about getting back as many players as possible and going all

out in signing M S Dhoni in the player auctions scheduled in February, 2018.

The consistency, flamboyant cricket and the on-field charisma of the players have transcended borders

and attracted cricket fans across the country. The on-field cricketing excellence was well complemented

by off-field campaigns and events to engage the fans and build a brand that stood for quality, fitness and

style.

In that light, CSK wishes to draw from its glorious history of innovative fan engagement to rejuvenate the

brand going forward.

Fan Engagement Initiatives over the Years

Chennai Super Kings was the first and only IPL team to crowdsource its name. It conducted a

promotional naming contest before the start of the season in 2008. The name Chennai Super Kings was

zeroed in from a whooping number of 25000 entries. CSK has tried to engage with its fan base in unique

ways to ensure that the brand remains top of mind throughout the year. The team launched its own fan

loyal program in the form of Kings Club on November 2008. The Kings Club is CSK’s official club

membership program for adults and children. The members enjoyed discount on tickets, autographed

memorabilia, access to premium tickets and parking space, and even a chance to attend the official

team party.

CSK launched its CSK Junior team hunt for kids between 8-12 years of age on February 2009. The ‘Whistle

Podu’ Campaign was launched on April 2009, to give an in stadia experience for its fans. Whistle podu

remains the most widely popular team anthem for any IPL team till date, generating the maximum no.

of fan made videos. A comic series named Chennai Super Komics was launched by CSK for school

children. Post season 4 exclusive CSK store was set up at the Chennai Airport, and with Café Coffee Day

they set up ‘CSK zones' in major cities. They also started Junior Super Kings, an inter-school cricket

tournament for high school students to give them an opportunity to play cricket at the highest level.

The winners of the inaugural year were not only given an opportunity to be mentored by the coaching

team of CSK, they also played an international match with a visiting Under 19 team from New Zealand.

In view of its popular response, the Jr. Super Kings continues to this date (2016), to include not just

schools in Chennai, but has been taken to the districts as well with 152 teams competing with each

other across 4 phases.

CSK has also made conscious efforts to be engaged in all sports popular in Tamil Nadu including

sponsoring the Chennai Marathon, as well as an international Chess Championship in the city. In 2013,

The Super Kings launched the Super Cup, a multi-sport corporate tournament that saw huge

participation from Chennai corporates. Through these efforts CSK was able to gain fan base crossing

demographic and geographical boundaries.

Online Engagement

Contests like “Spot the super king” on Facebook have garnered huge interest among the fans in 2012.

CSK’s official website www.chennaisuperkings.com had motley of offerings for fans. From team news

to exclusive memberships and merchandise like T shirts and cricketing gear, it was a veritable treasure

trove for fans. CSK’s official Facebook page with 11,807,067 likes (as on Oct 6th, 2017) is very active all

through the year- posting pictures of players on and off season, celebrating festivals etc. A Super Blog

Contest was started to actively involve fans and invite them to write blogs on CSK.

Post Ban Engagements

There were no paid campaigns or promotional activities during the period of the ban. On the 1st August

2015, some fans got together to host a public protest requesting that the ban on the Super Kings be

lifted. The on-ground protest and signature campaign resulted in the collection of over 13,000

signatures which was then handed over to BCCI by the fans themselves. This was entirely a fan organised

and managed initiative, this was only shared on the Super Kings social media page to help spread

awareness within a wider community of fans.

On 5th April 2017, as the 10th edition of IPL commenced, #CSKTheKingOfIPL started trending nationwide

organically. Through the IPL season CSK in various forms saw over 1.5Mn mentions across Facebook,

Twitter and Instagram. And on 22nd May at the close of IPL 2017, #ManyHappyReturnsOfCSK started

trending organically once again.

On 14th July, the day the ban was lifted #CSKReturns started trending across social media along with

#WhistlePodu. This became viral largely due to the fact that many of the past players including MS

Dhoni, Hayden and others welcomed the team back on their own social media channels. All of these

conversations trended organically without any media investments by the team.

Leveraging CSK Brand Equity

The fan community is very important for any sports franchise. They pour into the stadium in huge

numbers for matches and thereby are one of the most important revenue streams for any franchisee.

Since the in-stadia presence is largely limited by the capacity of the stadium and since the gates revenue

becomes a function of the stadium capacity, brands turn to other ways of leveraging the fan community.

Larger the fan base, better will be the reach. Hence, they form the bedrock for sponsorships and

associations with other brands. Brands pitch their potential reach as the major selling point to their

sponsors.

