The goose that lays the Golden Egg

Any publishing should start with acknowledgements and hence i would continue this tradition. the title i should say was invented centuries ago. actually its a fable.but i would like to thank DrKKR{google him}for giving me the spark and linking it to IPL. oh once again IPL. u must me be thinking i have nothing else to

write about. well the fact is that it keeps cropping into my mind as the example which signifies all known theories of marketing. segemntation, targeting postioning,branding, what more...

But there is a reason beyond this to write about IPL.. the sounds of this has begun and we can hear some faint noise about IPL being even bigger. well how big can big get. The last time i took up this topic is when IPL generated so much revenue and loads of people were making a living out of it. i was not a fan of Moving IPL out

of India but Lalit Modi once again surprised me. he got it right. South Africa became a strong launching pad to make the Brand IPL truly global.

We may get to see a few more teams coming up. as part of making it BIG they seem to

be tying up with some distribution companies to broadcast them in movie houses. and

folks who thought they can have a mug of beer and enjoy on big screens in pubs may

have to shell out a few more rupees as entry fees coz the distribution companies

have the right over the telecasting part. well does one have to pay the price of

gold just to watch a match.. its overkill mate..

We have just finished being on the loosing side of the cricket series.. nothing

wrong about as we lost to a higher ranked team, but the catch is the so called

mighty Australians did not have all their best players.

Ok getting back to IPL the so called commercialisation is at the pinnacle. All known methods and even the unknowns are being stretched to milk out the maximum out of the IPL . The contarct are for 10 years or so. Really dont understand the logic or thought process . 5 years ago we never imagined a format like this. so its nearly immposible to predict what will happen 2 years from now. retired people playing cricket. how much does it excite you. the question iam asking is if players like Dravid, Ganguly,Mcgrath can play the toughest format why not render their services to the national team. i do not wish to question their integrity. i know very well that they are playing for the fun of it. they love the game.

On the positive side this format has exposed many players to an international audience; given a solid income and best of all they play cricket under the watchful eyes of millions. as some one wisely said a "a person who walks through the fire will not get bogged down by the sun" this applies to lots of players playing IPL.

On the down side the country is loosing loads of good players to the IPL syndrome.

For example Yousf Pathan is good player. but he just had one innings with Indian cricket team. same with Sreeshanth though he has been called back to test team. personaly i am not in favor of him. arrogant fellow. but thanks again to BCCI he has been given a punishment.

The money beign pumped into this has left certain companies make lower profit(vodafone is an example), they would justify its long term investment, but convincing shareholders is a different ball game.

Before i end this long circular flow of thoughts just consider this; I always believe that we should try to be the best at what we start. but the jinx seems to continue, English has never won the world cup, Aussies poor run @ t20 continues and us The original IPL people failed to make into the last 4 teams of the world T20 held recently despite being in home conditions. yes we cannot always hope to win but loose without a fight is not really a nice things...

I have always compared IPL to EPL and hence i belive more countries would take up this game, more revenue should be generated but if one observes the game of football has not been diluted by film stars, cheerleaders etc. If we ever come to time when you need half dressed people, dj's and whole lot of tinsel town people to keep audience to watch a game well we need to think about it once again.

SPORTS IS AN ENTERTAINMENT ON ITS OWN..WE DO NOT NEED TO ADD ANY MORE 'ENTERTAINMENT' TO IT

DO NOT KILL THE GOOSE THAT LAYS THE GOLDEN EGG !!

HELP ANYONE.. INSANE MEDIA ON THE LOOSE !!

As I present this blog, I’m fully aware that this topic is of mediocre interest to most of us, as its repeatedly debated topic on all forums. But being a mute spectator does not in any way make a change… I am guilty about the fact that this is just being read by a fraction of the population coz internet is a relatively new media that’s still virgin in terms of connectivity with the masses..

Leave apart the flaws… I do not wish to remain silent…

The year is 1990, CNN has set up shop in India, bringing live footage of the gulf war… it was the days of DD; the only national network… People were appalled by the coverage and since it was a US network they painted themselves as saints and protector of democracy... Far from being democratic...I would say…

As I write this there are ‘media reports’ of differences in the Indian team that’s playing the world cup. I have a sense of déjàvu…would this be the repeat of Ganguly - Chappel story? The past few years have seen a sporadic growth electronic media primarily the TV channels; at current count there are nearly 40 exclusive news only channels in almost all languages including English. {At this juncture I believe most of us watch the so called national channels NDTV; CNN IBN; TIMES NOW; HEADLINES TODAY & AAJ TAK}

These channels are almost 24*7 providing only “flash news”; not the real picture . An internet article says during the 7 days after the death of a girl Aarushi; these channels combined devoted nearly 300 hours of air time to exclusively follow this story repeatedly interviewing the mother of the victim, uncle, lawyer and the went as far as ‘talking’ to the victims friends. Such blunt brutal and insensitive coverage lead to protest March by some students against the media. When quizzed about such insensitivity, all Mr. Rajdeep Sardesai had to say was “why shoot the messenger”. A question; does he really believe he is a messenger when all he does is exert pressure to give a sound byte so he can run the show for a couple of more hours.

When the Mumbai attacks happened if Barkha Dutt could have stopped ‘panning’ her camera to the Oberoi hotels and the surroundings--as the NSG puts it “we lost the element of surprise, because the terrorists used the television to watch the movement of troops” .

I am not here to blame a few, but on the contrary I have deep respect for both these journalist as they are icons in their own terms… these people have been instrumental in making news reach a wider society and have acted as the true agents of 4^th estate when the brought out various issues. If one remembers; nearly a year before the Mumbai attacks NDTV ran a 2 hour investigation show pointing out how vulnerable the coastlines of the country were. If someone had paid a heed to it, may be 26/11 could have been prevented.

But when one looks at the larger picture don’t you think these people have caused us to live in constant fear. Have they not made a criminal out of a doctor? That profits matter, so sensationalism is a way out. That breaking news is as much as a sneeze by some actors. That privacy and exclusivity is only for them and not others.

I’m proud that news and media have been a great employment opportunity and is a growing sector. Yes they have encouraged us to speak up. But at times just like all of us catch flu, these people become insane at times. SO IS THERE A DOCTOR @ HOME??

P S: I am ending this blog with a question mark awaiting answers from you.