Star Sports promotes Pro Kabaddi League in eight cities
by EVENTFAQS Bureau | Marketing | August 11, 2014 | News
To promote the ongoing Pro Kabaddi League (PKL), Star Sports, its official broadcaster and central sponsor has decided to undertake a unique mall-based promotion with the services of Everything Goes! Communications (EG). The Star Sports Pro Kabaddi League was launched by Star Sports last month in conjunction with Mashal Sports backed by Anand Mahindra to showcase the new face of kabaddi. The league has opened to a massive response from the sporting fans across India with over 200 million television viewers tuning in to watch the game in the first eight days of its launch.
This promotion is happening in the eight cities where the matches are being played. The nine malls are Oberoi Mall and Viviana Mall in Mumbai, City Centre Mall in Kolkata, DLF Place in Delhi, P&M Mall in Patna, Seasons Mall in Pune, CMR Central in Vizag, Crystal Court in Jaipur and Phoenix Marketcity in Bengaluru. To reintroduce people to the challenging and dynamic game of Kabaddi, an indoor Kabaddi game unit is placed inside malls for people to experience the thrill of the game. Using this unit a team of two participants role play as ‘Raiders' and hit the seven promoters who are ‘Antis'. There are three rounds per game per player, with a time limit of 30 seconds per round. With thumping background music and the emcee cheering the participants, the atmosphere becomes electric. PKL related merchandise is being distributed at the malls to the participants of the game.
Commenting on the initiative, Shubhranshu Singh, Senior Vice President - Marketing, Star Sports, said: "We at Star Sports are committed to revolutionizing sports in the country by making it an integral part of all Indian homes. Kabaddi being an indigenous sport deeply connects with all Indians and by offering this superlative experience, we're confident that people will engage with the game at a much greater level."
Adding further, Lydia Buthello, Senior Vice President - Events, Star India, said: "As kabaddi is a full contact sport, having profound support from people of all age groups, we decided to bring their favourite game closer to them. We're glad to partner EG! to create a meaningfully engaging experience for our audience and are certain that it will add significantly to the recall value of the game and league."
Commenting on the activation, Vjay Dewan, Chief Creative Guardian, Everything Goes! Communications, said: "This is a very exciting opportunity for us to align with Star Sports as well as this truly Indian sport, to help generate buzz for the first ever Pro Kabaddi League. Following the brief of getting people intrigued and drive maximum footfalls in the stadiums, we created this pan-India experiential activation. We are quite certain that just like we had fun creating this spectacle, the sports and shopping patrons are enjoying it too!"
The final of the tournament is all set to kick off in Bengaluru on Aug. 31.
The on-going campaign is being executed by Everything Goes! Communications across nine malls.