GrameenPhone Remains Tiger's Sponsor!

[Murad]

GP remains Tigers' sponsor

Grameenphone remained Bangladesh national cricket team's sponsor when the leading cellular operator of the country won the rights for a two-year period from November 1, 2007 to October 31, 2009 as the highest bidder by presenting a much improved financial package.

Two companies submitted bids for the prestigious rights at a local hotel yesterday where Grameenphone offered Tk 5.5 crore compared to Axiom Technologies' Tk 5.1 crore.

Later, Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) and Grameenphone negotiated on an enhanced bid figure of Tk 6.15 crore which is almost double from the last two year's amount of Tk 3.5 crore. GP's first two-year deal with the BCB was won for Tk 1.10 crore.

The GP will provide further Tk 2 crore during the contract period -- Tk 45 lakh per year for clothing, kits and accessories of the Tigers and Tk 55 lakh per year as expenses for perimeter boards to be used during home series.

It will also provide a team bus for the Tigers for their travel purposes at home.

"GP has always tried to be associated with Bangladesh cricket. I am very much delighted that we will be with the national team for the next two years," said GP's general manager (head of market communications) Mir Naubat Ali.

A formal agreement on the sponsorship is expected to be signed within a week.

[MarufH]

Awesome!

[rumØrS]

i luv GP. they got smart, got better service... 1 thing tho do the Sponsors designs the jersey for BD or BCB designs it. i hope its not BCB cuz when i think of it i c full of old unsmart ppl with no creativeness...

[ialbd]

who are the Axiom Technologies? havent heard that name before. Some parent company of another cell phone company in BD?

have to update my general knowledge on Bangladeshi Corporates...

[Nafi]

good news I like their logo.

[Murad]

Originally Posted by ialbd
who are the Axiom Technologies? havent heard that name before. Some parent company of another cell phone company in BD?

They are an Indian company. I think they are also a co-sponsor of the Indian team.

[Kabir]

Is it only me, or does anyone else think that Tk. 6.15 crore is too little for sponsorship at this level?

[kalpurush]

Originally Posted by Kabir
Is it only me, or does anyone else think that Tk. 6.15 crore is too little for sponsorship at this level?

Imran bhai...I am with you, though, I think your expectation will come true after wining Twenty20 Championship in 2009!

[Antora]

woot woot~!

[Kabir]

Originally Posted by kalpurush
Imran bhai...I am with you, though, I think your expectation will come true after wining Twenty20 Championship in 2009!

Obayed bhai, eto asha korte korte nirash hoiya gesi. Ekhon asha komay disi, jaate bhalo kisu hoilei khushi laage mon e. Tai winning T20 championship in 2009 is out of question

[Sohel]

WTG GP! ... Thanks for coming through again ...

[One World]

Congratz to GP, and congratz to AXIOM group for being second in the class.

[Sovik]

they have doubled the amount of money , our coach will get more than DW but the question is will we see any significant improvement of our cricket

[Rabz]

Originally Posted by Kabir
Is it only me, or does anyone else think that Tk. 6.15 crore is too little for sponsorship at this level?

Im with you.

Dont get me wrong, I'd like to congratulate and appreciate GP's contribution to Bangladesh cricket. They have been an integral part of our cricket team for a long time now and is helping develop the sport.

But i think they are getting away with too little cost...

Bangladesh Cricket Team is as big as it gets in this country when it comes to public marketing and advertisement. As GP is mainly concerned with the local market, the Tigers give them the ultimate Maximum controversy-free PR opportunity.

And approx $ 450,000/ TK. 3 Crore per year seems to little to me for such reachability to the mass, specially with the amount of International cricket we are scheduled to play in the next 12 months. Everyday the Tigers are on the field virtually guarantees a picture of any of the players on either/both front page/sports page/ sports edition of the newspaper. And everytime the picture of the players come along, so does the shiny logo of GP on their jersey.

Which tells me that GP has guaranteed a place on the newspapers for almost everyday for the next 12 months with a fraction of a price they would have had to pay otherwise.

Either BCB is underestimating their own power, or GP's guys were succesful in undermining BCB people.

The team that can get $ 12 Million a year in media rights SHOULD NOT get just
$ 450,000 in sponsorship.

But congrats to GP for getting their own work done. They are a business organisation looking forward to maximise the opportunity while minimising the cost.
And they have been succesful at it.

They almost got it for free.

[Nafi]

Yeh man BCB should of charged way more, it needs the most money it can get.

[Tigers_eye]

Tomra shobai taka taka koira ashol jinish baad dila, kamney?