Given the rather limited nature of gate receipts, brands are increasingly focusing on the latter way of

leveraging the fan community. With the advent of the internet, viewership has reached unprecedented

levels. The word e-audience refers to the proportion of viewership other than in-stadia presence

through mediums like the television, internet and radio, franchisees focus on leveraging e-audience.

The television and Internet also has a huge psychological influence in persuading a fan to buy the club’s

merchandise which opens up additional streams of revenue as well.

Traditional Revenue Streams for IPL Teams

1. Brand Sponsorships: The IPL franchises generate a chunk of revenue through sponsorships. Top

brands tie-up with the franchises in a quest to provide a much-needed visibility to their brand

with the public by endorsing the names and logos of their brand on team kits and jerseys. The

amount varies significantly as the size or the visibility increases and decreases. Right from the title

sponsors to the ethnic wear partners, teams sign a wide array of deals to keep the cash flowing.

It opens up avenues for co-branding. Previously, CSK had sponsorships associations with Gulf Oil,

Aircel, Coromandel, Peter England, Reebok, Nivea, Big Bazaar, 7UP and 9Cloud.

2. Revenue through the BCCI Central Pool: The IPL, as a brand generates its own share of revenues

through the official sponsorships (such as Pepsi, Vivo, DLF, etc.), partnerships (such as Vodafone,

McDowell’s No.01, Yes Bank, CEAT) and also by selling the broadcast and streaming rights

(Hotstar). STAR India won the Indian Premier League media rights (TV and digital) for 2018-2022

with a bid of Rs.16,347.5 crore. A share of the total revenue is added to the BCCI central pool and

is distributed among the franchisees based on several factors including their position in the league

table. While the revenue generated from sponsorship rights from the central pool is shared

equally between IPL and franchisees, only 40% of the income from TV/media rights sale is retained

with IPL.

3. Merchandise Sales: According to the report by The Times of India dated November 11, 2014, the

sports gear business market growth in the country is 100% annually and the value is projected to

be approximate $30million. The franchises sell merchandise that includes stuff like Tee-shirts,

Caps, and Wristwatches and generate a revenue tapping the fan base.

4. Prize Money: According to a report published in The Bangalore Mirror, the IPL Prize money has

raised 300% from 9.8 Crores INR in 2008 to 40 Crores in 2015. The Champions get a major portion

of that with the runners up and other teams which make it to the playoffs getting a lesser share.

5. Ticket Sales: Ticket Sales form an integral and important part of the income of each of the IPL

franchises, given the immense popularity of the tournament and the large crowds that flock the

stadiums in every single game. Each IPL franchise can sell 80% of the tickets for its home games

with the rest being reserved for special people.

6. In-ground Ads: The in-ground advertising banners that are captured on the screen and off it, by

the spectators in the stadiums add a part to the income of the franchisees.

7. Fan Clubs: The membership fees are also another source of revenue for a sports franchise. CSK’s

Kings Club offers two types membership – King’s Club Junior and King’s Club Senior. The

membership fee for the same was US$11.39 and US$22.76 respectively at the time of inception.

It was subsequently lowered later to increase membership.

Sponsor Categories for CSK

Currently, CSK has the following sponsor categories-

1. Principal Sponsors (everyone with a presence in the playing attire): Main, Back, Chest, Leading

arm, Non-leading arm, trousers, helmet side and helmet back.

2. Associate Sponsors (Brands that are not present in the playing attire, but have the rights to use

Team logo in their promotions, player images, hospitality seats etc.)

3. Cheerleader Sponsors

4. Partners (Merchandise / Apparel, Pouring, Hospitality, Travel, Radio, Print etc.)

Building and leveraging CSK in 2018

Given this scenario, there are two problems that CSK is facing currently – the need to increase fan

engagement online across various platforms (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc.) and to leverage this

fan base to create new avenues for revenue generation. The twin problems are summarized as follows:

Roaring Online with Superfans: The Super Kings, despite not having played in the IPL for two

years, continue to enjoy a strong digital connect with its fans across social media (Facebook and

Twitter). Currently, Super Kings is the 2nd most followed team on Twitter and is 3rd highest on

Facebook. The objective is to have the largest and the most engaged IPL following of all IPL teams.

