What sports teams in India can learn from the Ice Bucket Challenge

If you have completed less than three decades on planet Earth and have at least one active account on any social media platform then you should be aware of the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge.

Social media has become saturated with videos of people drenching themselves in cold water and challenging their friends to do the same within a period of 24 hours. And they all seem to be doing this for a good cause, to raise awareness for a rare disease called ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) better known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. Accordingly to the TIME magazine “The Ice Bucket Challenge has raised more than $80 million for ALS research since July 29.”

Most conversations around the Ice Bucket Challenge swing from “it is just another stupid fad” to “but hey, I am doing my bit to make the world a better place.” Either people love it or hate it. And that is why it is so brilliant. Love and hate are good. But indifference - now that is a problem.

Why do I love the Ice Bucket challenge? Because it highlights the importance of marketing in today’s hyper connected world. Every organization needs to focus on building their brands in order to market their vision, credibility, value, and impact. In an already cluttered market that is the only way to attract consumer attention and get some share of their wallets. This becomes equally important if not critical for sports brands too.

2014 could well be the year India becomes “a leagues nation.” Each month sees the launch of a new sports league which brings with it additional six to eight new teams or franchises. However, barring the IPL teams there is extremely low recall for most of these other teams. How can these teams carve out a place for themselves? Well, to begin with they can look at the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge for inspiration. They too can take on the big daddy (cricket) just like ALS took on Cancer and AIDS.

Sports teams in India must realize that just setting up a website, Facebook page and Twitter page is not enough. People are no longer interested in just receiving information — they want a two way dialogue. That is what the Ice Bucket Challenge does brilliantly. Each participant becomes a spokesperson for the cause. Brand managers working with sports teams must realize that the days of a marketer sitting on a pedestal and preaching are over, today’s brand managers should just play the role of a facilitator and let the consumers own the brand.

As Barbara E. Kahn, Professor of Marketing at The Wharton Business School says “Good brands are not accidents. The best brands form relationships with their customers. In doing so, brand meanings may also be co-created through social media communities and customer engagement strategies.”

Thanks to social media, a good idea has the potential to go viral very quickly. Imagine a situation where everything around you is drenched in petroleum waiting to be set ablaze. All that is needed is for you to drop that match-stick. But creating that match-stick is a tough task. It requires you to push boundaries and go out of the box to engage with current and potential fans.

So if you are a brand manager at any of these teams, drenching yourself with cold water may not be such a bad idea after all. You know what they say — cold water wakes you up.