Will she be back handing out trophies and monies?

[akabir77]

Originally Posted by Tigers_eye
Tomra shobai taka taka koira ashol jinish baad dila, kamney?

Will she be back handing out trophies and monies?

T_E bhai ai shob ki? bhabi rey call dimu nake

[Rabz]

Originally Posted by Tigers_eye
Tomra shobai taka taka koira ashol jinish baad dila, kamney?

Will she be back handing out trophies and monies?

You bet she would.
Thats one of the perks of GP sponsoring.

[Tigers_eye]

Originally Posted by akabir77
T_E bhai ai shob ki? bhabi rey call dimu nake

Netflix'a hook'up korai disi. BC'tey anagona kom. Tai ar ki....

[Kabir]

Originally Posted by Rabz
And approx $ 450,000/ TK. 3 Crore per year seems to little to me for such reachability to the mass, specially with the amount of International cricket we are scheduled to play in the next 12 months. Everyday the Tigers are on the field virtually guarantees a picture of any of the players on either/both front page/sports page/ sports edition of the newspaper. And everytime the picture of the players come along, so does the shiny logo of GP on their jersey.

Which tells me that GP has guaranteed a place on the newspapers for almost everyday for the next 12 months with a fraction of a price they would have had to pay otherwise.

Solid points, and exactly my sentiments.

For a national team that plays in the World Cup, and which plays cricket almost every month in the year, it's just sad that they got away paying only Tk. 6 crore.

Even though sports teams in our country aren't as close as the ones in North America in terms of how they are used for marketing, it's sad that BCB failed to see how they have been fooled into being a marketing tool for GP for only Tk. 6 crore for two years. They spend at least Tk. 50,000 to over Tk. 1 lakh in EACH newspaper ad.

Ouch.

[Murad]

The GP will provide further Tk 2 crore during the contract period -- Tk 45 lakh per year for clothing, kits and accessories of the Tigers and Tk 55 lakh per year as expenses for perimeter boards to be used during home series.It will also provide a team bus for the Tigers for their travel purposes at home.

GP will pay an extra amount of around 2 crores. 6.15+2+bus expenses = ~8.5crores.

So It's not so bad compare to previous years. They are paying more than double this time. They paid 3.5 crores for last 2 years and you don't expect them to pay 20 crores this time.

[Rabz]

Originally Posted by muradnyc
GP will pay an extra amount of around 2 crores. 6.15+2+bus expenses = ~8.5crores.

So It's not so bad compare to previous years. They are paying more than double this time. They paid 3.5 crores for last 2 years and you don't expect them to pay 20 crores this time.

Offcourse you would expect them to double than the previous meagre 3 crore.
Time has changed, so has our cricket team. We have much more credibility in the world stage compared to 2005 and are playing more and more matches.

Saying so, i think to be paid 3 crore last time was the main problem. BCB was wrong to settle on such small petty cash. Just because they got away paying so little last time, doesnt mean they could have done the same this time around.

If we could increase our media net worth by 5 times, why couldnt we do the same in our sponsorship?

I wouldnt expect GP to pay 15 crore for that matter, but hell we surely could hv done better than 8.

[IanW]

Cut the board some slack - there were 2 bidders, and the other deal was well under what Grameen offered, and as a 2 year deal if the team continues to perform (and 2007 was on net a good year for the Tiges - for a start they beat India in a match with a lot of cookies on the table), then the price goes up in the next contract.

Yes, it isnt mega money - but on the other hand, 450 grand a year pays for the new coach and the staff.

So, speaking as a hard headed businessman, I think it was a decent deal all round.

[Kabir]

Originally Posted by IanW
Yes, it isnt mega money - but on the other hand, 450 grand a year pays for the new coach and the staff.

Agreed, but I think you're missing the point.

Organizations such as BCB plan ahead of time. I'm not sure if that's the case with BCB, but ideally it should be about 3/4 years ahead of time that they need to think.

Given that they got a better deal, they would be able to spend that money into other development work. This deal, to my opinion, doesn't even break even.

However, having argued all these, I guess what's done is done. GP has been there with BCB since a few years now. And they've shown their loyalty. BCB had to show their loyalty too. But what's more heartbreaking to see is that, there were only TWO bidders, out of which one of them isn't even an original Bangladeshi business.

Sigh.

[IanW]

Coulda been worse. It could have been a multinational oil company subtly leaning on Bangladesh to allow it's natural gas to be sold to India, rather than generating power in bangladesh (*)

(*) Which they have the perfect right to. Just dont expect me to put the money up to put holes in the ground if I cant get the best price for my product.