Fall 2020 PCA Magazine

PREMIUMCIGARS.ORG AUTUMN 2020 | PCA The Magazine 51 O U T S I D E T H E C I G A R B O X international matches, and local teams, which play in domestic matches. For India, cricket is far and away the country’s most popular sport. India alone accounts for 60 percent of cricket revenues worldwide. As cricket has traditionally been played between national teams, the grassroots leagues in India lacked somewhat in terms of enthusiasmand participation. One could easily be persuaded to think that with the amount of money coming in from Indian cricket sales, there was no room for any stratospheric growth. Plus, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), the governing body of cricket in India, oversaw the IPL and was hesitant to do anything to damage the traditional value of the game. Out of inertia, the board was reluctant to venture beyond a national or state-based cricket league. Out of pride, it never took outside suggestions. A NEW LEAGUE FOR A NEW ERA Lalit Modi saw a huge opportunity when he joined the BCCI. He recognized the fundamental need for the national game to create its own brand—a new version that would be exciting, engaging and interactive with fans in newways. So in 2007, after 13 years in the BCCI, when he was the youngest vice chair in BCCI history, he announced the creation of the new Indian Premier League (IPL). Traditionally, cricket was played to test the players’ physical andmental perseverance instead of creating a dynamic and thrilling sports competition. The IPL shifted the focus of the game to the cricket viewers and offered what they value the most, cross-leisure activities froma professional football league and the entertainment industry. By doing so, the IPL created the league of cricketainment (cricket + entertainment), which is unlike anything seen before in the cricket world. When compared to other Indian entertainment, cricket was viewed as serious and uninteresting. In addition, it didn’t seem to be practical for modern Indian families to watch the game for six hours a day for five consecutive days, with no definite result at the end. By looking at alternative industries, the BCCI could draw value factors tomake the cricket league fun, exciting and charming. In January 2008, the IPL announced that it sold the global media rights to theWorld Sport Group for 10 years for US$1 billion. Subsequently, the IPL generated US$718 million in the franchise auction from the eight bidders, which comprised the top Indian conglomerates like India Cements and joint ventures of the top Bollywood stars and foreign investors. In the followingmonth, the league sold the five-year exclusive title As tobacconists, the end result of your sale is not simply providing a commodity that the customer is then going to light on fire and turn to ash. The great opportunity of the tobacconist is that he or she leads each customer on a journey .... sponsorship rights to DLF, a property developer, for US$50 million. Modi understood that for the majority of viewers, cricket was entertainment, and therefore needed to adjust in order to meet the customers where they were. By engaging other entertainment industries, the IPLwas able to build an experience that went beyond the game of cricket. As tobacconists, the end result of your sale is not simply providing a commodity that the customer is then going to light on fire and turn to ash. The great opportunity of the tobacconist is that he or she leads each customer on a journey, a tobacco safari, and can create specialized experiences for a variety of consumer segments. Much like cricket, there are diehard cigar purists out there who smoke early and often. And we love them. For the growth of new consumer segments, however, enriching the experience has proven to be enormously successful in sparking the joy customers seek, to which they will return so long as the experience continues to provide that joy. And the great news: Cigars giv e lots of joy already. As tobacconists continue to build out new and interesting experiences that involve cigars and pipes (even those where theymay not be the featured item), consumers will continue to feel a part of the community, which grows in both numbers and strength of the consumer relationship.