And you thought it was cricket!

Put Shah Rukh Khan, Akshay Kumar and Preity Zinta together and mix to get "" no, not an item song but cricket, discover a baffled Shuchi Bansal & Aabhas Sharma. Here's how.

Yogesh Shetty, the young CEO of GMR Sports, doesn't know whether he's coming or going. Operating out of a cramped cabin within GMR Holdings' premises at Birla Towers on New Delhi's Barakhamba Road, the business head of DareDevils, the Capital's cricket team for the Indian Premier League, has a hundred things to wrap up before the Twenty20 tournament kicks off on April 17.

He may look tired but his zeal for the task at hand has not faded. "The brand name DareDevils is all about the attitude and spirit of the city of Delhi," he announces.

Earlier in the week, Shetty roped in film star Akshay Kumar to endorse the DareDevils. "We are ready with our tactical initiatives, our strategies during and after the tournament," he smiles, while refusing to divulge any details.

Down south, Rakesh Singh, the marketing head of India Cements, the company that bid and won the franchise for IPL's Chennai team, isn't any better off.

Working round the clock, he's stuck in back-to-back meetings to chalk out strategies and build excitement around the Chennai Superkings and to sign sponsorship deals with advertisers like Aircel and Reebok. That team, led by M S Dhoni, has Tamil cinema heartthrobs Nayanthara and Vijay as its ambassadors.

Whether it's Fraser Castellino, CEO, Emerging Media, that owns the Jaipur IPL team, or R Balachandran, president & chief marketing officer, Reliance Retail, who is managing the affairs of Reliance Industries' cricket team, they're all snowed under.

Clearly, the top executives of the eight IPL teams, auctioned for the 44-day tournament, are stepping on the gas to conclude sponsorship deals, brand endorsement contracts, television campaigns and ground promotion activities, in-stadia events and entry ticket prices.

Though the great Indian Premier League tamasha is yet to unroll, the party has already begun. And franchisees "" corporate houses or film stars "" are leaving no stone unturned to make it sizzle. Shah Rukh Khan has done a music video to promote his Kolkata Knight Riders for which his company Red Chillies (along with Juhi Chawla and Jay Mehta) paid Rs 300 crore.

"SRK is handling the entertainment himself. We will make use of his personal charisma to promote the team," observes Joy Bhattacharya, consultant to Knight Riders. The feisty Preity Zinta did a little jig at the launch of her (Ness Wadia and Mohit Burman's) Kings XI Punjab team at Mohali recently.

Needless to say, if you thought IPL was about cricket in its shorter Twenty20 avatar, think again. The IPL franchisees are gearing up to entertain you like no one has done before. While they're not spilling the beans yet on quite how they'll do it, their agenda is clear: to drive you to the stadium to watch a three-hour Twenty20 match played by the best of Indian and international players, interspersed with a heavy dose of filmi leisure.

"The idea is to bring the entire family to the stadium for an evening of entertainment at an affordable price," says Bhattacharya.

Agrees an events expert associated with one of the teams: "We'll make it a Sunday outing for the audience." The team, not keen to be identified, is planning food courts complete with games and other recreation facilities.

Bollywood will be staple fare at every stadium: "But audiences will also get a game they have never seen before. Where else will they see Irfan Pathan pitted against Sourav Ganguly, or Shane Warne against Brett Lee. The mantra is to think out-of-TV entertainment."

While the masses could join the party, according to Neil Maxwell, CEO of Kings XI Punjab, for as little as Rs 50, milking audiences at the top-end will be hospitality packages in air-conditioned lounges with snacks, meals and alcoholic beverages for Rs 3,000-7,000.

Expected to ride high on the "flamboyance" quotient, Vijay Mallya's Bangalore Royal Challengers will sport apparel designed by designer Manoviraj Khosla. Shortly, the team will also release its music video, directed by Bollywood biggie Sanjay Gupta. Team CEO Charu Sharma says that while there are no brand ambassadors, expect celebrities to support the team.

In Chennai, the match will follow a heavy-duty Tamil film industry pageant, promises India Cements' Singh. Rajasthan Royals' Castellino refuses to share his strategies but admits that Emerging Media will invest upwards of $12 million this year.

"A 360 degree campaign has broken across Rajasthan involving TV commercials, radio spots and outdoors," he says. The team's school, college and mall activation campaign will happen in Jaipur, Delhi, the NCR and in Gujarat. Media industry estimates the franchisees will spend, on average, Rs 20-30 crore each on marketing.

J C Giri, Mumbai-based president of Ogilvy, the agency that devised the communication strategy for IPL, says its brief was to launch the League as the greatest domestic sporting event ever seen, rally passions and allegiance for the teams, and get fans to fill up the stadiums or watch matches live on TV. The IPL teams seem to be following the same mandate. After all, put together, upwards of Rs 3,000 crore has been spent on acquiring team rights.

