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Post by flashblade on May 18, 2019 20:17:36 GMT
Interesting comments, Bazpan. Do you have a link to a survey, please? Is this the marketing survey undertaken by the ECB in order to justify the creation of The 100? Would love to see this.
Yes, the photos and logo are an embarrassment. I can't believe that these were created by a PR/marketing professional. Good job they're not aimed at cricket lovers.
This competition increasingly feels as if it's being created in a parallel universe.
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Bazpan
2nd XI player
Posts: 191 
County club member: Kent
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Post by Bazpan on May 18, 2019 21:43:28 GMT
Do you have a link to a survey, please? I'm afraid not, Flashblade! Just to sort of prove it existed, here's the link that someone posted on the Cricket 247 forum ...
... but when I forwarded it to a mate a couple of days after I completed the survey, he found that it had ended. I don't know how long it was available for, but I suspect not all that long.
It was a bit of a slog actually. (Several people on Cricket 247 admitted they didn't make it all the way to the end). There were lots of questions about whether you have previously or would consider in the future going to an 'entertaining sports experience' or other kind of live entertainment or visitor attraction, etc. Most of them could have been replaced with a single question: "Do you ever leave the house?"
There was a question about how much you'd be prepared to pay to attend an entertaining sports experience ... what sort of prices would be "too expensive, expensive but worth considering, a bargain, and so low that you might doubt the quality of the experience". Regarding the latter, I was thinking of how Nottinghamshire priced a weekend RL50 fixture at £1 and were rewarded for their enterprise with a sellout. So I wanted to go lower than a quid, and said £0.50. This was automatically corrected to £1. But when I tried to submit that page of answers I got an error message: "£1 is less than 2". (Hopefully that gives you an idea of what a quality survey it was).
The survey invited you to describe the Hundred in your own words. I spared them an essay in the assumption that my responses would be disregarded anyway. Having been forced to out myself as (a) a non-mother, (b) not young, and (c) a county member, I'm emblematic of everything that's moribund about the domestic game.
There was a quick run-through of the playing conditions for the Hundred (that's where they mentioned the thing about the American atmosphere). It was spelt out very plainly for people who know what cricket is but not much more than that. This was perfectly reasonable of course. I don't suppose any of us think expanding the audience for cricket is a bad thing. But I got a stronger sense than I'd expected that the survey really wasn't interested in the views of existing cricket fans. I also found myself wondering whether the survey might have multiple clients, as the responses to many of the questions would have been of just as much interest to the people who run Peppa Pig World, Wimbledon, the Six Nations, Legoland, etc., as to the ECB.
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Post by joe on May 19, 2019 6:49:08 GMT
Just a thought, in cricket we have straight things and round things. A bat followed by 2 balls makes quite a convincing 100, that took me all of 2 seconds to think of!
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Post by burgesshill on May 19, 2019 7:29:39 GMT
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Post by burgesshill on May 19, 2019 7:37:13 GMT
I don't know what went wrong there, as I wanted to add my own comment to that post, and it wouldn't let me.
Re the above photo. I can't quite put my finger on it, but the kids look more American than british to me (something to do with their expressions and hair styles)
Maybe it was taken at the american league with 'The Hundred' photoshopped on to the bat.
I wouldn't put anything past the ECB.
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Bazpan
2nd XI player
Posts: 191
County club member: Kent
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Post by Bazpan on May 19, 2019 21:09:46 GMT
Re the above photo. I can't quite put my finger on it, but the kids look more American than british to me (something to do with their expressions and hair styles) Maybe it was taken at the american league with 'The Hundred' photoshopped on to the bat. I wouldn't put anything past the ECB.
It's a nice idea! I'd probably be right with you if Stoke Newington Cricket Club hadn't proudly tweeted about having been asked to unveil the Hundred logo with that photo. And the boy on the right is wearing SNCC insignia. (Yes I checked. Obviously I was hoping to be able to prove that the Hundred Bat Five were in fact baseball colts).
Although the ECB frantically revised their imagery throughout Wednesday, the Hundred's favourite Miami concert-goers are still featured in the video on the official website for the competition. (That chap at the front is totally going to be the face of the Hundred as far as most people are concerned). The girl at a football match is still there as well, twice. Some promotional videos are just too good to edit, no matter how irrelevant the images they contain. Well I don't think this material is going to attract the attention of the Advertising Standards Authority, but if you're going to stick a massive caption saying 'LIVE CRICKET' on top of a bunch of photos, is it too much to ask that said photos are of live cricket? If the ECB wanted to promote the Hundred with pictures of jubilant fans, there must be some suitable shots from T20 Finals Days knocking around.
