The marketification of ICC T20

The 2026 T20 World Cup has introduced something new - four official phases to a 20-over match: Launch. Consolidate. Accelerate. Finish.

As a strategist, I found interesting yet funny,

I have 3 observations to make. 

Firstly - I get it. What started 20 years ago needs something new, fresh to keep audiences glued. It needs better 'marketing'. It needs a je-ne-sais-quoi that could attract viewership. It needs new news.

And the 4 phases are just that. A rebrand of sorts. 

It's complete marketification of the game. Introducing boardroom lingo into homes and regular conversations. 

It's definitely different from regular 50-over matches. Power-plays can't be called just power-play anymore. Everything needs to be shorter, more intense, more adrenaline-fuelled. If you notice the words - they are practically synonyms. Apart from consolidate phase - which in my personal opinion is an aberration - all words practically talk about speed. Consolidate sounds more a marketingstrategy for a brand than a cricketing term. Consolidate what? Players? Balls? 

But come to think of it, these stages actually would work perfectly for any fast-paced event. I could very well use this for a 100-meter dash too. Or even swimming, or horse-racing. Although I appreciate the effort of trying to 'brand' this, it still feels like an unnecessary rebranding exercise.

The second thing I observed was the possible reasoning for it all. As a strategist who maps out consumer journey maps, I wondered if there was deeper intent. It creates a logical almost strategic framing for each stage of the match. More importantly, through a behavioral lens - it reflects the highly attention-deficit viewer. A 20 over match at that intensity can feel like a cognitive overload. Breaking it up in to phases may make it easier to consume. 

Even the 50 over format had its own phases (Powerplay - Middle Overs - Slog/Death). But this one feels different. Like an adrenaline shots every 5 overs.  

What's funny is that I feel the memo hasn’t been sent to the teams actually playing because none of them seem to be respecting or following it.

And lastly - I assumed that viewers enjoyed this theatrical framing. I was mistaken.

Scanning through fan forums and Reddit (the mecca of consumer insights) reveals a clear frustration. The jargons are seen as useless, non-strategic, and adding little value to the game. Beyond serving as a convenient structure for ad-breaks, many see this entire exercise as futile.

Perhaps the loudest critics are core cricket fans and not the intended new audience. But the frustration is telling. When viewers feel governing bodies are focusing on cosmetic changes over meaningful improvements, irritation is inevitable.

This is another case of a someone's desperate attempt to leave a visible legacy for himself/herself by introducing something irrelevant. Sometimes, great ideas in one's mind is best left there and is also most successful there - in one's mind.

Unfortunately - this isn't a unique to just ICC or cricket. It's symptomatic of a larger pattern at play. Marketing just isn't what it was 15 years ago. Today, it's filled with data-heavy creativity-light and insight-light thinking folks who can't call out a genius idea even if it had won Cannes Grand Prix.

Cricket too has been infected with this new marketing system. What we see on the screens today is nothing short of total disappointment. Small foolish acts that make us immediately feel nostalgic about the better and simpler times.

Let's wait for the next World Cup to see what's up the marketing sleeve and what's brewing in their minds. 

I hope people within the marketing team of these sports organizations realize that not every game needs to be sold as a product. The drama isn't created with marketing lingo nor does it need it, sports is already steeped in emotion, adrenaline and humanness and let's not kill it by introducing board-room talk, marketing lingos. Perhaps this is what happens when sports marketing spends more time on marketing than on sports.

Let's learn to just enjoy the game. With great cricket and wisdom sprinkled commentary.  


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The power of persuasion - lessons from kids

We assume that we have a lot to teach kids. Reality is that they learn 90% of the things themselves - and the 10% comes from what we tell and teach them. We have a lot to learn from them instead. One such thing is the art of persuasion.  And they have some really compelling lesson for media strategists, agencies and marketers. Kids have 2 ways to get their way. The first is the irritating power of pester.  They eat into your skin and sink deep into the vicissitudes of your rational mind and push your possible patience to a threshold limit until you give up. They nag you, ask you the same question again, and again, and again, and again, and again and again.... until you cave. Ýou'd do anything to shut them up from further embarassing yourself in the environment and to, most importantly - get them off your back, your skin, your now throbbing head. The other way they ask for something is in their ever sweet, high potent cuteness and purposeful innocence. They know you can't resis...
Read more

Dear Kobe

Dear Kobe, Like many others, i came to know of the news on my way back from Pondy to Bangalore. The journey was bad, the news made it worse. I reached home at 430 and was consuming the news and processing it all. For an hour, i was in disbelief. I was hoping for a scam report and your magical emergence. Then,  the stage of disbelief left and i swallowed the reality and tossed and turned for hours instead of catching some sleep. I was in a shocked stage and for the first time in my life, was i having a lump in my throat in telling a colleague about your sudden demise and accident.  I never felt that with anyone else.  The loss of my mother is the only other death that tears me up. Yours was second. Frankly,  i didn't know you well enough growing up. I was a huge MJ fan as any pre 90's kid. I understood his airness only later on,  but the naive and heartfelt admiration existed even then. I fell in love with sports but more focused in basketball a little lat...
Read more

Ads you need to hear - not just see

Image
Ad films are meant to be highly engaging. Created to make people lean in and and avoid that skip button or resist the temptation of thumb scrolling to the next video on Facebook or Instagram that most often - automatically play. Agencies hire creative talent that understand the power of human emotions and can create films that make ads memorable, and brands recognizable - and most importantly - are able to tell amazing stories in less than 90 seconds.  Storytelling is an art. We've consumed so many great stories that have an amazing cast, a beautiful and engaging script, a highly reputed director, music that play to the beats of our heart - matching tempo to the emotion conveyed, peaking at the right times, and so many other smaller yet significant intricate things that come together to make us feel something.  There are millions of such amazing campaigns where all of this can be easily demonstrated.  But how often have we seen a film that does all that with just typograp...
Read more