Oxigen draws up a match plan

The company is going digital first with its campaign for the upcoming New Zealand-India test series

Payment solutions company Oxigen has chalked out a digital first campaign for the upcoming New Zealand tour of India. Like rival PayTm, the company is betting big on sports stars and sporting events to spread awareness about its brand, but by using its brand ambassadors and sponsorship events differently, it is attempting to carve out a different space for itself in the consumer's universe.

Oxigen has batting legend Sachin Tendulkar as brand ambassador for its mobile wallet and it also sponsors the South African and New Zealand teams. By doing this, the company has aligned itself more closely with the sport rather than a particular team or nationality say industry experts. Secondly, unlike its peer PayTm, Oxigen's advertising, is skewed towards digital.

In earlier campaigns too Oxigen has been more active on digital and with on-ground sponsorships. TV campaigns have been few and far in between. Given that it is looking to establish itself as a mass -market brand where the reach of television still beats other media, some have questioned its strategy. "With digital, we have flexibility in terms of immediacy and targeting," says Meher Sarid, group president, corporate affairs, HR, brand and marketing at Oxigen. But the company is flexible about its media plans and says that any campaign that needs reach will have a TV component. "So anything we use Sachin in, will have a TVC. That is a brand building exercise. For customer acquisition, we find digital is more effective," says Sarid.

The digital medium is more effective in reaching out to young customers the company believes. "We want to target the 18-35 age-group and digital provides good traction. Most of the people in this age group spend their lives on mobile and digital provides an avenue for engagement with this TG, unlike TV which tends to be linear," says Sarid.

For the upcoming New Zealand-India test series, Oxigen will stick with a digital campaign, an extension of the 'Play the host' initiative that it had launched during the South Africa-India test series. The campaign asks Indian cricket fans to pitch for a chance to host the team. The company said that the first season of its campaign was hugely successful and this time around, it hopes to further expand the user base, which it estimates at 25 million. Oxigen aims to increase its market share by 10 per cent, in other words, aims to add 2.5 million new users.

The campaign is being closely managed in terms of the websites and Internet channels to be used to spread the word. While sports and video portals, apps and websites like Hotstar, Cricbuzz and Youtube are obvious choices, the company is also advertising on entertainment sites, specifically those with Bollywood content. Interestingly, many brands are using entertainment and sports as a two-wheeled ride in the digital space, especially since the IPL brought down the walls between the two.

"The A, B and C of India - astrology, Bollywood and cricket were the three choices open for communication. Astrology, which is very popular in the country, does not make for a brand fit whatsoever in our case. So we are left with Bollywood and cricket. With Bollywood celebrities, we found the risk of a controversy was higher (than with cricketers) and so we opted to take the cricket route, roping in Sachin and tying up with team South Africa and New Zealand," says Sarid.

The company will also focus on cinema advertising. It has tied up with 123 screens in what it calls India 2, to popularise the current campaign. The commercials will see 'Wikki', a colorful animated bird with Punjabi accent, giving lessons to the New Zealand cricket players and the company plans to patent the animated character and use it in its future campaigns as well.

Does the brand run the risk of portraying itself as an anti-national brand by sponsoring a rival team? Sarid is quick to answer, "We have not mixed the game with the campaign. We are not saying who should win. Of course we want India to win, against any country. Our campaign focuses on the 'Athiti Devo Bhava' aspect of Indian culture. We are talking about entertaining guests of our nation. Like I said before, it is an engagement and customer acquisition exercise and we feel this way, we can get the most out of associating with cricket."

Brand experts agree with Oxigen. They point to the use of foreign players endorsing an Indian brand and how that does not hamper the 'Indian-ness' of a label. Prahlad Kakkar, in fact, believes brand can gain from such associations as the visibility and awareness that some of these players can drive, especially while playing against the home team, is enormous. "Just imagine if Don Bradman or Viv Richards had endorsed a brand back in the day. Imagine the visibility a brand would have gained by that. Moreover, the current international players will be more than willing to take up endorsement projects since in their home countries, the fad for cricket endorsers is not so much as it is here. On the other hand, brands may have to shell out less for them (the foreign players) than they would for an established player in the Indian squad, almost half," he says. Well to paraphrase a familiar adage, all is fair in love, sports and business.