Explore Edu-Series intends to stimulate students with insights from the best and brightest in the industry. The collaboration between academia and industry leaders has the power to foster talent, equip students to make a mark in the industry and research, and produce exceptional leaders who will drive significant change and build strong, enduring experiences & brands.

For the fourth episode of this series, we have Sabaas Joseph, Srinivvasan Gopalkrishnan, Vinit Karnik and Sushma Gaikwad, who will be sharing the success story behind building IPL as a brand.

We are sure that his session will enhance the learning curve for the attending students especially because they have raised the bar to shape the industry and propelled it forward. They will share interesting insights, case studies, challenges, and solutions that would add immense value to the discussion.  

About the Speakers:

1. G Srinivvasan is the CEO of Sporjo, a one of a kind start-up that helps aspiring individuals create a meritocratic pathway for turning their passion to profession in the sports industry. Sporjo assesses trains and gets people jobs in the sports industry. His last position was heading the marketing and strategy functions for the entire Reliance Sports group and works across all the properties namely Football, Cricket, IMG Reliance and RF Youth Sports. G Srini as he is commonly known, was with Reliance for over 6 yrs and a part of the team that set up and launched the Indian Super League (India’s premier football league) and subsequent expansion to 10 teams. He has been involved in all operations of the league, and had spearheaded the sponsorship sales and marketing functions for the first three years. Over this period ISL has become a household name in India. Prior to this role G Srini was heading the marketing and sponsorship sales for the BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) working on the IPL (Indian Premier League). In his tenure of 3 years, Srini helped formulate the strategy for the IPL brand. He worked with the 8 franchise partners (teams) on all commercial and sponsorship elements. He liaised with broadcast partners from India and all over the world to promote the league well ahead of its start in their respective territories. Led a commercial team from IMG to sell sponsorships and subsequently service central partners. Managed relationships with central partners and the broadcaster to promote the Indian National Team games. Was the Lead across marketing and commercial verticals of a cross functional team from India, Australia and South Africa for the Champions League T20 tournament.G Srini has worked with Nike where he led the football category business & brand communications for 4.5 years. During this time he set up the brand and digital functions and created the ‘Nike traffic Jam ad’ which was regarded as one of the best Nike ads ever made and is still recalled as one of the best sports ads in India. G Srini began his journey in sports with ESPN wherein he worked on the brand marketing function and moved on to business development and creating customized sporting events for almost 5 years.Prior to ESPN he spent 4 years in advertising where he started his journey with Lowe and spent a couple of years outside India with an advertising agency in the middle-east.
2. Vinit Karnik is Head – Sports, Esports and Entertainment, GroupM South Asia. A highly accomplished professional with over 2 decades of extensive experience in Business Management, Media, Marketing, Digital, Content and Team Building.  With expertise in formulating & directing strategies to promote products and services; steering marketing investment towards delivering business results for clients based on valuation and ROI, Vinit has played a pivotal role in the growth of sports and entertainment business in India. Before joining GroupM, Vinit worked with The Times of India Group, Mudra Communications and Padmalaya Telefilms. Over the years with multiple assignments that he has handled, Vinit’s primary focus has always been around studying and understanding audience behaviour in the ever evolving popular culture of entertainment and sports. From media sales to media planning, movie production, marketing and distribution to sports marketing and live entertainment, Vinit has dabbled and overtime delivered on various business challenges. In 2014, Vinit initiated a pioneering initiative, a first of its kind and a very definitive report on sports sponsorship in India titled ‘Sporting Nation in The Making’  and in 2017 ‘Showbiz’ a similar report on movie marketing. Vinit has also co-authored and published a white paper in association with one of the premium academic institutes ‘Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad’ on ‘What Spells Success for Indian Leagues’.As an industry leader, Vinit represents GroupM in various industry bodies enabling and influencing key policy changes.

So, what are you waiting for?

REGISTER NOW FOR EVENT