Custom Bats Cricket Forum
General Cricket => Players => Topic started by: Mfarank on November 30, 2020, 08:05:23 AM
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How has nobody discussed this here yet? This is a massive signing on the part of GN. He is an all format captain for Pakistan and arguably one of the top 6 batsmen in the world in any format. this news broke out a couple of days ago and he will be in GN gear starting with the NZ series...
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Savvy move if it helps them pick up some of the Pakistani market, both in Pakistan and abroad. Similar to Bairstow signing up with TON, think we'll see a few more of these moves to expand the demographics of various companies.
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Was told he was after a 100k a year plus. Need to sell a lot of gear for that
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Was told he was after a 100k a year plus. Need to sell a lot of gear for that
There's a lot of cricket mad Pakistanis out there mind. Babar will also likely be playing a lot of high profile cricket going forward so it's not just restricted to Pakistan fans. Think it's generally accepted now that he's one of the top cross-format batsmen in world cricket.
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GN have a photo of 4 bats in the process of being completed captioned ‘Big week ahead’ they all have BA initialled on the face. So I’m guessing they’re going to announce it this week.
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Good signing and fantastic player
Nice to see a Pak international using GN, good memories of Mohammad Yousuf scoring thousands with his
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Very surprised to see that none of the big pak brands were able to land the Pak captain as his sponsor. A big loss for them no doubt. I guess the big Indian brands were out of the question given the political situation between India and Pak.
I am guessing he must have demanded a lot of money which they couldnt afford. Fair play to him for wanting to make hay while the sun shines!
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wow - big signing.
intrigued to see how GN propose to get their bats into the Pakistan market? or are they hoping for all the purchasing to be done outside of there?
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I'd be interested to know if English and Aus brands make any inroads into Pak and India and if it's worth it for them commercially?
English willow bats are a premium for many Pakistanis and Indians and many would get Kashmir or lower grade English Willow bats. That's before you even get into the many local brands and fakes...
Maybe it's not just about the two countries but more brand on tv with the top players... maybe someone on here has better insight? I've only seen a handful of players of Pakistani origin rock Gray Nics.. many go for Pak brands (buying on visits or from family members due to prices) or local English brands (I could be generalising here).
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Will his contract have a keeley clause? Or will GN edge stamp the keeley’s
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They must make sale in that part of the world? Or at least capture the asian players market worldwide. Else why would they continue sponsoring the players?
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Not sure his only using Keeleys, his also known to have used SS Ton. And am sure he must have used many other brands too.
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Class player and a good signing for any company, but with this amount of money being bandied about for a sponsorship deal no wonder Gray Nicholls’ grading is so piss poor compared to other brands - They must be trying to claw back as much money as possible on 5 grain LE’s to offset their outgoings!!
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Don’t think this is just to get more Pakistani buyers. Babar is in the “fab four” now, and having two of the top four (babar and Kane) is good visibility for the brand. This should help sales globally, not just from Pakistan.
As for the supposed 100k rate, that seems low compared to what other top players get?
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I've heard on the grapevine that the deal is for 50k per year but can't say for sure.
Whatever the cost, it's a big old gamble with the current state of the market - especially as the last I heard GN were dropping players due to not having the cash.
Yes the Pakistan market is huge, but not at the same types of order values as over here. Assume GN will be making a bigger push for lower grade english/kashmir bats in the sub continent to try and attempt a return. Can't see it being worth it myself but who knows!
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Wonder how the GN staff who got made redundant a couple of months back feel about this one...
Also, question whether this will hold up the announcement: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/videos/sports/cricket/babar-azam-exploited-me-for-10-years-sexually-abused-me/videoshow/79471999.cms
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yeah to be honest, he was using HS before. And i cant say they made an impact in the overseas market. So it is a risk for sure.
Although GN lost Bairstow recently, so perhaps had the scope for another top category player?
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Don’t think this is just to get more Pakistani buyers. Babar is in the “fab four” now, and having two of the top four (babar and Kane) is good visibility for the brand. This should help sales globally, not just from Pakistan.
