‘Brand CSK built from ground up’

He said, “You don’t set out to build a brand. We set out to do something exciting and present it well. The fundamental thought was we should provide good cricket to Chennai – that’s where we started. That idea has clicked in the case of CSK and TNPL.” 

“We asked the people to suggest a name for our IPL franchise and they selected Chennai Super Kings. We had a strong logo as well – a lion, that would instil fear in the eyes of our opponents (competing teams). We aspired to be like a predator on the prowl. During the auction, we had decided that we needed to pick  MS Dhoni at any cost,” recalls Srinivasan when speaking about the prized catch of IPL. 

Despite not having participated in the IPL for two years and all kind of allegations and criticisms being levelled against it, the popularity of brand CSK has only grown among people of Chennai, he believes. “The brand has about 12 million followers on Facebook and 3 million on Twitter. The game changing decision was picking Dhoni. He had a unique style unlike other cricketers. We entered the semi-finals every year and the track record of team was impeccable. The city of Madras adopted Dhoni and he adopted Chennai. He rode around the streets of Chennai in his motorbike,” remembers  Srinivasan. The management had given a free hand to the team. As Team India won more trophies under Dhoni, the popularity of CSK also gained. The combination of the colour yellow and the Tamil Anthem Whistle Podu also attracted people. “Several Indian and foreign players wanted to play for CSK. At one point in time, we had many captains playing for CSK. MS Dhoni, Brendon McCullum, Faf Du Plessis, Bravo, George Bailey. You had all international captains of stature play. They accepted Dhoni’s leadership, which reflected in the results and public of Tamil Nadu started to realise it. In 2016, I am told that even when CSK was not playing, Whistle Podu was trending,” he adds. 

He sums up, “CSK will be back in 2018 with hopefully MS Dhoni leading it. The absence in the IPL for two years has not affected CSK brand in anyway nor has it diminished the interest of the fans.”