Online & mobile marketing has become the focal consumer touch-point for all IPL matches.

The Indian Premier League (IPL) tournament may have been moved away from Indian shores, but fans can still cosy up to their computers and be close to their teams.

The Shahrukh Khan-owned Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) team takes the cake as far as digital promotions are concerned. Completely revamped, the KKR’s official website (www.kkr.in) features a ‘Jeetbo Re’ musical jigsaw based on the team’s anthem.

Participants have to listen to the KKR anthem and then assemble the jumbled sound tracks in the proper order to win themselves surprise gifts. KKR has also tied up with Zapak.com to come up with some exclusive games for its fans. According to Zapak’s CEO Rohit Sharma, the traffic on the site almost doubles during the IPL tournament.

“Last year, we managed to get nearly 200,000 hits on our games and we expect the number to double this year,” he says. The games on Zapak are free of cost and one simply needs to register to log in and start playing them. KKR’s site has also uploaded a few games for its young fans.

In the first edition of the IPL, most of the teams had created an official website that offered downloads, forums and communities for fans to interact.

But, this time around, there is a marketing blitzkrieg to draw fans to websites. Apart from giving a chance for the consumers to take part in various contests, most of the teams have roped in star players to blog on the websites so that the fans can read the opinions of players, coaches and even the owners.

For instance, GMR-owned Delhi Daredevils has partnered with BigAdda.com, the social networking site from Reliance ADA Group, as well as SMSGupShup.com, a mobile advertising firm. The team’s fans can avail of exclusive videos, images as well as blogs written by players such as Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir.

Not to be left behind, the Kings XI Punjab’s official site (www.kxip.in) offers fans various merchandise like trumpets, car flags, badges, mugs and caps. There’s even a ‘lassi da glass’ for Rs 99. According to the team’s spokesperson, the idea is to create a sense of connect with the fans. Chennai Super Kings’ site has priced its merchandise quite affordably between Rs 50 and Rs 300 for caps, T-shirts and wrist bands. Vijay Mallya’s Royal Challengers team has roped in MSN as its online partner and, among other things, they are also offering a personalised Royal Challengers email address to fans.

Fans of Rajasthan Royals can also look forward to some steeply priced merchandise on the team’s website, www.rajasthanroyals.com. The site is retailing a T-shirt at around Rs 2,475 and an autographed bat for around Rs 5,500, among other goodies.

The team’s international fans will have to shell out a whopping $1,100 for an autographed bat, apart from several other pricey memorabilia. Rajasthan Royals, having beefed up its website, is now promoting a special gaming zone where one can log in and play games. Raghu Iyer, the team’s marketing officer, says that the online medium is something which the franchise is looking at in a big way. “We want our fans to be better connected with the team and, hopefully, our online initiatives would do exactly that,” he says.
 

If you don’t want to pinch your pockets too much, then telecom operator Aircel has the right answer. The telco has launched an online game called the Indian Fantasy League, where users can log in and create their own fantasy team with real life players.

Points are garnered according to players’ actual on-ground performances. A total of nine brands – including Yamaha, Parx and DishTV – would be doling out an array of prizes to winners. The fantasy league website has many mini contests running as well where you can predict the man of the match or write blogs to win prizes. According to Hungama Mobile’s CEO Neeraj Roy, teams have to offer more than “just wallpapers and screensavers” to engage online users. “Most teams have realised that and, hence, we are seeing them indulging in online activities,” he says.

For instance, the KKR’s site has a new section, called SRK blog, which will be authored by team owner Shahrukh Khan.

Most of the teams have also created communities on social networking sites like Facebook, Orkut and Twitter. As Hungama’s Roy says, with consumer-connect limited on platforms like TV, the digital medium becomes the ideal platform to connect with the fans.

And it looks like they are going all the way to do so.

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