MxMIndia

Category: Digital

  • UTV Indiagames has announced its ‘WorldCup Cricket Fever’ for the iOS platform, providing cricket lovers and gamers with one more reason to stay glued to the small screen.

    UTV Indiagames launches cricket games on iPhone, iPad

    By A Correspondent

     

    Gaming company UTV Indiagames has announced the launch of ‘WorldCup Cricket Fever’ for the iOS platform. WorldCup Cricket Fever is the first ever game to have special responsive and intuitive touch controls which provide a cricketing experience with ‘as good as real’ shots on the iPhone &iPad.

     

    With vibrant graphics, outstanding visuals and ultra-realistic animation, the game offers a cinematic experience with TV broadcast style-cameras.

     

    Speaking on the launch of WorldCup Cricket Fever, Vishal Gondal, CEO, UTV Indiagames said, “UTV Indiagames has always churned out the best of cricket games in the country. WorldCup Cricket Fever is the first ever cricket game developed with motion capture animation. This technology will give the user a ‘real’ experience of the sport with a wide variety in batting and bowling options. This cricket season, with a host of cricket games available, this game will surely stand out in terms of gameplay, graphics, precision and sound.”

     

    There are three game modes to choose from – Quick Match, Power Play and World Cup Championship. The game includes 14 teams, 6 stadiums (with day/night option) and three difficulty modes – which can all be customized.

     

    WorldCup Cricket Fever will soon be available on the Android, Windows and Java platforms as well.

     

  • In order facilitate transformation to digital cable system, TRAI identified certain key issues that need to be determined

    TRAI issues consultation paper on digital cable

    By A Correspondent

     

    The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on Thursday released a consultation paper on “Issues related to Implementation of Digital Addressable Cable TV Systems”.

     

    The analog cable TV service, which caters to around 94 million households, has been a roadblock in exploiting the full potential of the sector. Keeping this in mind and in consultation with all the stakeholders, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India had recommended to the government complete digitization with addressability of the Cable TV services, in a phased manner in August, 2010.

     

    After the Parliament passed the Bill to amend the Cable TV Act paving the way for the digitization programme, in order facilitate transformation to digital cable system, TRAI identified certain key issues that need to be determined. These issues pertain to:

    • Composition and Tariff of Basic Service Tier (BST)
    • Retail Tariff
    • Prepaid billing
    • Interconnection issues
    • Revenue share between MSOs and LCOs
    • Quality of Service Standards
    • Redressal of Consumer Complaints

     

     

    Some of the key issues raised by TRAI in the consultation paper concern:

    • The minimum number of free-to-air (FTA) channels that a cable operator should offer in the basic-service-tier (BST). TRAI has also demanded for the genre-wise (entertainment, information, education etc) mix of channels in a BST?
    • If the retail tariff is to be determined by TRAI or left to the market forces? If it is to be determined by TRAI, how should it be determined?
    • The subscription revenue share between the MSO and LCO and if it is to be prescribed by TRAI what should be the revenue share.
    • Whether an ad-free channel is viable in the context of Indian television market?
    • The responsibility for ensuring the standards of quality of service provided to the consumers with respect to connection, disconnection, transfer, shifting, handling of complaints relating to no signal, set top box, billing etc. and redressal of consumer grievances.
    • The impact on the wholesale channel rates after the sunset date i.e 31st Dec 2014, when the non-addressable systems would cease to exist.

     

     

    The full text of the Consultation Paper is available on TRAI’s website (www.trai.gov.in). TRAI has invited written comments on the issues raised in this consultation paper from the stakeholders by 16th January, 2012, and counter-comments on the comments by 23rd January, 2012.

     

    The comments and counter-comments may be sent to Mr Wasi Ahmad, Advisor (B&CS) at: advbcs@trai.gov.in or traicable@yahoo.co.in.

  • Far from being a casual youth-centric online hangout place, Facebook is increasingly becoming the focal point for all things digital, including businesses, writes Hareesh Tibrewala.

    Comment: Is Facebook the new centre of the digi universe?

