PakPassion Presents an Interview with Ali Ehsan (Managing Director of Boom Boom)

[Cover Drive]

A cricket equipment related interview which I thought would be good to share here;

Boom Boom are of course the current suppliers of the Pakistan cricket team, having sealed a 2 year deal with the PCB earlier this year.

Their products are used by all Pakistani national teams from the junior teams, women's team, right up to the senior cricket team.

I know there has been a lot of discussion on PakPassion regarding Boom Boom and many of you wanted to know further information regarding the company and their products.

Here we present a lengthy but interesting interview with the Managing Director of Boom Boom, Mr Ali Ehsan.

[COLOR="Green"]PakPassion.Net:[/COLOR] Ali Bhai, many thanks for agreeing to do this interview.

[COLOR="Blue"]Ali Ehsan:[/COLOR] Asalamalakium Sajid and all the fans of PakPassion. Thank you very for your time and thank you to all the PakPassion members who support Boom Boom, Pakistan Cricket and cricket all around the world.


[COLOR="Green"]PakPassion.Net:[/COLOR] We all have heard about the name Boom Boom, obviously emanating from the famous slogan of Shahid Afridi, but there is not a lot that people know about the company itself or about yourself. Could you give us a bit of background about yourself and how you got involved with Boom Boom?

[COLOR="Blue"]Ali Ehsan:[/COLOR] I am originally from Peshawar, north of Pakistan. I moved to the UK in 2006 and started the business of selling cricket equipment. My background is manufacturing, I did my Undergraduate in Engineering and after moving to England I did my masters in International Business. Currently I am studying at Oxford University doing a second masters in major programme management, which is a very tough course. I am also a lecturer at Coventry University where I am teaching Global Business and Strategic Management.

As far as your question about Boom Boom, well Boom Boom the name is a very different and a buzz name for cricket and it has got multiple angles. One of the reasons for selecting the name Boom Boom was it is not just a name but it is a legacy and approach of how you play cricket . If you go back and look at the history of cricket you will see quite a lot of extraordinary superstars playing with that Boom Boom philosophy and the Boom Boom approach where they dont give up, they go and attack and they keep on trying. For example if you look at West Indian cricket you've got Sir Vivian Richards, Gordon Greenidge and Desmond Haynes. If you look at Pakistan you have Imran Khan, Wasim Akram and obviously Shahid [Afridi] now. Look at New Zealand you have Richard Hadlee, for India you have Kapil Dev and so many others, in Australia Dean Jones.

If you look at the contemporary and current players you will see Shahid Afridi obviously and Razzaq, if you remember the recent match between South Africa and Pakistan in Abu Dhabi, after Razzaq's brilliant century off 70 odd balls against South Africa, the next day Razzaq was backed as the new Boom Boom player and even Afridi said he is the new Boom Boom player. In India you have Dhoni and Yuvraj.

So it is a legacy that has been going on for quite some time, certain commentators and journalists started using the word Boom Boom and it got linked with Afridi and obviously Afridi is a big big Boom Boom player but, after his retirement it wont stop there, it will keep on going on. You have [Abdul] Razzaq and other players coming in so by no means Afridi's retirement will be the last, you are not seeing the last big hitting player in the cricket field, there will be more Boom Boom players.

Another reason to pick the name was purely business reasons, if you look at all the cricket brands they are all not cricketing names. Boom Boom is now a part of cricketing vocabulary, so it gives us a lot of marketing when commentators mention it and we get quite a lot of mileage out of it. If you look at the philosophy, the philosophy of our team and Boom Boom is freedom to play, we encourage the players to play on the front foot, go and face the attack and never give up. It stands for double power, double strike and keep on bouncing back, so it is a very aggressive name, an aggressive brand, a buzz name and a fresh change in cricket.


[COLOR="Green"]PakPassion.Net:[/COLOR] We have seen the kits with your slogan and logo on the Pakistan shirts, now when the players have used the actual kits themselves what sort of feedback have you had, both positive and negative from the players and coaches who are using the kits on a daily basis?

[COLOR="Blue"]Ali Ehsan:[/COLOR] We are trying to provide them with the best fabric which is available in Pakistan and in China. Player feedback and management feedback is excellent as far as the fabric is concerned.

Designing is a part which we dont have much failure. The designs which we showed them before T20 World Cup were totally different but it was decided by, at that time it was Mr Yawar Saeed and Shafqat Rana who changed the design and they said we have the responsibility and we have the rights to choose the design, and as kit suppliers you can only provide and choose the fabric. So we have taken quite a lot of criticism about colour and design from people who didnt like it but it was not our design.

