So much is happening with these 2010 Games, or may I say not happening? Obviously, the Go To Market plan wasn't perfect. So, the question is : Should games go on as scheduled or be postponed? If the show must go on, how can India revive them?
So, lets see, what should have been the focus of the games?
The games first of all are for the thousands of athletes competing in multiple disciplines. They need to feel motivated, safe and inspired to give their best performance. After all, athletes have been preparing for 4 years for the next games. Several athletes are thinking twice about the safety, are demotivated about the coverage the games village has received and the appalling conditions that are shown in media. The state of preparedness was so bad that even the companies that would serve the food in the Games village had not been finalized.
The spectators come next. Records, performances, cheering their national teams and living every moment of it. When the bridge next to the main stadium came down, the Delhi CM game a foot-in-the-mouth statement saying the bridge was not built for the athletes, but instead for common people to cross from a car park to the stadium. Yes, that is soooo true. There is no value to a commoner’s life in India. With schools in Delhi region closed for 2 weeks to encourage viewership, I wonder, how many of Delhi parents will feel safe to take their kids to the games.
Showcasing India and its talent-yard that is powering the changes on the world stage would have been perfect story that India would have hoped to achieve. The coverage India is getting instead is one of corruption, incompetent, incapable, slow, bureaucratic, etc. It took Modi three IPL’s to establish a brand new, professional, sporting image for India. An image of India that projected it as young, energetic, confident, dreaming to make it big and of an India that can deliver. This could have been the perfect opportunity to showcase India’s talent across multiple areas. India had 7 years, since winning the bid in 2003, to deliver the CWG. Clearly, lot of time went into intellectual discussions and very little in execution.
So, should the games go on or be postponed?
Since the corporate world gets involved in leading & delivering such large scale events, what could have the organizers learnt from them?
Test the product in advance: if the product is not ready, don’t start selling it. That’s common sense. In the software industry, its common to have early sneak previews for users, media, avid bloggers who can give useful feedback about product improvements. We need to look at the overall experience that athletes will go through. Landing at the brand new Delhi airport is a welcome image. The next stop - the games village which is not ready. The construction seems shabby. Its common for builders to outsource work to third party companies and often the rooms, toilets are left in a mess by the workers. Anybody, who has bought an apartment in India will vouch for it. Next comes the actual stadiums and the training facilities. Nobody has focused on these. If the players can’t train in the last few days, how do you expect them to achieve their best and create new records.
If its not ready, postpone the launch: Having periodical reviews at GTM mile-stones is a best practice followed in large organisations to integrate efforts across different functional teams. And delaying the launch plans is a common practice in the corporate world to get all 4P's aligned and ready. You don’t want your users to start returning the product and bad mouth about your company. With almost everyone connected to Internet these days, it takes a tweet these days to update the world. Even Rahman has reacted to the feedback and has redone the theme song.
Manage the expectations: Often, the corporate world shares the stories behind the new experience, the consumer insight that has led them to create this new product. The focus of the games should have been the effort that has gone behind the games, the story behind the execution and the achievements. Instead, the media coverage has been on everything else except the games. Dengue is also present in countries like Singapore, but does the world know about it? NO, its well-managed by the Singapore government. The weekly dengue cases in Singapore varies from 100 to 300. Compared to this, Delhi crossed 1500 Dengue cases till Sept, 2010. Singapore has 5 times higher dengue cases compared to Delhi. And if we factor in the size in sq km or population in millions, Delhi performs very well. It’s all about knowing your weaknesses and trying to minimize them and playing to your strengths or advantages.
By continuing the CWG Delhi games, I can surely say that CWG event organizers in India are taking lot of risks. If indeed the games go on as scheduled, then these are the 5 things India may do to ensure success:
Involve expert people/organizations: Lalit Modi who had the experience of successfully creating the USD 4 bn IPL brand should have been involved. Involving people like him and corporates who know how to manage should have been identified earlier. Some corporates have already started chipping in - http://bit.ly/dc5T2h . Get more to contribute.
Address the problems, fix them as they occur real-time: Now is the time to solve problems real-time, as they occur. Even if that means going over-board. The debates about differences in hygiene standards & expectations is deplorable. Let the good things & stories be shared – leak them to media.
Crowd source the support: the CWG games offer multi-sports, multi-sensory experiences to its audiences that includes viewers, in-stadium audiences, media and global audiences. India should encourage viewers to share their experiences, stories online via the new digital channels. The online buzz about the performances, the live action will get the right positive word of mouth and polarity behind the games.
Get the stories behind the performances: Athletes who win and others who compete have spent countless number of hours and effort behind the winning performances. Collaborate with the relevant country media, their coaches, family members to get their stories out. Kids love inspirational stories. Agreed that the Village has been far from perfect, but there are lots of other areas that can be talked about – the stadiums, the infra-structure, the new airport, the opening & closing performances etc.
Finally get some surprises: Bollywood, celebrities and their performances can make a lot of difference. We all love them. While, they shouldn’t over-shadow the performances & athletes, they do carry the aura to excite, engage and set the hearts racing. E.g., getting Shah Rukh Khan to come and give some medals, getting some stars to do cheer-leading and support the teams will get the zing back into the games.
Only time will tell, if all goes well. Good luck Delhi. I will be watching alongwith a billion plus people.
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