It is one of those funny stories that provoke a thought. The story is about a beggar. That particular day, he had been begging since the morning in front of the biggest place of prayer in the city. His bowl was empty when the sun finally called it a day. Tired, hungry, he slowly left the hallowed precincts and started walking through the city. It was mid-evening when he reached the gates of a prestigious social club, and decided to take a breather. He saw a car coming out of the club and out of sheer habit he uttered his lines seeking alms. The car slowed down, a hand came out and a few hundred rupee notes were thrown at him. The car whizzed past leaving him stunned. He took a closer look at the cash in hand. With tears in his eyes, he looked skywards and muttered ? Ishwar, tumi thako kothay aar amare pathao kothay (Almighty, you stay in one place and send me to another).

Strangely, I was reminded of this story when I read a report in The Telegraph last week. The headline screamed ? ?Pay & Chappell way is yours?. It was about The Australian International Sports Academy (AISA) offering a patented package of a 14-day residential cricket coaching conducted all year around at a resort near Brisbane. The target group is boys of 12 to 20 years of age. The package comes at a price of 2,500 Australian dollars. There is another 400 Australian dollars added on as discounted air-fare to and from Brisbane. The coaching package, the story told us, ?involves running, swimming, games and cricket training sessions peppered with sight-seeing and lectures?. For less than a lakh of rupees, doting fathers could send their sons for an Australian holiday, which is literally fun and games. This is the product on sale that is branded the Chappell way.

The journalist informed us that AISA is a private company in which Greg Chappell , the current Team India coach, has a stake. That is understandable as the coaching method that lies at the heart of the brand has been developed by him. Ian Frazer, the bio mechanist, is his partner in AISA. Tony Dell, a director of AISA, was quoted in the story saying: ?Right now, our focus is largely India. The growing spending power of the middle class there is a big draw? So far we have had two groups of 14 youngsters from The Kiran More International Sports Academy. Kiran has been here himself. He shares a special relationship with Greg and it is great.?

What do all these add up to? Greg has a brilliant coaching product. Australian International Sports Academy targets India. Equity of Greg Chappell as a coach is not too high. Coaching an Australian regional team does not allow you to make the greatest advertising statement in India about the brand Chappell Way. So that needed a marketing solution. Greg takes up, indeed wins, the job of the cricket coach in India. He gets his partner in AISA and a part of the Chappell Way product inducted into the support team for Indian cricketers. He develops a special relationship with More, the chief Indian selector, who helps by sending the first batch of students.

For some strange reason, whenever we think of marketing, we think of soaps and shampoo or fridges and TV. In vain we look for instances of great marketing strategy during the TV commercial break. The brilliant AISA strategy reminds us that the beggar in the story at the beginning of this column is not alone in his bewilderment. Marketing, like Him, is omnipresent.