As for the supposed 100k rate, that seems low compared to what other top players get?
In this climate i would say that’s a fair investment in a player.
There must more to these sponsorships than selling kit, now I’m not an expert but A) is it easy to ship into Pakistan and trade with that nation given unfortunate links to various organisations that has pretty much stopped all cricket in that country for the last decade and are local players really going to spend £150-£500 on a genuine GN because BA uses one given the earnings as a whole in that nation will be a fraction of what the UK, Aus and other GN strong holds earn.
Certainly a big signing and a superb player in all formats but i can see GN getting there money back by him attending Q&A and other sponsor events much more than selling more bats. It’s not like GN release player exclusive models etc
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Find the timing of that news coming out very questionable tbh. But lets see what actually transpires.
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are they even counting on the sales in Pakistan?
dont forget his a world famous name and hence is a recognizable brand worldwide
also there are over 7 million pakistani's living outside of pakistan too.
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Wonder how the GN staff who got made redundant a couple of months back feel about this one...
Also, question whether this will hold up the announcement: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/videos/sports/cricket/babar-azam-exploited-me-for-10-years-sexually-abused-me/videoshow/79471999.cms
Whether her claims are true or not.. not sure that's Babar's fault re employees being made redundant or GN sponsoring any other player...
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are they even counting on the sales in Pakistan?
dont forget his a world famous name and hence is a recognizable brand worldwide
also there are over 7 million pakistani's living outside of pakistan too.
Yeah but how many of those millions bought into HS? Id still wager HS didn't make a dent on CA, Malik or even Ihsaan as a brand?
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Whether her claims are true or not.. not sure that's Babar's fault re employees being made redundant or GN sponsoring any other player...
I think you're totally misinterpreting what I'm saying, maybe read it again?
I didn't say it was Babar's fault that they were being made redundant. What I am alluding to is that as an employee you might be disappointed that after 15+ years of service, they can't find £30k a year for your role, yet they can find £xxk for a very wealthy cricketer to use a cricket bat.
In respects to the the claims, I also pass no judgement. However if I were a brand I'd be cautious about signing a very big contract immediately following them.
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Would have to agree about GN employees. Unfortunately it's much the same thing that we saw happening at big football clubs as a result of Covid, millions can be found to keep the big names happy while staff are made redundant to save £20-30,000.
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does this argument hold true with any big corporate company too?
not just cricketing ones...
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Of course it holds true in multiple industries, but this is a cricket forum.
I guess if you want to discuss the personal impact that other businesses make in different industries then you could seek out those forums?
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Wonder how the GN staff who got made redundant a couple of months back feel about this one...
Yeah no kidding, the last I'd heard was they were struggling financially so it surprised me that they'd found the cash for this sort of deal. Sure there's far more to it than any of us will ever become privvy to, be interesting to see how it plays out!
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Not that this will mean anything to those staff but I can imagine a saving has been made going from Bairstow to Babar?
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I am sure GN have thought thru the bottom line implications of this sponsorship - not their first rodeo.
I't'd be interesting if they produce a new bat/shape for Azam.
Thank you Warner and those big bats!
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Not that this will mean anything to those staff but I can imagine a saving has been made going from Bairstow to Babar?
This
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So the official announcement expected at 12.30pm today!
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Officially announced now. Going to be using the new Blue Maax.
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Surely in time, they may even have a BA model specially dedicated to him?
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Surprised he hasn't got his own model, seems a bit of a missed opportunity - doesn't take more than a few weeks to get new labels printed and implemented after all
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Strange times with GN.
Constantly releasing bats than are unavailable to the retailer. No blue maax, no delta, no nhs bat. 🤷♂️
Will GN be the first big company to start going alone?
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Strange times with GN.
Constantly releasing bats than are unavailable to the retailer. No blue maax, no delta, no nhs bat. 🤷♂️
Will GN be the first big company to start going alone?