But critics find the jamboree formula-driven. "What you see happening here are gunshot solutions, says Sandeep Goyal, chairman, Dentsu India. Goyal's observation comes from his experience at Dentsu, which is one of the world's leading sports marketing specialists. It has the marketing rights for the FIFA World Cup and the Olympics till 2020. Others are concerned that the main entertainment value may not be provided by cricket. "A half-hour Sonu Nigam concert may be good value for entertainment but that should not be the reason why people come and watch IPL," cricket commentator Harsha Bhogle says.

However, IPL franchisees claim they are aware of their responsibility to look beyond the in-your-face tamasha and build long-term brands. For a start, the team names offer a peek into their brand identities. In Hyderabad, J Krishnan, CEO and president of the Deccan Chargers, is all charged up about Deccan Chronicle Holding's IPL franchisee.

"Deccan Chargers: The Unstoppables, as the name suggests, will always play a strong and aggressive game," he says. The team's red and gold colours stand for boldness and victory respectively. Rajasthan Royals reflects the character of the state: loyalty and valour, which embellishes its history and culture.

To be sure, building a sports brand in the country is a challenge, especially given that it is a category the Indian consumer is not exposed to. Clearly, the biggest challenge is to create brands as well as brand loyalty for teams which will play for cities but under names such as Deccan Chargers and DareDevils. Besides, there won't be any national pride at stake as the miscellaneous teams will showcase Indian and international cricketing talent.

According to Ogilvy's Giri, the real task of building the brand lies in each team building its own polarised fan following and getting fans to enjoy every IPL match. "That's easier said than done. Chennai, for instance, has no love lost for Dhoni," says Dentsu's Goyal.

Besides, Indians are not exactly known for their pride in the cities they live or work in. Cricket fans cheer only for the national team when it is pitched against other countries.

Says Anand Halve, partner, Brand Chlorophyll: "Globally, if you look at the Los Angeles Lakers or the New York Yankees, their brand mythologies come from their cities. Will our teams have that impact, especially with names such as Delhi DareDevils and Kolkata Knight Riders?" he asks, adding that the team names make it sound more like a blood sport than cricket.

Cricket fans, experts say, are divided into two parts. The "eyeballs" that watch the match on television and seek score updates on their mobiles, and those who spend money on cricket by going to the stadium.

"That's the fan the IPL needs," says Goyal. The tragedy is, nobody is creating that element of warmth. In football clubs overseas, the players live in the same city and you run into them at local pubs and malls. "In IPL, there is no touch and feel. The players will take the first flight out of the city on day 44 of the tournament. The product lacks soul," he feels.

Yet, franchisees are exploring ways to create an emotional connect between teams and audiences (read local communities) even if the players do not live there.

"We will work at the grassroots level and set up academies. Some of the players will come back to train here," says Krishnan of Hyderabad's Deccan Chargers.

In Chennai, too, Krishnamachari Srikanth has been engaged to hold training sessions in city schools and colleges. For better bonding, GMR seems to be planning gully cricket in Delhi's Chandni Chowk, and Knight Riders a visit to the Missionaries of Charity, Kolkata.

Even Neil Maxwell of Kings XI Punjab plans to launch a Kings XI Cup and hold local matches in the region. However, he feels that unless we deliver on the pitch, it's not easy to become a brand. For others, performance may be critical for brand building, but winning is not.

"For the football clubs fans, how you play is important. Besides, you will find a Manchester United fan anywhere in the world," says GMR's Shetty.

The teams' business managers are unanimous that the franchisees will take about two to three years to build brands of some significance. Till then, the marriage of cricket to Bollywood may help IPL get off the ground. Yogesh Shetty, who left a cushy London job to steer GMR Sports in India, nods briskly in agreement "" already, he's steering his entourage into the next meeting.

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RARING TO GO

KOLKATA KNIGHT RIDERS

Sponsors: Housing Infrastructure Development Limited (HDIL), Nokia, Tag Heuer, Belamonte, Reebok

Music video: Created by Vishal Shekhar. Bappi Lahiri and Usha Uthup too will do promotional videos

DELHI DAREDEVILS

Sponsors: Hero Honda, Kingfisher, Adidas, Religare

Brand ambassador: Akshay Kumar

CHENNAI SUPERKINGS

Brand Ambassadors: Krishnamachari Srikanth, Nayanthara and Vijay

Sponsors: Aircel, Reebok

Music video: By cinematographer Rajiv Menon to feature Dhoni, Vijay and Nayanthara

Anthem: Lyrics by Tamil poet Vairamuthu

RAJASTHAN ROYALS

Sponsors: Reebok, Kingfisher

Anthem: Halla Bol sung by Ila Arun

ROYAL CHALLENGERS

Sponsors: Reebok, Louis Philippe, Royal Challenge

Music Video: Shot by Sanjay Gupta. Music composed by Sandeep Chowta. Sung by Kunal Ganjawala

MUMBAI INDIANS

Information not available at the time of going to press

KINGS XI PUNJAB

Sponsors: To sign up and announce 3-4 main sponsors in the coming week

Anthem: Sung by Daler Mehndi. Music composed by Sajid-Wajid

DECCAN CHARGERS

Sponsors: The team sponsor and two associate sponsors to be announced on April 13