If the main photo in the centre looks like the kind of (non-)event you wish you'd been at, click here for more photos from the same shoot.
25th May 2015 was a busy day of staged, non-specific sports celebration for this particular stock photographer. Some of the sporting ecstasy depicted looks a bit strained, so i think the ECB chose one of the more authentic-looking shots. (Not quite as authentic as, say, T20 Finals Day pictures would have looked, admittedly). But I wish they'd chosen one of the shots a few rows down where people are waving a banner saying "GO TEAM". It would have been a neat visual metaphor for the ECB's reluctance to come up with names for the Hundred franchises.
“It’s an image on a website – that is all” said Sanjay Patel, the Hundred’s commercial director. Is that what commercial directors always say when their marketing consultants apologise for turning the long-awaited launch of a crucial project into a national joke through their idiotic choice of promotional materials? "It's just an image on a website! You worry too much!"
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Post by gmdf on May 23, 2019 7:48:44 GMT
If you missed the Tuffers & Vaughan radio programme this week (or like me, can't stand it), you'll have missed Tom Harrison answering (i.e. 'failing to answer') questions about 'The 100'... Fed a succession of half-volleys he tried resolutely yo push them back up the pitch, but failed even to do that on occasion. 'DannyCricket' from 'Being Outside Cricket' has transcribed the whole programme...It's an interesting (meaning awful) read. You can - if you are feeling strong - read it here: beingoutsidecricket.com/2019/05/22/dissecting-the-ecbs-the-hundred-talking-points-2-from-the-horses-mouth/ |
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Post by flashblade on May 24, 2019 8:38:09 GMT
If you missed the Tuffers & Vaughan radio programme this week (or like me, can't stand it), you'll have missed Tom Harrison answering (i.e. 'failing to answer') questions about 'The 100'... Fed a succession of half-volleys he tried resolutely yo push them back up the pitch, but failed even to do that on occasion. 'DannyCricket' from 'Being Outside Cricket' has transcribed the whole programme...It's an interesting (meaning awful) read. You can - if you are feeling strong - read it here: beingoutsidecricket.com/2019/05/22/dissecting-the-ecbs-the-hundred-talking-points-2-from-the-horses-mouth/Harrison was awful. As each week passes, I feel reassured that The 100 will be a flop. |
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Bazpan
2nd XI player
Posts: 191
County club member: Kent
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Post by Bazpan on May 29, 2019 12:56:48 GMT
Here are some more Hundred team names that are the subject of trademark applications.
Welsh Fire (Cardiff): Glamorgan, Gloucestershire and Somerset
Southern Brave (Southampton): Hampshire and Sussex
Birmingham Phoenix (Edgbaston): Warwickshire and Worcestershire
Leeds Superchargers (Headingley): Yorkshire and Durham
Trent Rockets (Trent Bridge): Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire and Leicestershire
London Spirit (Lord's): Middlesex, Essex and Northamptonshire
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Post by joe on May 29, 2019 13:37:38 GMT
Southern Brave are an American rock band!
Just waiting on The Oval Teenies 😂
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Post by flashblade on May 29, 2019 14:12:12 GMT
Will Lancashire avoid sharing with any other county? I thought this wasn't going to be allowed??
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Bazpan
2nd XI player
Posts: 191
County club member: Kent
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Post by Bazpan on May 29, 2019 14:22:58 GMT
There's a bit of a profile emerging with these names.
In the south we like to name our franchises after steadfast human virtues (Brave, Spirit).
As you head west you start running into flame-based nomenclature (Phoenix, Fire).
Up north they're all about motive power (Rockets, Superchargers).
I wouldn't be at all surprised if the remaining two franchises turn out to be Manchester Turbines and London Fortitude.
Yes, Lancashire have got Manchester all to themselves. If it wasn't allowed before, it seems to be now!
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Post by deepfineleg on May 29, 2019 14:26:19 GMT
Did they just select random words for the names? I can't see the rationale behind them; they're not even alliterative.
[Composing post before Bazpan's latest.]
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Bazpan
2nd XI player
Posts: 191
County club member: Kent
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Post by Bazpan on May 29, 2019 15:00:29 GMT
Did they just select random words for the names? I can't see the rationale behind them; they're not even alliterative.
[Composing post before Bazpan's latest.]
I have to say these are some pretty miserable sports-team names. After all the build-up and the purportedly extensive market research, and the rather elliptical clues as to what the ECB wanted to achieve with their franchise branding, the names they've ended up with couldn't be more generic and bland. Truly you could spend ten minutes with a thesaurus and come up with six names that are much more eye-catching, vivid and resonant than those ones. |
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