The fabric, yes we take full responsibility for. We do send to the PCB various designs, we also take on board designs sent to us from various fans and also fans from PakPassion but the final selection authority for designs is the PCB.


[COLOR="Green"]PakPassion.Net:[/COLOR] What about going forward, will the final authority still be with the PCB management with regards to the actual design? Say for example the shirts for 2011 World Cup, will that still rest with the PCB?

[COLOR="Blue"]Ali Ehsan:[/COLOR] It will because they are the final authority since they are the main cricket board of Pakistan and they govern every angle of cricket. From our point of view, personally as far as Pakistan cricket is concerned it is a matter of national pride.

I have discussed this at various occasions and various forums with the PCB management that it will be really great if I can get the teams final players list at least 6 weeks before, so I can develop all the designs and fabrics in China. Unfortunately the teams are only announced 10 days or maximum 1 week before the tour starts. That gives us very little time to go abroad and do the manufacturing so we are restricted to the fabrics available in mainland Pakistan, which are no less than any other fabric but we still want to provide them with the best.

What we have done for this World Cup [2011] is taken all the designs from our fans and we have got our own in house design section, if you look at our pads and bats and logo's they are all designed with a lot of care and focusing which gives us quite a lot of differentiation. If you look at any other cricket bat and look at a Boom Boom bat in a store, our bat looks different, it is simple but it also stands out and this is what we want to do with the cricket kit. But we can only suggest designs, the PCB can either accept it 100%or reject it 100%, they have the right to come up with their own design, so it depends on the management. So we have proposed some designs to them and if they allow us, we will forward the designs to you (PakPassion) and take your views on board as well


[COLOR="Green"]PakPassion.Net:[/COLOR] So what you are saying, just to clarify, is that you give the PCB a group of designs and then they come back and say okay we will take either this one or they will come back and say we dont want any of those and this is our choice, they can basically come up with their own design?

[COLOR="Blue"]Ali Ehsan:[/COLOR] Yes, exactly, this is what happens. The kit that they are wearing at the moment has nothing to do with our design, our design was entirely different but the PCB said they didnt like it so obviously they have the final authority and we said fine. So we provided them with the designs that they had chosen, the management at that point had designed something different so we had to follow their instructions.


[COLOR="Green"]PakPassion.Net:[/COLOR] Looking at your biggest customers outside of the Pakistan Cricket Board, are your providing kits for any other sports teams or any other businesses?

[COLOR="Blue"]Ali Ehsan:[/COLOR] The Pakistan Cricket Board isnt exactly a customer, we have signed a contract with them, we are endorsed and sponsored to the Pakistan cricket team for a length of 2 years.

We are also very keen on developing cricket and we want cricket to grown in other parts of the world, and we have provisionally signed an MOU [Memorandum of Understanding] with the Kenyan Cricket Board, their CEO was in London and we had a very good meeting with them last month, and in this World Cup you will see our kits will be, our logo's will be on the Kenyan cricket team for their pool matches in the World Cup. We are also in negotiations with other up and coming countries like the USA, Afghanistan, Middle East countries and Scotland.


[COLOR="Green"]PakPassion.Net:[/COLOR] Now putting on your marketing head, if somebody came to you and asked what makes Boom Boom's brand special compared to other Pakistani brands in the market, how would you describe or how would you say this is why Boom Boom is special compared to others?

[COLOR="Blue"]Ali Ehsan:[/COLOR] This is a very, very good and valid question because, first of all Boom Boom is not exactly a, I am from Pakistan and I am very proud of it, I am a nationalist and I love my country and that is my land but the company is registered and listed in the United Kingdom. So it is not technically a Pakistan brand, however if it is considered a Pakistan brand then I feel proud of it.

If you want to look at the comparisons, what differentiates us from Pakistani brands, we are more global now, we have received more global coverage as compared to any other Pakistan brand. There has been a lot of perseverance, a lot of interviews, even Wisden did a lot of coverage for us and it is still going on.

If you talk about the core competences of our brand we believe in differentiation. If you look at our website, it is entirely different to any other brand. If you look at our products, we believe in lighter and stronger products, our bats are extremely powerful, very bulky at the meat and the middle is extremely sweet and powerful but the pickup and balance is extremely light. The bat that you see Shahid [Afridi] using or Razzaq is using, it may look like a 2lb 14/15/16 but actually they are all about 2lb 10 because we have spent a lot of time with our designers, and we have designed the weight distribution, the purpose of the wood and everything is extremely focused after a lot of research. If you look at our pads, I think our pads are the lightest in the cricket market, they are around 700 grams per pad, if you look at any other brand they are all over 800 grams.

