Paul Nash, Commercial Manager of Boom Boom Cricket. speaks to PakPassion about the challenges of dealing with fake goods and plans for the future...

PakPassion.net: Many thanks for doing an interview with PakPassion.net. A lot of people out there will want to know your role at BoomBoom and your experience in the Sports industry?

Paul Nash: Thanks for the opportunity to talk to PakPassion.net. My background is over 30 years of experience in the UK sports industry which is spread from brands such as Adidas many years ago, also setting up Asics in the UK, and working for Gunn & Moore (GM) for 7 years. I also ran Intersport UK as General Manager which is part of the world’s largest sports retail organization and controlled the UK members, which at the time numbered in excess of 300 stores.

My experience across the industry covers textiles [with the Adidas group], developing footwear with Asics, equipment from the Gunn & Moore side and obviously from the retail sector, having run with Intersport stores for 7 years. So my experience really encompasses all aspects of the sports trade and categories, through to retail and supply. 

I came on board with BoomBoom in March of this year and it was 2 or 3 days after England were beaten by Ireland. This was quite relevant because my first day was spent with Ali Ehsan [going through the strategic plan] and we there and then decided we would like to develop the brand with some other national organizations. Obviously, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) was on board at that point and it was within that meeting that we decided to go after the Irish cricket team which had beaten England that weekend. So from that first day, we haven’t really stopped. We are now working with the various national Boards and my background has helped me to develop the brand with the Boards and players, and also to develop Boom Boom worldwide. We are currently working in most cricket playing nations in the world. 

Accordingly, my role as the Commercial Director for BoomBoom is to create the supply chain, to improve and develop the product and also to take these products to retail in various countries around the world. 


PakPassion.net: You mentioned Ireland there and obviously, Pakistan was the first cricket nation that BoomBoom got involved in. Also, we have seen you spread your wings to Afghanistan and Kenya as well. You must be proud of the fact that you have got 4 international teams on board now and possibly looking at other opportunities as well?

Paul Nash: Yes, very much so. It’s a testament to the strength of the brand basically. The brand has grown quite strongly over the past 18 months – we must bear in mind that the brand is only around 2 years old. We could well go into the T20 World Cup in Sri Lanka next year with more teams wearing BoomBoom than those wearing Nike, or Adidas, or any other cricket brand. We will have at least 4 teams, provided they qualify which they should and you are absolutely right, we are currently talking to 3 or 4 other national organizations. It is our policy to work with national organizations around the world where this will not only benefit ourselves but the country in question and the development of cricket within those countries. 


PakPassion.net: Paul, concerning the players that you have taken on board-obviously Shahid Afridi is well-known to everybody and the likes of Umar Gul and Abdul Razzaq are names that all Pakistani fans know. It's now noticeable that you are signing up a lot of non-Pakistani players as well. Perhaps you could mention some of the names and why you have spread into the non-Pakistani market?

Paul Nash: Well, it is a strategic decision really. It was noticeable that the brand of BoomBoom was going to grow; there was no question about that. The brand was inextricably linked with the Pakistan Cricket Board and with Pakistani players, and the facts that both Ali Ehsan and Zahid Soorty who own the brand, the label and all the rights to the name BoomBoom, obviously originate from Pakistan.

We needed to, if you like, take the influence away from Pakistan because we wanted to globalize the brand. I was approached by “All out cricket” to do a piece about the emerging Asian brands and I refused to do it because we didn’t classify ourselves as an Asian brand, we classified ourselves as a global brand. To become a global brand, you have to have the brand visible in various countries, and have to have players from those countries on board with you and that was the strategic decision we made. 

Therefore, from March, we started to develop a portfolio of players, to take us away from the Asian continent if you like. We have started to work with various players and have recently signed Jade Dernbach from England who has come on to the scene in the last couple of months. He had some great bowling figures against India and Sri Lanka in his opening games. So we needed that for the UK market and we are also in discussion with, a major England Test player. 

We have also signed Stephen Murdoch from New Zealand, who is an opening bat on the edge of The Black Caps’ national squad, and it looks as if he may get into the squad for the next season. We also have Hamish Marshall, who has been with us for a number of years and is a nationalized Irish but he emanates from New Zealand.