There was a very limited release of the NHS bat direct from GN. Same with the delta coming up. Although that isn’t from the retailer so not relevant at all, but I’ve wrote it now!
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I see a pic on Facebook of his 3 bats made by Alex at GN. Getting ready to be shipped to NZ!
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Would love to know what GN's market share within the UK bat market is.
Imagine it's not that much, as I can't remember the last time I saw someone play with a GN bat in the Sussex leagues I'm involved with. Could be another Debenhams 5 years from now, hence the Aussie/foreign market focus. Gunn & Moore are really now the manufacturer which fly's the mass British batmaker flag.
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Would love to know what GN's market share within the UK bat market is.
Imagine it's not that much, as I can't remember the last time I saw someone play with a GN bat in the Sussex leagues I'm involved with. Could be another Debenhams 5 years from now, hence the Aussie/foreign market focus. Gunn & Moore are really now the manufacturer which fly's the mass British batmaker flag.
I think GN still do pretty well amongst private school kids. See quite a lot of them in the hands of juniors at the more well-heeled clubs in our league.
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They've got a lot of contracts with private schools/minor counties/clubs for teamwear - it's usually on a minimum 2/3 year contract with a discount off GN equipment included with the club shop, definitely seems like they're pushing direct to consumer over retailers, albeit using the teamwear club shops as a cover
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Would Azam be considered cheap at $100,000 per year? Someone like de Villiers is getting $500,000 per annum from MRF despite rarely playing in recent years.
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I still see a lot of GN equipment in league cricket - probably more so than GM - and they seem to have a sizeable presence in the teamwear market (my club doesn't use GN teamwear but in my view they have the best overall range of white playing kit, off the shelf coloured kit and training wear). Overall though the bigger brands do seem to me to have a reducing market share as smaller brands can exposure through social media that never used to be possible
£50k p.a. does seem cheap for a player of Barbar Azam's ability compared to players of a similar stature but then i assume that not being able to play in the IPL most effect that
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There was a very limited release of the NHS bat direct from GN. Same with the delta coming up. Although that isn’t from the retailer so not relevant at all, but I’ve wrote it now!
I waited for GN to release this bat in the UK for so long that i eventually got bored and had to order it from GCCC in Australia. Not sure why its so tough to get stickers made up or bats made? Maybe logistical issues due to COVID-19?
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I waited for GN to release this bat in the UK for so long that i eventually got bored and had to order it from GCCC in Australia. Not sure why its so tough to get stickers made up or bats made? Maybe logistical issues due to COVID-19?
The delta? They’ve been ‘teasing’ it for a long long time like. It went on sale today either way, only 20 I think.
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Would Azam be considered cheap at $100,000 per year? Someone like de Villiers is getting $500,000 per annum from MRF despite rarely playing in recent years.
He’s a steal at that price (relative to what other pros get). Young, with plenty of years to go, and a top tier batsman in all three formats. Also helps that unlike a Graeme Smith, he’s a very watchable player (cover drive and back foot punch are already talked about)... so should be a great advertisement for whoever sponsors him.
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The delta? They’ve been ‘teasing’ it for a long long time like. It went on sale today either way, only 20 I think.
Not sure I get these "20" limited edition bats, they did it with the NHS one too - 20 bats is absolute peanuts to someone like GN.
It almost begs the question why they bother as they'll barely be getting any revenue from it. I can almost guarantee the resource spent on designing/producing/marketing the products will outweigh any profit they see off them (by resource I'm talking the total combination of manpower as well as actual material costs).
The NHS one was a bit of a farce too - make a big song and dance about supporting the NHS/keyworkers, with the promise to donate profits to the NHS charity, to then only make 20 so they're not actually really having to donate anything but still taking all the kudos - granted a donation is a donation and I can only commend any company/individual that supports the NHS as it's a wonderful thing, but it was clearly a marketing ploy over a genuine fundraising effort (add another East Sussex batmaker to that list too).
Can only imagine these limited editions are pi**ing off the retailers who have stood by their sides for so many years, I know I'd be annoyed if I was in a retailers' boots.