With digital media rapidly emerging as one of the most powerful means to engage with fans,

leveraging its existing assets and create other opportunities to build a strong connection with its

fan base becomes critical

Non-traditional sponsorship ties: Research has shown that the Sponsors of the Super Kings have

richly benefitted from the association thanks to the resultant high brand recall and positive rub-

off. Traditionally, the team’s main sponsors get deliverables that include logo on team attire

(jersey, pants, cap, and helmet), in-stadia branding, match tickets and merchandise. Having lost

out on revenues for the past 2 years, exploring non-traditional association opportunities apart

from the traditional deliverables is of paramount importance

Put yourself in the shoes of the CSK management and answer the following questions:

1. In light of this scenario, what digital media should the Super Kings leverage to build a strong

connection with its fan base and how? Structure your response along the following timelines:

Pre-Auction

Post-Auction & Pre-Tournament

During Tournament

Also, suggest appropriate metrics to measure these efficacy of the campaigns suggested (if any)

2. What could be the non-traditional association and clutter-breaking sponsorship opportunities

that can be explored to deliver maximum impact?

Exhibit-1 Typology of Cricket Fans

Sportskeeda classifies cricket fans into several categories the details of which are given below- a) The Sports Fan

• Interested in a number of sports in general and cricket is “one of the sports” that he follows.

• Does not associate with the game emotionally or with any particular team and is interested in the news of the happenings of the game as with any other game that he follows.

b) The Cricket Fan

• Enjoys cricket as a game • Appreciates good cricket from any team • Knows the rules and the players of the game.

c) The Winning Fan

Takes the winners side; Not a loyal fan

Supports different teams at different occasions

May watch their team’s matches and support it as the team reaches finals or semifinals

d) The Ultimate Statistician • Has statistics for every single ball with analysis ready for every possible event on the

field • Ready to provide stats and enter into arguments

e) The Loyal Fan / The Angry Fan

• Loyal fans of a particular player/team and are ready to fight for him/them • Fiercely emotional about the team and its players’ conducts • May blindly support their teams; may not accept any logical reasoning. Could be very

emotional and sometimes get violent too.

f) The Critical Fan • Very knowledgeable about different aspects of the game • Very critical and sometimes cynical about different aspects of games (including not very

significant issues)

g) The Hollow Fan • Watches cricket just because everyone around him is watching • Watches it with great effort memorizes a few names for the post-match discussions but

never enjoys the game • Will not engage in discussions which slowly move to history of the game or requires

generating own insights.

h) A Star’s Fan • May watch a match just to follow his/her favorite star’s performance • The game is over for them when their star is out • For some it is Sachin, some Sehwag or Gayle etc.

Exhibit-2 Social Media Presence

Exhibit-3 Facebook Fandom Map

References

Thomas J., Saha B. and Satpathy B.S. (2013). “Chennai Super Kings (CSK): Growing and

Leveraging Brand Equity”. Retrieved October 11, 2017, from doczz.net

Hindustan Times. (2017, July 15). Retrieved October 11, 2017, from Hindustan Times Web site:

http://www.hindustantimes.com/cricket/chennai-super-kings-director-says-team-will-try-to-

retain-players-support-staff/story-khbtKjlWTD2Kx0OZx9egVO.html

The Hindu. (2017, April 1). Retrieved October 11, 2017, from The Hindu Web site:

http://www.thehindu.com/sport/cricket/srinivasan-opens-up-on-brand-csk/article17754147.ece

Andrews W. (2017). Retrieved October 9, 2017, from Sportwalk Times Web site:

http://blog.sportwalk.co/cricket/case-study-how-ipl-franchises-make-money

The Hindu. (2017, August 25). Retrieved October 11, 2017, from The Hindu Web site:

http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-sports/csk-plans-to-get-back-key-

players/article19556731.ece

Hindustan Times. (2017, September 4). Retrieved October 9, 2017, from Hindustan Times Web

site: http://www.hindustantimes.com/cricket/live-indian-premier-league-media-auction-big-

names-lucrative-rights/story-RA1LOPqaQcWBUQ0j1Vt9WN.html

Totalsportek2 (2016, February 5). Retrieved October 9, 2017, from Total Sportek Web site:

http://www.totalsportek.com/money/indian-premier-league-revenue-distribution/

Banerjee D. (2017, March 8). Retrieved October 11, 2017, from Sportskeeda Web site:

https://www.sportskeeda.com/football/the-economics-of-club-football-importance-of-global-

fan-support

The New Indian Express. (2017, August 25). Retrieved October 11, 2017, from The New Indian

Express Web site: http://www.newindianexpress.com/sport/cricket/2017/aug/25/chennai-

super-kings-director-says-bringing-back-ms-dhoni-is-top-priority-in-ipl-auction-1647959.html

Shuvaditya (2017, August 25). Retrieved October 11, 2017, from Crictracker Web site:

https://www.crictracker.com/we-will-go-all-out-to-get-ms-dhoni-csk-director/