Then, there is Ryan Butterworth from Zimbabwe. It is important for us to get into the African countries as well and while Ali and I were in South Africa, we were talking with CSA (Cricket South Africa) with a view to signing at least 1 or 2 up-and-coming young South African players because we believe that is important as well. We are talking, potentially, with a top ex-South African player, to front for us over there and we had a meeting with Ali Bacher to develop cricket in the community. 

It is important for us to grow and develop the brand in different countries with various players and as we signed Ireland, we decided that it was important for us to have players representing Ireland using the products as well as using the kit. So we have signed up Trent Johnston, John Mooney and we've also got Nigel Jones, and to complete the picture in Ireland, we have recently signed Clare Shillington the highest capped Irish player in women’s cricket with just over 88 caps. So we are trying our hardest to globalize the brand and that we believe is very important.. 


PakPassion.net: Your latest signing Paul, being that of Mudassar Bukhari from Netherlands? 

Paul Nash: Of course.This is partially down to you Saj as you identified Mudassar as a good player who you had been in contact with. You very kindly put him our way. We have been in communication with Mudassar during the week and I can confirm that we completed the signing of Mudassar who is an all-rounder for the Netherlands. That’s due to you and PakPassion.net, so we thank you for that.


PakPassion.net: You’re welcome Paul. Paul, you also have some ex-players on board as well, some of whom you list among your contacts so to speak; guys like Asif Iqbal and Desmond Haynes. Can you just elaborate as to what their roles are please? 

Paul Nash: Yes, sure. The roles are quite varying to some extent. Desmond obviously, is one of the top names we have on board. Desmond will be acting for us on several fronts: He will be writing blogs and giving us insight on what it was like in the dressing room - as it was in his day and, he will also be fronting our distribution arm in the West Indies and possibly, in the U.S as well. 

We will also be asking him to get involved in the academy structure which we will come onto a little bit later on. So, the role for Desmond is quite an encompassing one. We have had several meetings with Des now and he is very keen to come on board. Since he is also, as you are probably aware, the Head Coach/Team Manager of Barbados, He is also identifying talent for us from the West Indies. To this end, we have signed 5 players from the Barbados side and 2 or 3 of those are earmarked to represent the West Indies within the next 12-18 months. So Desmond has been an integral part of what we are developing in that part of the world. 

With the likes of Asif Iqbal, Moin Khan and several other key internationals, we are looking to work with them in different ways. One being that they can act as potential distributors in various parts of the world and also, with regards to our academy structure which is important to the charitable side of our business, they will become ambassadors for the brand. Also, we are hoping that [although nothing is confirmed] we can work with someone of a particular standing in South Africa. 


PakPassion.net: Paul you mentioned about the academies and I am sure that everyone who will be reading this interview will be hugely interested in how you will set up these academies, where they will be, and other aspects as relating to this structure. How can the youngsters who are reading this interview and are trying to get into Club cricket or County cricket, how can they get into your academies? 

Paul Nash: Well, I will start off by saying that the academy structure is being born out of an idea that Ali Ehsan along with Zahid, have had through a charitable viewpoint. The intent is to open cricket academies in certain underprivileged parts of the world where we operate; and this means that we will use cricket as a fundamental source of involvement. Sport for Life, which is an ICC registered charity, will have 2 or 3 rooms allotted to them in the academy and they will put in their IT equipment such as monitors, machines etc.and they will organize teaching for IT skills, life skills, maths, languages, and they will look to give a better quality of life to those who are less fortunate than us.

What we are doing is trying to bring this under the umbrella of a cricket academy because we believe there are very, very good young cricketers out there who, because they are potentially from underprivileged backgrounds, do not get the opportunity to be seen. And as mentioned, coming from the charitable side of the business, we will help fund with Sport for Life these particular academies, using top coaches who are going into these academies. Also, it will not be just underprivileged but privileged children as well who will have an opportunity to go into these academies, progress, and then they will naturally be filtered off by the various cricket associations into their own structures. 

We wanted to create something at that base-level, at that grassroots level, where youngsters feel that they can express themselves and get into playing cricket. Cricket is changing; you know the whole game of cricket is changing. If we look at tape-ball out in Pakistan, it is a fabulous game as I have been introduced to it. So we are trying to bring the format of that into thet UK by setting up some form of competition, like BoomBoom tape-ball competition, and having a tape-ball competitions in various areas around the UK, eventually culminating into a national tournament .

