THE ASHES

AUGUST 2015

So here we are, The Oval Test Match. The culmination of a gruelling summer of

Ashes cricket. Punctuated throughout with nail-biting games and titanic personal

battles … said nobody at any point this week.

While it is great, as an England fan, to sit on this lofty 3-1 perch, with a rampant

home side brushing the Aussies aside with unexpected vigour; as a marketer you

can’t help but wonder what this means for the game and the sponsors at the

centre of the series.

The current ethos of playing the game has delivered spectacular results on the

pitch. Some eye catching performances from both sides have produced

blockbuster sessions and a match tempo never seen in Test cricket before. This

has led to a reinvigorated and (in a lot of cases) new following for the game.

THE ASHES IS IT TIME FOR A DECISION REVIEW SYSTEM FOR BRANDS?

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Making cricket more entertaining, appealing and accessible has led to the new

formats that are now a solid fixture in the sporting calendar which celebrate

expansive hitting, athletic fielding and aggressive bowling, all to feed the ever

hungry sports audiences. This has carried over to the longer format of the game

and it appears that the days of batsmen battling through difficult periods of the

game have gone. Replaced by an aggressive strategy of hitting out of trouble

and pre-meditated targeting of selected opposition bowlers.

The pace of the game is so great, that the chances of a Test Match lasting a full

five days in England seem decidedly low. The balance of scoring runs versus

valuing your wicket is skewed heavily towards the former. Meaning that when a

side is in the ascendancy it’s not long until they move into an unassailable

position (as we’ve seen in all four Tests so far), with opposition sides buckling. As

anticipated this has led to cricket legend and rhubarb enthusiast, Geoffrey

Boycott labelling England’s efforts at Lords as ‘an embarrassment’ and Australia’s

attitude to the art of batting at Edgbaston and Trent Bridge as ‘pathetic’. But

what does this mean for those who invest in the game?

For brands, there is no doubt that associating with an entertaining product is a

positive. With a growing interest in the game, more positive brand sentiment,

additional exposure through swelling audiences, sell-out crowds and additional

coverage in press, online and through various highlights shows. Brands can reap

the rewards of this positive sentiment and (in the case of ECB sponsors) capitalise

on the halo effect that victory will bring.

However, an entertaining brand of cricket comes at a cost. With games not

lasting the distance those who invest in the spectacle can all suffer.

For sponsors, there is the obvious loss of exposure and opportunities to engage

with consumers, corporates and employees. For broadcast sponsors there is a

clear reduction of audiences in line with the limited live action. For venues, so

reliant on these premium events, a loss of multiple days of ticket sales and their

suppliers losing hours of trading opportunities. Finally for fans, while those who

have had tickets to days 1 and 2 have bathed in great cricket; there are an

equal amount of fans that have lost their chance to watch the Ashes live.

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Marketing Week published an article yesterday which states that “according to

the ECB’s latest accounts, it achieved a record turnover in 2014 of £174.7m, up

42% on the previous year, and a record profit of £28.4m.”

The results were paired with comments from ECB’s CEO Tom Harrison, stating that

“the organisation would have to ‘think smarter’ about how it communicates with

the public. “We have to show ourselves as relevant and meaningful to a younger

generation whose attention span is shorter because of all the alternatives on offer

to them.”

In their interview with Sanjay Patel, ECB marketing chief, the “think smarter”

sentiment continues in the organisation’s ambition to grow their sponsorship

revenues over the next five years; “It’s more a case of offering new rights for

partners, particularly in the area of digital. I see that as a huge growth area and

one that brands need and want. Brands are desperate for content and we have

huge amounts of it and massive reach, so we want brands to see us as the

passion point between the consumer and their brand.”

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Whether these losses are netted out by the increased excitement and appetite

for the game, that the new ‘brand’ of cricket is providing remains to be

seen. However, the concerns cricket purists are having about Test Cricket and it’s

future (epitomised by the planned protests at The Oval this week), could be

echoed by the brands who invest so heavily in the game.

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BY MATT BAILEY | ACCOUNT DIRECTOR

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