    By Hareesh Tibrewala

     

    Legend has it that the digital universe, as we know of it today, evolved from ARPANeT. And a lot of websites, portals, directory sites and search engines lay claim to the ownership of this digital universe in its early days, until Google came along and put a method to the madness. It became the de-facto gate-keeper of this world. If Google did not know of you, for all practical purposes, you were just some digital litter in some corner of this universe!

     

    For the past few years, Facebook is challenging Google’s role as the gate-keeper of this universe. Already the total number of minutes spent on Facebook by netizens equals the number of minutes spent on Google. And Facebook’s understanding of relationships, and of likes and dislikes in the cyberworld is by far deeper than what Google can ever achieve.

     

    And now, with the launch of “Timeline” feature for brand pages, Facebook is signalling perhaps its strongest intent to move to the centre of this digital universe. Here are some interesting features that implementation of timeline gives to brands:

     

    Brand pages on Facebook are now no longer pages, they actually become a brand website anchored in Facebook.

     

    The new timeline feature gives huge real estate on the brand Facebook page, for a brand to communicate its message. Once upon the time, the only real estate that the brand had was a very small display picture (DP) and a small left hand aligned banner. Pretty much all Facebook pages looked the same!

     

    But now there is a complete masthead that stands out and fills almost 1/3rd of the screen, all of it screaming ‘brand’. We will see very creative uses of this real estate, in time to come, which will enable brands to communicate their differentiation to the audience.

     

    Brands can pin a story of their choice to the top of the fan page, thereby ensuring that page visitors definitely view that story. Again some more opportunity for brand communication Fans always had the facility to communicate with the brand using the wall. But this was a one-to-all kind of communication. Now a fan can send a message to the page and do a one-on-one communication, almost like a “contact us” kind of communication.

     

    With the entire tab navigation now moving prominently to the masthead, and with a compressed drop-down list, a brand can create a complete website with these tabs (with individual tabs for about us, products, services, testimonials etc).

     

    So now a brand can have its complete digital presence as well as its community… both at one place. And as more and more of us depend on ‘referral’ based inputs for our decision making process, rather than ‘information’ driven inputs (that Google offers), we might see both consumers and brands finding the Facebook eco-system more conducive than the current Google dominated ecosystem.

     

    So is www.mybusiness.com now passe and www.facebook.com/mybusiness the new norm? And is Facebook now going to be the new centre of the digital universe? What is your opinion?

     

    Hareesh Tibrewala is Joint CeO, Social Wavelength.

     

  • The Times Internet CEO tells MxMIndia that indiatimes.com plans to take its IPL tieup to more interactive lengths in the 2012 season.

    IPL 5: Indiatimes to make experience better: Rishi Khiani

    [youtube width=”400″ height=”200″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NTWC38mFJB0[/youtube]

    By Shruti Pushkarna

     

    The Indian Premier League (IPL) has signed up with indiatimes.com to be its official online broadcaster for IPL 2012. Addressing the media in New Delhi, Rishi Khiani, CEO, Times Internet Limited shared the enthralling online cricket experience indiatimes.com is set to roll out with its unique new features this year. This is indiatimes’ second IPL season as official online broadcaster.

     

    Mr Khiani shared the new product features that have been added to enrich the viewers’ experience this season. Citing the differentiating factors from last year, he said, “We have taken a lot of social features that we played with last year and the Facebook integration that we did last year and moved to a whole new level. We’ve got something called the IPL Battle Ground which is a far more community driven game-ified version of the Facebook chat that we had last year. So the whole community element is a big differentiator. We have taken the offline experience of watching cricket with friends and made it even more interactive. We have added far more features to the player this season. We have added cue points and a video scorecard below the player. Another functionality that has been built into the player this year is the DVR, Digital Video Recording, this allows you to go back in time to watch something you have missed.”

     

    Indiatimes observed a 79 percent increase in viewership in India last season, and is expecting a similar increase this season as well. Statistics suggest an equal split between the male and female viewership ratio online. To make this season bigger and better, certain innovations have been made to add to the wholesome IPL experience. The homepage is designed in a way that it has everything in and around IPL which makes it in a way, ‘destination IPL’, with all the touch points of IPL in one place. Other innovations include an interactive scorecard, DVR, a high definition video player and a Video on Demand (VOD) section. The VOD page will have a lot of editorial packaging in the form of celebrity moments in the match, fun moments in the match, packages of all Fours or all Sixes and so on. Some of the other content features that have been added this year are, latest tweets, Match key moments, Fun Facts, Player interviews, Pre-match shows and TOI RSS feeds.

