Deccan Chargers - The Brand for The Week

We started with the brand leader in IPL- Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and now we discuss the brands relatively lower in the valuation table

The Deccan Chargers (Hyderabad Team)

The DC was regarded the best team on paper after the first auctions, attracting a lot more followers with a legendary lot of international hitters - Adam Gilchrist, Shahid Afridi, Herschelle Gibbs, Andrew Symonds, and others. But, gave a lackluster performance in the first season, which failed not only the cricket strategies but also the branding strategies.

The team Deccan Chargers, in the first season was placed as a performance oriented team with the best team players that were the major brand equity of the team. A blistering hitting by these top of the league hitters was what got people excited about the brand. At the same time the owners Deccan Chronicle Holdings Ltd are not a well known brand by themselves.This all failed and thus called for a major marketing step up by the brand. The facts say that :-

Owners:	Deccan Chronicle Holdings Ltd.
Franchisee Fee:	US $107.01 mn
Sponsorships and Brand Associations	Idea,Puma,Odyssey,Kingfisher,McDowell's,Pepsi,92.7 FM
Income in Sponsorships (2008 and 2009)	Rs. 70 crore.
Income in Central Pool	Rs. 111.5 crore
Eyeball Factor	The foreign hitters - Gilly,Symonds,Gibbs,Afridi
Team Logo

Source : livemint.com

Now, in the last 2 seasons still the brand has concentrated more on performance, with no major steps in adding to their brand value. There have been no glamour, no controversies and not much of marketing tools applied by the owners - probably the team's performance spoke for it in the last season by winning the IPL and in IPL-3 they rocketed to semis with consecutive wins.So, wonder what the Deccan Chargers' vision to earn profits because its just not cricket, afterall its sports marketing and we at brandistics tell you this week ,how the Deccan Chargers have still developed as a brand.