Could CWG branding be managed in an orchestrated manner?

By Brand Guru Vijay Uppal

During one of the meets to discuss branding of CWG 2010 at ASSOCHAM few months back, I had deliberated that Brand Building is a long term assignment and it requires ideally atleast a couple of years before a brand acquires some space in the individual's mindset.

Let's ponder upon what could have been done from 2006/2007 onwards to extract an optimum mileage from a National event CWG 2010...

Corporate identity with CWG 2010 logo units including 'Shera' mnemonic.

Merchandising - Mass production and distribution...

Roadshows at embassies..

Mass media campaigns (TV, Press, Radio etc.) to arouse the interest in CWG 2010…

PR / Lobbying efforts to promote the event…

Press conferences with players/volunteers branding…

School / College promotions

Contests / Promotions related to 'Shera' – CWG 2010...

Corporate Tie-ups / Co-promotions

Splashing of Commonwealth Games related content on Social Networking sites

and many more such inputs…….

...I am sure some of this has already been done in a scattered manner....

....The organizing committee could have appointed CEO-Brands with an able team of around 15 livewire Brand Managers across the Globe 4 years back or so to look out for Branding / Sponsorship Opportunities....

But ...who would have incurred such a heavy bill of their salaries of approx. Rs 15 crores for almost 4 years...

..the same team without minimal Govt intervention, I am sure could have been instrumental in generating branding/ sponsorship deals worth approx Rs. 300 crores...

A couple of days back, I was pained to see an ad released by Organising Committee - CWG 2010...scouting for sponsors at the n^th hour.....late by at least 24-36 months...

Not their fault....probably the 'branding exercise' can be best addressed by Marketing / Advertising professionals..

Why to talk about it at this stage?......still the last one month or so can be optimally utilized to make up for the lost ground.

Assuming what if it is not done now....no love lost...even if this article is accessed by a few young firebrand Politicians, Bureaucrats, Management Students, Marketing / Adverting / Branding Professionals & the views are digested ....15/20 years down the line we can take this learning forward & look forward to do the Branding exercise for such mega events in the right manner to save the National pride...

....with this hope Advertising/Branding community's stand gets vindicated....

Let's all put our positive energies behind making CWG 2010 successful despite all these challenges...

...till I 'net down' & share my thoughts again with YOU....

Bye for now…..

Brand Guru Vijay Uppal

Info@BestMediaInfo.com