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Yeah, I don’t really get the 20 bat thing. Although, excuse my ignorance and this is just me assuming. But, would it really cost them that much to instruct the india factory to include 20 of each bat (delta and blue maxx) in the next shipment over to the UK instead of 20 of XX range. I believe the factory already produce those models for the Indian market? So it’s just a black stamp instead of a red stamp on the edge.
Then in terms of marketing etc, again assuming. But wouldn’t they have an employee/hire an agency to do the marketing for them so it’s just a task on the list instead of them twiddling their thumbs in the off season? I could be way off the mark and don’t work for gray nics so this could all be rubbish please bear that in mind 🤣
Personally all the marketing rubbish is what has put me off them in recent years. I think I’ve ranted before that the “tailender” just looked like ugly powespot’s that hadn’t sold and we’re restickered with a red spot and “marketed” up. Again I could be well wrong but at least that’s what it felt like.
On topic - Babar is a great signing IMO. Arguably now in the top 4 along with Kohli, Smith, Williamson or at least getting near it. He plays a lot of cricket throughout the year in all three formats and will have some time with Somerset most years I imagine. Think it’s not just about breaking into the Pakistan market but there are vast amounts of Pakistanis who love the game in the UK who I would’ve thought it would be worth tapping into.
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Yeah, I don’t really get the 20 bat thing. Although, excuse my ignorance and this is just me assuming. But, would it really cost them that much to instruct the india factory to include 20 of each bat (delta and blue maxx) in the next shipment over to the UK instead of 20 of XX range. I believe the factory already produce those models for the Indian market? So it’s just a black stamp instead of a red stamp on the edge.
Then in terms of marketing etc, again assuming. But wouldn’t they have an employee/hire an agency to do the marketing for them so it’s just a task on the list instead of them twiddling their thumbs in the off season? I could be way off the mark and don’t work for gray nics so this could all be rubbish please bear that in mind 🤣
Personally all the marketing rubbish is what has put me off them in recent years. I think I’ve ranted before that the “tailender” just looked like ugly powespot’s that hadn’t sold and we’re restickered with a red spot and “marketed” up. Again I could be well wrong but at least that’s what it felt like.
On topic - Babar is a great signing IMO. Arguably now in the top 4 along with Kohli, Smith, Williamson or at least getting near it. He plays a lot of cricket throughout the year in all three formats and will have some time with Somerset most years I imagine. Think it’s not just about breaking into the Pakistan market but there are vast amounts of Pakistanis who love the game in the UK who I would’ve thought it would be worth tapping into.
Yeah exactly @ch1p, getting more than 20 sent over wouldn't take much doing at all.
They'll have an in-house marketing guy/team (Grays as a whole is obviously far bigger than just GN), but even so it's still time spent they could've done something actually financially beneficial - although that's just my opinion as a project manager in the 'day job', so I'm far more analytical of stuff like that than most.
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20 NHS bats is a pretty canny bit of PR work. Very little work but it was plastered all over social media and their mailing lists.
The Delta 20 bats one is interesting, wouldn't be shocked if they started doing similar very limited runs of bats just to keep interest ticking over in the UK off season.
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The nhs bat was the original supernova shape with the. Exact same sticker design and also at the £150 price point It could well be they are restickered bats from that range as they have a lot of them on the outlet page on eBay. I also believe they did this with the Kronos bat a year or so ago as a limited run. Now again i could be well off the mark but that’s by guess.
As for retailers iv i was a smaller retailer yes i would be very annoyed that GN are not apparently supporting the retailers by even limiting those to a select few retailers given the season they would have had. The NHS bat was 20 at £150 so £3000 and the delta is 20 at £8000 so I cant see £11k being a big attraction to GN but I guess it helps shift a bundle of bits over the quieter time of year.
They do seem to be focusing on the Australian market a lot more with the retro bats as we have seen the return of the Ultimate and the Powerspot with the original sticker designs were as the UK has remodelled versions in the last few years
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Australian gn is a separately ran business to gray nics uk