Celebrating One Year Of Boredom: I

I’ve often repeated this in my previous articles at Bored. But I still find it apt to mention it one more time; although let I admit, I’m not averse to retelling it in future as well. As I consider it more as a case study on “How to launch a Cricket Blog” than anything.

In mid last year, I used to venture to SP’s blog many times a day. Actually SP’s was among a few dozen cricket blogs I used to diligently follow at that time. I used to admire the love these guys had for the game, and that showed in their blogs. The level of interaction, by way of comments, at some of these blogs could put to shame any established cricket forum. Some of these blogs could easily boast of 30 reader comments per article. Considering that most of the bloggers were doing it for the love of the game; this was not a meager achievement.

One day while on SP’s blog I noticed a teaser, that asked the readers to anticipate the arrival of BCCI – Bored Cricket Crazy Indians, with a punch line Cricket ka Blog Buster. If you pay some attention, then you will notice that I have used an ‘I’ instead of an ‘!’ (Exclamation mark) for the last letter of the BCC! acronym. Actually at the time of its launch there was an I in the BCC!. But later on, the owners decided to change it to an ‘!’.

Although now the change has very well cemented its place in the established nomenclature; how the exclamation mark secured its place in the important four, is a story worth telling; I’ll tell that story in the coming articles.

Coming back on the teaser thing. Every time I visited SP's space I used to click on the Teaser link—and was sent to a blog which featured only one post by Naked Cricket. If I’m not mistaking, the write-up too promised something interesting; though in more words.

Anticipating some real dhamaaka, I kept on clicking the teaser every time I reached SP’s blog and was transported to the same place, with the same single post.

But one day SP wrote a small post with a title: “introducing...BCCI: Cricket ka Blogbuster!!"

What caught my attention was the picture in this post. The picture had nothing to do either with the content or the title of the article; and in short was a complete mismatch. That apart, the picture primarily had a head turning virtue, a lady with some clothes (Got!). Though the write-up for the first time told readers about the concept of BCC!, and what to look out for in coming days; I was not really amused by the mismatch and the virtue.

Honestly speaking, I thought it to be an exercise in over-confidence or more realistically something which creative people start with great enthusiasm, but find themselves in “what to do next” frame of mind , when the initial zeal ends.

So this is what I had repeated couple of times in the past. Now, let I share, why I consider this as a case study on “How to launch a Cricket Blog”.

As said, the picture-mismatch-virtue was a big let down for I; but if I think over the entire sequence of events now, I find that the people who were behind the events, have done a remarkable job. They had successfully created the base for the Blog launch.

Let’s talk about the events one by one.

The Teaser: A decade ago, an article in an esteemed US daily, defined a teaser “as an ad for ad”. A teaser intends to attract the attention by its mysterious nature, and alerts the reader or viewer for the future pitches/ events. A good teaser arouses curiosity among the readers. Thus a teaser is of big importance to any campaign. BCC! people were aware of this importance. For me the BCCI teaser successfully served its purpose. Due credit to the one(s) who coined the blog name and the punch “Cricket Ka Blog Buster”

The introductory post and the picture-mismatch-virtue: The picture in the introductory post may have been a mismatch, it may have a head turning virtue, but it made the readers glance at the write-up. In essence, it’s like roping in a hot celebrity to deliver the public interest information. If not of the mismatch and the virtue, who would have bothered to read about an upcoming blog- An entity that hits the cyberspace every other second.

We have often heard or read about the massive budgets big companies put on their ad campaigns. But very few succeed in running a memorable campaign; a campaign which approaches to completeness in all respect. The reason why money can’t ensure the best outcome is that more than the money, it’s the creativeness, resource allocation, planning and execution which makes for a memorable campaign.

People behind Bored managed to do a great work on this front.

Rest in the next write-up.