The tournament featuring four Indian Premier League (IPL) franchises and T20 teams from other cricketing countries will also be the last time fans will see Sachin Tendulkar, Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Rahul Dravid in action together in an international T20 tournament.
Riding high on the euphoria around this and the popularity of the sport, the broadcasters have been able to rope in a hefty number of advertisers for the tournament. While the title sponsorship lies with Karbonn Smart mobile, along with Karbonn Mobile and Tata Docomo as the co-presenting sponsors. The associate partners include Pernod Ricard, Bharat Business Channel (Videocon D2H), Panasonic and Toshiba India while Karbonn Mobiles, Panasonic, Britannia, Panasonic TV and Jaypee Cements have signed on as on-ground sponsors.
More From This Section
Vijay Rajput, COO, ESPN Software India Pvt Ltd says, “We believe that Karbonn Smart CLT20 offers the best value for advertisers. It is a short and crisp format thereby an advertiser is able to reap benefits of investing in a global level cricket tournament without having to invest huge amount of money.”
In order to promote the tournament, the broadcaster has come up with a four pronged strategy that includes a high decibel marketing campaign, special Hindi presentation, simulcast of first and final match on Star Gold and focus on build up programme.
The marketing campaign is based on the tournament promise – ‘Dekhiye Indian Champions ka saamna ab Duniya ke Champions se’ and rides on a special musical anthem. The campaign is running across electronic as well as digital media and features prominent names from Bollywood to bring the power of passion and emotion of the fans to life. The anthem, ‘Ragad, Ragad’ has been sung by Mika while the music has been composed by Shantanu Moitra and ad man and lyricist Prasoon Joshi has penned the lyrics. It is based on the ‘Abol Tabol’ genre of music which originates from West Bengal literally meaning weird and random.
Rajput observes, “Global properties across sporting categories have adopted musical identities to establish a strong connect with their fan base. This campaign rides on high octane music, stunning visuals at a scale never done before to create clutter. We are confident that this disruptive route will garner attention nationally and help build up a marquee event like Karbonn Smart CLT20. Mika Singh will also perform at the opening ceremony of the league in Jaipur on September 21st.”
Prasoon Joshi, Executive Chairman and Chief Creative Officer McCann Worldgroup India said, “Champions League is a unique property of Star Sports and Ragad Ragad concept is an attempt to create excitement around it through a very underground mukabala feel musically and cinematically, it has an infectious quality to it.”
Singer Mika Singh, said, “I am honored to be a part of this beautiful concept. To have sung the anthem for a global sporting property like Karbonn Smart CLT20. I am a huge fan of cricket and this is the first time that I am associating with this beautiful game which is no less than a religion in our country.”
As part of its strategy, Star Sports has also invested on building strong Karbonn Smart CLT20 centric programming in the run-up to the league with its flagship cricket show – Champions Ka Champion is acting as the vehicle to build up Karbonn Smart CLT20 and educate people about all the teams participating in the league.
As an extension of its aim of promoting multi-lingual content, there will be a special Hindi presentation for Karbonn Smart Champions League Twenty20 in addition to English commentary. STAR Cricket will showcase the tournament with Hindi commentary while STAR Sports and STAR Cricket HD will showcase the tournament in English. The presentation on Star Gold will also be in Hindi to generate interest among Hindi male audiences.