If you think about the way tape-ball is played Saj, and if you then look at the way T20 is played, there is not a huge amount of difference. You can get players in there, get after the ball, and try to play with freedom - which is why we use the tagline “Freedom to Play” - to get out there play, and express yourself. Cricket is changing and the style of cricket is changing. So we want to be at the forefront with the academies of being able to coach that slightly different style of cricket. Now we are not going to abandon the normal form-get the elbow up and play with a straight bat, as that’s the purest game and we will teach that. However, the bare form of the game at the base-level is what we want to get involved with [and get the kids involved]. Then, we can build them and by coaching them properly, we can create [if you like] a funnel of players who will then be able to go on and represent their countries. In this way, we can give them an opportunity and also give them life skills, the maths, the English, IT, and just general involvement and caring; and to be able to do something for them at the very start of their lives. 


PakPassion.net: Any specific locations which you have thought of with regards to these academies? 

Paul Nash: Yes, at the moment Sport for Life operates - 3 or 4 in Barbados – in which we are involved in. There is also a pilot project in Mirpur, Pakistan and we are planning at least another 3-4 over there. We are also looking at the possibility of operating in India. We have already as part of our contact with Cricket Ireland, identified 3 sites there where we will operate. I have also been in touch with Zimbabwe. 
Then of course we are not forgetting the UK. We are probably less underprivileged than the rest of the world, but we still feel that the need for an academy here. We're talking with a couple of people at the moment with a view to developing a cricket academy here. We're less well advanced with that than we are in the rest of the world.


PakPassion.net: Coming onto the Boom Boom Equipment range. Are we going to see some new products and are we going to see some variations in price perhaps as well? 

Paul Nash: Yes we are and its a good point you make there. We entered the market about 18 months ago but we haven't necessarily put a lot of products into the marketplace. We opened up with 3 models of bats to start with in various options. We came in with the Signature bat, which most of our players play with. It has the high spine down to the toe which is quite unique. We also have the Blaze, which is a very similar sort of shape to the Signature, but less defined scoops in the back, still with the high spine thick edges. Then there is the Accelerator which is the more all round type bat, which most brands have in their range.

With pricing, our belief is that the recession will impact the market next year. So we have introduced and launched [at the Lords Trade Show [September 19, 2011]] with a very good response an additional range of products.We have kept the same three models - 175, 150, 130 which are different grades of English willow in all three shapes – Signature, Blaze and Accelerator and added Signature only bats and taken it down to the 100 model, still English Willow, great pickup, lovely bat. That will retail at 100 pounds. 

We've also introduced the 75 . This will be the very best pick of Kashmir willow. Because once you go below that 100 pounds threshold, you normally get all sorts of potential issues with English willow. It's not what we particularly wanted. We wanted three big looking bats which look nice and are free of any fibreglass sheeting on it. So we've gone with a really nice top quality Kashmir bat with a beautiful pickup – and this will retail at around 50 pounds. We have added one further bat below that, which will is the 50 and that will retail at about 35 pounds. So we have tried to pick up each of the price points that we believe are key. We are not offering a huge range, still only the three options in the Signature, Blaze and Accelerator - But only taking the signature down to 100, 75 and 50, so it keeps it nice and clean.

In terms of the softwear, the pads again we've kept the same. We've slimmed it down a little bit, made it a really tight, compact range. So we've got Signature 175, Blaze 150, Accelerator 130. All same price points as last year. But we've added price points below that so we have now got an absolutely cracking pad at 20 pounds retail - which is the 100. Then we will go one below that, and have a men’s pad, retailing at 15 pounds.


PakPassion.net: When are these new products coming into the market? When are they going to be made available? 

Paul Nash: They as with most products will definitely be available from February-March next year which is the usual time when they come into the marketplace. We are looking to see if we can bring them earlier, prior to Christmas . We may well bring in a small quantity of these products. Certainly the bats will be available. We have already started production of these and we will be starting to come into retailers hopefully prior to Christmas - the pads and gloves as well.

