Case Study

Chennai Super Kings: Rebuilding a tainted brand

14 pages
March 2018
Reference: IMD-7-1947

Chennai Super Kings (CSK) was the most successful team of Indian Premier League (IPL) till it was banned for two seasons (2016-2017) in 2015. The match-fixing and betting controversy and the resulting lawsuit in the Supreme Court eroded the brand value of CSK from US$72 million in 2014 to $67 million in 2015. Since the ban, key CSK players had moved to other IPL teams, with CSK captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni becoming the captain of Rising Pune Supergiants, and key CSK players Suresh Raina, R Ashwin, Dwayne Bravo and Ravindra Jadeja joining Gujarat Lions and Rising Pune Supergiants. Since the ban, newer sports leagues have also emerged and gained momentum because of the Indian viewers’ new and insatiable appetite for all sports ranging from traditional kabaddi, wrestling, hockey and football to the newer badminton, tennis, boxing, futsal and mixed martial arts. With sports viewership spreading farther and wider than cricket, IPL is in for tough competition to gain and retain eyeballs. Under these circumstances, the return of CSK in 2018 is a challenge in itself. What strategies should CSK management adopt to rebuild the brand? Should it hire more star players to jump start rebuilding the brand? What factors could jeopardize the successful relaunch of CSK? What activities should the team engage in to increase fan involvement?

Learning Objective
  • To understand issues in the relaunch of a sports franchise, and the associated challenges
  • To understand potential strategies for rebuilding a brand in the sports industry
  • To apply marketing tools and thinking to the sports industry
  • Understanding brand equity concepts, such as Keller’s Customer-Based Brand Equity model
  • To understand sports consumption and sports fan engagement
Keywords
Sports Equipment, Brand, Brand Building, Equity, Engagement
Settings
Asia, India
Chennai Super Kings
September 2016
Type
Published Sources
Copyright
© 2018
Available Languages
English
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Teaching note
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