Ready for Champions Trophy advertisments??
I should have named my article "Get ready for cricket" as it relates
with what we "cricket lovers" will be treated with during the ICC
Champions trophy 2006, but I have my reasons. And I'll tell you as we
go through. So if you have 2 mins for some serious comments on the mode of Cricket telecast in our country, read on --
Set Max presents Extraa Innings : And with a difference too. Every other cricket channel in India try to cash in to the fact that more people turn their TV on, as a match is about to start. Whereas most people turn it off when a match is finished..  This tells the broadcasting people that the time before the match is lot more worth than after the match. And hence they try to make their "pre-match shows" lot attractive/longer than "post match programs" or even the Lunch break. But I have to write here that Set Max is a leader in that respect, whereas many other Indian cricket channels like Tensports, ESPN, Star Sports, Doordarshan, Zee Sports, Sahara One failed a little. Although I personally liked Harsha Bhogle's Pre match shows on ESPN-Star more as he tried to make things informative rather than juicy. Another cricket channel called "NEO Sports" was launched some time back for Indian cricket lovers... even when they didn't asked for it!! Here's a list of Prizes to win/contests that Set Max will be presenting, apart from lovely Mandira Bedi during their "Extraa Innings" show all throughout the ICC Champions trophy. Another feature to catch your eyes during Champions trophy will be a "set max" ads including Virendra Sehwag, South African Andre Nel, Sri Lankan Muthiah Muralitharan. It's a nice ad to watch, other than the next one. "Hoo Haa India. Aaya India" : Yes folks, this is a punchline which you will be thinking of for next 2 months. It actually is the punchline of "Pepsi's new/first Music Album", which they are calling as "Aaya India". And there are plenty of reason for it as well - 1. The music is good. Really good. And a bit patriotic as well, which always helps. 2. Lots of celebrities - Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, MS Dhoni, Irfan Pathan, Mohammad Kaif, Harbhajan Singh and Suresh Raina to start with Cricketers. Shah Rukh Khan and John Abraham in the middle as Kareena Kapoor and Priyanka Chopra to finish with "good looking" Bollywood people. Note - This Pepsi song/ad will be shown mostly during "drinks interval", Lunch break or whenever a wicket goes down. Because that is when more than 30 seconds break occur during an ODI. Want to buy this "Aaya India" CD?? Then let me also add that the album is on Sony BMG. A tussle between advertising companies. What does "lots of money" give you? The hunger for even more.  And Advertising companies are no different. I have to things to tell you on this - 1. The breaks between two overs will be pushed to the limit by SET MAX as they will try to earn as much as possible. This Champions trophy is the penultimate time Set Max are telecasting a cricket match in India. Their last chance will be the ICC Cricket World Cup in March 2007, unless they buy the telecast rights ones again. It's amazing that whenever a wicket falls or an over ends - these cricket channels cut the pictures so fast to show the ads that make me sick. They don't understand that they are running a restaurant where customers are their gods. They must be treated well. The should be treated to the utmost of your ability. But then, may be I talking about some other planet than Earth. But let me add this as well that that's why all of these cricket channels' aren't satisfied. They are always hungry. And they will stay hungry as satisfaction never comes by cheating. 2. The ads/banners on TV screens, which keeps on appearing with eye catching process like glowing/blinking/dancing, all through out the match. I have had the pleasure of having Mr. Lalit Modi - the vice-chairman of BCCI, who is doing all the marketing for BCCI, to "Its only cricket" when he made an important comment on my article - how to buy tickets for Champions trophy, and I am thinking of writing a "public letter" to him very soon. I know he is marketing genius. Because of him, we cricket lovers will be able to watch some domestic cricket matches at home as well and BCCI is the richest sports body in the whole World, but he has to step into this matter and do something. I don't understand why don't they increase the rates for advertisers in order to make equal amount of money with better service to the customers'. I'll appreciate your comments on this topic as it matters to me a lot. Related Articles |