With the gloves, we have kept the same Signature, Blaze and Accelerator 175, 150, 130. And then we've added the 100 at twenty pounds and the 75 at 15 pounds. So we are very mindful of making sure that everyone can get into a Boom Boom product at a price they can afford.

In the past 18 months we haven't done textiles here in the UK before apart from the replica shirts. But we are now adding 3 shirts - One model in a full sleeve and three quarter, which is a technical moisture management shirt and we are offering a technical moisture management shirt with piping to the shoulder and to the sleeves again at very very good prices to match up with trousers and a fleece backed polyester slipover not a traditional cable knit, a more modern fleece back product. 


PakPassion.net: With regards to shirts, are we talking about the white shirts or are we talking about kits available for various club sides around the world? 

Paul Nash: What we have just spoken about is the white/off-white shirts and trousers as that is the big market here in the UK. That’s where we are offering the 3 models of shirts and two trousers and the sleeveless and full sleeve slipovers. We will also have a very unique offering to the club market and this will be available through key outlets. It will be an offer for a club to go to one of our selected outlets which will to choose one of many shirt and trouser designs in their own club colours.. 

If your club colours are yellow, green and blue. You could come in and chose from 1 of 5 models and colour up exactly what panel or what piping colour you want based on your club colours and then as part of the deal add your club crest, your club sponsor and if you really want, names and numbers we will do that as well.


PakPassion.net: Again, Paul, when is this going to be available to the person on the street? 

Paul Nash: In a few weeks time, we will have hopefully most of the retailers in place. We have been talking to some already. Obviously there will be a rollout period to get these guys on board and they will be listed on our website. 

If any of your readers would be interested in looking at that, they can come on and find the retailers near to them. Go in and see what the range is because we will be giving them a full range of samples which will cover not only the playing shirt and playing trousers, but the fleece slipovers which they can colour their own way, the three designs of tracksuit, there will be jackets, rain jackets and trousers, jogging pants, vests and base layers. We have covered everything which we would actually supply to a National squad. If you look at what the Pakistan National team have been playing in against Zimbabwe, you will see the shirt from this collection – so you will be able to have this shirt in your club colours and it will be exactly the same quality as that worn by the test team at very very good prices. The cost also includes your club crest, a sponsor and a name or number so offering exceptionally good value. 


PakPassion.net: With regards to the World Cup shirts, there was an issue with regards to counterfeit shirts. Counterfeit products in general, people putting Boom Boom stickers on other products. What are you doing to resolve these issues? 

Paul Nash: It's a massive problem. We talk about this day in and day out. Just to tell you on this year's World Cup shirts, we know of one outfit which produced one million counterfeit shirts. That's what we know of. So for us it’s a huge problem. As you know Boom Boom is a huge brand in Pakistan and is becoming a big brand globally. And this is becoming a bigger problem for us.

It's something that we have to try to control and it's very very difficult. I know Gunn & Moore have the same problem,as well as Gray Nicholls and Kookaburra with the same issues. Because it’s very easy in India and Pakistan to pick a bat and have a label put on and it looks like one of our bats, one of GM's bats and so on. Of course, the problem is that they don't play the same. Because it has a Boom Boom sticker - it does not mean it will have the Boom Boom quality. 

So we are looking at ways at impregnating the stickers and at ways of electronic tagging or numbering so that you when you buy a Boom Boom bat from an authorised stockist you can register your bat online. And if there is ever a problem with it at some point, it’s on our screen and we know its one of the bats we have supplied.

The thing is its all very well for people being able to buy a bat with a Boom Boom logo on it, but it is detrimental to the brand if it is counterfeit, because they are substandard bats which are being put out at low prices and these bats don't last as long and they certainly don't perform as good. Because we use only the prime English willow at the top end of the range and at the top end of the Kashmiri willow range. So we are very very selective in the wood that we use to make sure that the bats perform to the optimal performance. I know for a fact that it isn't the case with counterfeit. It means that the bats are not prepared, they are not pressed correctly and they are put out cheaply. 

We are looking at various ways at trying to control that. Obviously when we look at the replica products this is an even bigger problem because there are so many factories that can actually produce textiles cheaply and quickly. So we are looking at ways when we introduce the new kits eventually to be able to monitor and restrict the sale of the products around the world.

Discuss!