Playing the field

The IPL has not even begun, but the excitement on the small screen and radio is hard to ignore.

Having finished her college exams a couple of months ago, 19-year-old Samyukta Surendra was planning to hang out at cafes, shopping malls and multiplexes during her vacations. Today, instead, she’s packing her bags for South Africa. Along with five other girls, Surendra is going to be a cheerleader for the Kolkata Knight Riders, superstar Shah Rukh Khan’s team in the Indian Premier League (IPL).

She participated in Knights and Angels, a reality show on NDTV Imagine on which the cheerleaders for Khan’s IPL team were selected. “We had an excruciating schedule for a month, training under Shiamak Davar, working out rigorously and shooting long hours for the show,” she grins, happy that she’ll cheer for her team (in a Manish Malhotra outfit) in South Africa. “It’s a nice, paid vacation. It will be hectic but I’ll enjoy myself.”

 

Her colleague, Samyukta Hiroo, a former airhostess with one of the leading private airlines, is also looking forward to cheering for the Knight Riders team but admits that she’s disappointed that the venue of the event has changed. “Cheerleading is a new concept in India and is also looked down upon, as was evident in last year’s IPL. But we’ve been specially trained to cheer for our team. So, in that sense, we hope to be more than just eye candy for the crowds,” she says.

Also excited about going to South Africa is Jaya Anand, a student from Jaipur who was recently crowned the Rajasthan Royals Diva through a website contest. Ask her what the title means and she chirps, “I am the face of Rajasthan Royals.” She adds, “I haven’t met Shilpa Shetty personally but I know that she was happy with my profile and selected me,” says Anand who will be promoting on-ground activities in India related to the team.

Confirms Utkarsh Singh, head (business development), Rajasthan Royals, “If we do a repeat performance of last year and emerge as winners once again, we’ll surely take Anand to South Africa to cheer for the team.” That apart, the marketing team has already done a music video, Halla Bol, that’s running on TV channels. Another DVD on the team will release all over India, on the eve of IPL.

Also on the agenda is a strategic alliance with the Nashua Cape Cobras team against which the Rajasthan Royals will play a warm-up, friendly match that will be aired in India too. “Director Bobby Bedi was doing a film in which the Rajasthan Royals were to make an appearance. That’s on hold now,” says Singh. In addition, she confirms, the team will be tying up with local South African brands to promote the Rajasthan Royals in Johannesburg. “We’ll have a special Rajasthan Royals enclosure and some lucky fans will get to interact with the team,”says Singh.

The entire IPL frenzy, especially as it allows so many individuals to get up, close and personal with players, reminds one of The Zoya Factor, advertising professional-turned-author Anuja Chauhan’s debut novel, centred on the theme of cricket, in which a Delhi girl from Karol Bagh becomes a “lucky mascot” of sorts for Team India. Serenading as lucky mascots tomorrow in Delhi’s The Lalit hotel will be Raghav, Niharika and Utkarsh, children who have been selected through radio station Fever 104, to apply tilak and garland the Delhi Daredevils and send them off to South Africa.

In fact, being an exclusive partner for the Delhi Daredevils team has allowed Fever FM to create a host of activities which allow listeners to get closer to the team members. “On Monday morning, our regular breakfast show will be a slice of reality on radio. Our RJ will inform listeners constantly about the team members’ movement. They will be travelling in a vehicle and alighting at different locations in Delhi, where some listeners will get a chance to ‘bring home’ their favourite cricketing stars,” says Gouri Satyamoorthy Kapre, national marketing and promotions head, Fever FM.

In an effort to bring many people close to the players, the lucky winner of one of the contests will host a show with his or her favourite Delhi Daredevils cricketer (“It will be through a link-up between a Virgin studio in South Africa and our studio in New Delhi,” clarifies Kapre) while another contest will see 11 people attending some of the matches in South Africa. There’s also a contest where one lucky person will take home a Hero Honda bike signed by the players. There are also plans to send an RJ to South Africa.

On Sony, a special series called Comedy 20:20 will have TV stars pull out all the stops to create gags centred on IPL 2009. SET MAX, the official broadcaster of IPL 2009, has already rolled out its Ek Desh, Ek Junoon campaign on various channels. “We’ll soon have interesting contests too,” confirms Gaurav Seth, vice president, marketing, MAX.

Radio stations are going all out to bring home the excitement of IPL. “We will choose one person to travel to South Africa and get us all the locker-room gossip,” says Tapas Sen, chief programming officer, Radio Mirchi. Isn’t that difficult? “Yes, but that’s what’s exciting. One lucky person will travel to South Africa and, while enjoying the matches, get all the news that the cameras won’t capture,” he adds.

And this is just the beginning of IPL 2009.