SA can be proud

2009-05-25 09:30

My oath, that Indian Premier League was outstanding and that's putting it mildly.

I reckon South Africa can take a monumental bow, not only for the role this country played in putting this side of it all together in just three weeks, but also for putting aside all its old-fashioned anti-sponsorship discrimination and making this one of the best case-histories of what modern marketing is all about.

Did you notice how our TV commentators kept mentioning the main sponsors all the time? Vodafone, Kingfisher and Hero Honda etc, thanking them for their sponsorship and adding that "without them this event would not happen".

A welcome change from some of our media, particularly newspapers, that still refer to sponsors as "a major soft drink company" or "a leading cellphone network".

Of course, they do this because it absolutely irks some media to think that they are giving away free publicity. Which is nonsense these days. And really childish.

Sponsoring an event such as the IPL is a massive investment and I reckon its only right that sponsors get their money's worth. Sure, we can all bitch and moan about ads interrupting programmes on TV and sportsmen being covered in corporate logos from head to toe.

But, those TV commentators are right - without sponsors and advertisers we would have no sport on TV whatsoever. Nothing. Nada.

But, getting back to the IPL, I have never seen such outstanding coverage of a sporting event in this country. That "sky-cam" was phenomenal and with so many cameras all over the place nothing was missed.

Putting on a good show

Best of all, the coverage included the crowd, in fact, made quite a big deal of the crowds and commentators didn't just sit in their commentary boxes but were sent out to roam the field and talk to players, the public, kids and so forth. All of which made those of us sitting at home feel like we were part of the action.

I believe that the IPL event will increase the number of people who will get off their butts in front of the TV sets and go to the games.

And talking of going to the games, that was also apparently an eye-opener. My nephew, who is a cricket purist, was dragged along to one of the matches with his wife and two very small kids. His feedback was that it was incredibly well organised and well-run. What he thought was going to be a tough evening turned out to be just great.

I really am hoping that all of South Africa's big sports sponsors and event organisers were watching closely. Looking at the detail, the tiny detail. Because they can learn a heck of a lot from these Indian marketers. Especially about the art of leveraging adding value from sponsorship.

But, what makes me really proud to be a South African is that in spite of the marketing strategy all coming from India, all those millions of people watching the IPL on TV in India and all over the world, particularly in Australia and England, could not help but think; "heck those Saffies put on a bloody good show".

Now, let's see how the Brits handle the T20 World Championships and what our Confed Cup people can do...

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