If you look at the way cricket is changing, it is all about fitness, quick running between the wickets. and we have worked on removing weight from the kit. With all these cameras in place and micro second run outs, I think weight plays a major role so we are focussed towards good quality, strong but light.


[COLOR="Green"]PakPassion.Net:[/COLOR] The Boom Boom players are predominantly Pakistani and it is interesting that you are building relationships with Non-Pakistani players. Could you give us some of the Non-Pakistani players you have signed and perhaps are in negotiation with a view of signing them in future?

[COLOR="Blue"]Ali Ehsan:[/COLOR] Obviously when we signed Shahid, we added Umar Gul, Fawad Alam, Abdul Razzaq. We had Amir but due to the unfortunate incident, he is no longer signed with us. We went to the last trade show in England. We had already signed Hamish Marshall and Sean Irvine. Unfortunately there are no English players available until after the World Cup next year, so we are quite limited with our international options at the moment in England. But we are in negotiation with top Boom Boom style okayers in the West Indies, Sri Lanka and even India. Going back to your previous question regarding your Pakistan brand or global brand we take off as a global brand and thats why we want to take a portfolio of top players from around the world in the next couple of years.


[COLOR="Green"]PakPassion.Net:[/COLOR] I understand if you can't answer this question Ali Bhai but is Kieron Pollard one of the West Indian players you are possibly signing?

[COLOR="Blue"]Ali Ehsan:[/COLOR] We are not only him but we were close to signing Chris Gayle. Unfortunately we did at that time when he was coming out of contract from Ihsan at that time and he scored a brilliant triple century, so yes Pollard is no doubt a big Boom Boom player. Gayle is another, but it all depends on when their current contracts are ending and when they become available.


[COLOR="Green"]PakPassion.Net:[/COLOR] How are Boom Boom building a positive relationship with the PCB and also with the fans in the street?

[COLOR="Blue"]Ali Ehsan:[/COLOR] As far Pakistan Cricket Board is concerned, my Boom Boom team takes a lot of pride of the fact that this is our national cricket board and we are doing our best to provide all kind of services, including marketing opportunities. We helped them as we felt it was a good chance for PCB to make some serious money because of lots of marketing rights and we offered them our service because we have estabslihed some very good contacts.

We told them if you want to generate some revenue then I think they should bring cricket in England and then converting that revenue to Pakistani rupees, therefore the Pakistan board will earn more in England from endorsements in England rather than Pakistan. So we offered them our services but at that point of time they thought that they wanted to go ahead with their own choices. However anything else they require than kit any support they require we are always open. We don't look at this relationship as us and them instead we look as we. So we think we sit on same side of table rather than opposite ends. So I think that is the key for a good relationship. There are certain issues, there are certain misunderstandings, and certain points which need to be hammered out, but at the moment everything is under control. As far our fans are concerned we try to respond to anyone who comes and I personally respond to the emails especially those about the kit and my apologies to the fans when I sometimes cannot respond quickly due to my hectic schedule.


[COLOR="Green"]PakPassion.Net:[/COLOR] Your website link is obviously on PakPassion and a lot of people are visiting your website after seeing the banner. Are you planning in launching an online store or you are happy for the likes of PakPassion selling your equipment on your behalf?

[COLOR="Blue"]Ali Ehsan:[/COLOR] We are a brand, but not an online retailer.  We are opening up accounts with retailers, including PakPassion. We want them to sell our products, so we will just provide guidance on our products. Over the next couple of weeks you will see on the Boom Boom website a new range of product photographs.

Our job is to put the awareness of our products out there and to update the blogs of the players, but we are not selling anything online directly. We have online retailers such Howzat Cricket, PakPassion, Barrington etc.


[COLOR="Green"]PakPassion.Net:[/COLOR] What about your cricket bats specifically for tape ball, do Boom Boom cricket manufacture those?

[COLOR="Blue"]Ali Ehsan:[/COLOR] Yes, we are about to launch those as well.


[COLOR="Green"]PakPassion.Net:[/COLOR] Any idea when you will be launching the Tape Ball Bats?

[COLOR="Blue"]Ali Ehsan:[/COLOR] Actually we are working on a very important project in Pakistan which is being piloted in Karachi where we are instead of buying a cricket ground or acquiring a cricket ground and turning it into a cricket academy, what we are doing is that we are opening Boom Boom cricket academies starting from Karachi and then going to all other cities. So the children's range is going to be introduced soon. But the tape ball cricket equipment will be released with launch of our Boom Boom cricket academy.