     

    Addressing a concern on connectivity issues while viewing live feed online, Mr Khiani said, “The video player is built in with an adaptive streaming as per network availability. We have created a stream that would work for broadband connection but also work really well for people who have narrowband connections, so connectivity shouldn’t be an issue.”

     

    Mr Khiani also said that their idea is to create a 360 degree experience, a holistic experience which is something that TV cannot create. Indiatimes has partnered with All India Radio (AIR) for IPL commentary, so all cricket fans can tune into AIR to listen to commentary of IPL. The commentary will also be available on an IVR which will have the advantage of giving a recap of sorts every time one dials in.

     

    Mr Khiani stated that the total spends for this season would amount to around $6 million. Talking about the overall investment this year, Mr Khiani said, “We will probably spend less this year in marketing because last year it was just ten days before the tournament and we had to make sure that we got all eyeballs onto the site, but this year we know what works and what doesn’t work. We have a community base that’s already been built up last year that we can do some sort of targeting to. So the costs have actually come down in terms of marketing.” In terms of revenue, he said that a 40 percent increase has already been recorded from last year and they are expected to break even this year.

     

    Sponsors for this year who have already signed up include Coke, Samsung and Maruti as presenting sponsors. Out of these, Maruti and Samsung are repeat sponsors from last year. HUL and Hero have signed up as the co sponsors for this season, again both are repeat sponsors from last season. Sponsors under the New Partner Categories include, E Bay, Kotak Mahindra bank, Citi Bank and Karbonn Mobiles.

     

    Mr Khiani said that Indiatimes has observed a clear growth in terms of both page views and monetization through the sponsors. He also said that a tournament like IPL has a ‘halo effect’ in terms of returns on investment. He said, “The halo effect is something that we see not just from current monetization this season but from annual deals we do, like the video inventory that we sell. We also introduce new formats for potential advertisers who then get introduced to the Times Network and once they are introduced to the Times Network and they have seen return on investment, they are bound to advertise with us. We’ve seen them advertise with us through the year. So that halo effect kicks in. So in terms of monetization, it is a good investment and in terms of the brand association with IPL and the halo effect, it’s even better.”

     

  • Nets the entire creative communication mandate, acquires the business in a multi-agency pitch

    Cheil Worldwide South West Asia bags Net4

    By A Correspondent

     

    Cheil Worldwide South West Asia has been awarded the complete creative mandate for Net4 India Ltd, India’s leading data centre, cloud hosting and network services provider, in a multi-agency, creative and digital communication pitch that encompassed strategy; creative and execution plan presentations.

     

    Confirming the news, Alok Agrawal, COO Cheil Worldwide SWAsia, said: “The win is yet another testimony to Cheil’s integrated expertise. We provided a 360-degree solution to the client’s brief. The challenge is to enhance awareness for Net4 and make it a top-of-mind choice in its fields of business. More than just advertising the brand requires active engagement with the consumers to get into their consideration set. At Cheil, we always lay emphasis on ideas that energise people into action. Net4 is one of the earliest Internet companies in India with a solid heritage and proven business models. Our solution focused on building a stronger brand franchise across all segments of a fully integrated communication plan to drive business to Net4.”

     

    Speaking on the appointment of Cheil WW SW Asia as Net4’s creative communication partner, Jasjit Singh Sawhney, Chairman & MD, Net4 said: “Net 4 is a leader in most of its areas of operations, especially Web Services to SMEs. It is the only fully integrated Internet Company providing solutions to businesses of all sizes, across a wide spectrum of technology services. We feel the market for our services is currently highly underpenetrated and is poised for explosive growth. To capitalize on this opportunity, we are embarking on an aggressive marketing plan and floated a brief to identify the right partner to build our brand and image. Cheil’s understanding, clear strategy and impactful creative for Net4 clearly demonstrated superior thinking. We are looking forward to our partnership with Cheil for driving business on the back of a solid brand” Cheil has already begun work with Net4 on its various projects.

     

    CheilIndia has been on an aggressive growth plan over the last two years, almost doubling its size in its employee strength and billings. Significant expansion and growth has been seen particularly in BTL and Digital areas, making Cheil one of the largest fully integrated single agencies inIndia. Cheil set up the agency office inIndia in 2003 with just 12 team members and today has over 85 talented and passionate team members with a never-say-die attitude. Cheil is a truly integrated agency executing some of the largest cross-functional integrated campaigns, providing 360°implementation across all facets of marketing services. Cheil Worldwide Inc isKorea’s largest and one of the world’s leading advertising groups.

     

    Net4 is India’s leading Data Centre, Cloud Hosting and Network Services Provider. It is a NSE & BSE listed business enterprise with consolidated revenues to the tune of R 304 Crores (2010-11). Net4 focuses on providing services to businesses (small, medium and large) and its offerings include Data Centre & Cloud Solutions, Web & Application Services and Network & Systems Headquartered in Noida, Net4 has a PAN India presence with offices in 11 major business cities & an ever-growing clientele which includes 850 Corporate Data Center Customers, 800 Internet Bandwidth customers, 2800 Business VoIP customers, 88,000 hosted websites, 1.2 million business e-mail accounts & over 350,000 registered domain names. Net4 is amongst the largest provider of hosted email, web hosting and domain name registration (www.net4.in) in the Asia-Pacific region.

     

  • Starting early evening before the show was supposed to premier on Colors prime time, a video was seeded through Twitter medium. The campaign took the help of celebrities to seed in the video as a teaser.

    Twitter goes ‘laplap” for Center Fruit

    By A Correspondent

     

    The last evening of the financial year saw the start of something unique in the media space: celebrities using Twitter to seed in a viral video of a TV show which was scheduled later the same evening. The unique thing about it was that it was not only to promote the show tune-in, but to actually create awareness of a branded content segment by Center Fruit in the Mirchi Music Awards.

     

    Perfetti Van Melle India is credited with introducing some catch phrases through their advertising which have gone on to become common lingo amongst the Indian youth. After Center Fresh’s Zubaan Pe Lagaam and Mentos’ Dimaag ki Batti Jala De, this time Indian audiences were witness to something unique for Center Fruit on Mirchi Music Awards which was aired on Colors on Sat-Sun.

     

    Starting early evening before the show was supposed to premier on Colors prime time, a video was seeded through Twitter medium. It was not just a plain seeding. The campaign took the help of celebrities to seed in the video as a teaser. The video had the host of the award show Shaan being interviewed just before he was about to take the stage. In the middle of the interview, the journalist holds up the jar of Center Fruit, and off goes Shaan with his tongue-wagging act. This was similar to what happens in the brand commercial where a singer competing with a tabla player wins the battle when Center Fruit makes the singer go non-stop laplap with his jeebh (tongue).

     

    This was probably the first time a FMCG brand used the Celebrity tweet route to create a teaser online for amplifying a TV show scheduled later in the day. Commenting on the initiative, Sudarshan Saha, Client Leader, Maxus says that the idea came to his team when they saw top trending topics in the evenings in India recently tended to pick up what was being shown on Television. The agency team decided to turn the tables around, and used Twitter to seed in a tease before the show went on air, in this case. Sample this: Sophie Choudhrytweets – Does Darrling Luscious Lopez make your #Jeebhlaplap? or Poonam Pandey tweets -Shaan’s exclusive #jeebhlaplap backstage footage from MMA. Eesha Koppikar tweets -Enjoyed Shaan’s laplap secret. Watch Colors to see what makes Usha Uthup’s #jeebhlaplap.

     

    Perfetti Marketing Director Nikhil Sharma feels that the quality of innovation executed for Center Fruit pushes the benchmark further on how to use multiple mediums, especially Digital along with TV for FMCG brands. He leads marketing mandate for an array of impulse purchase brands in Perfetti, and treats Maxus as a long term partner to drive the growth agenda for his brands.

     

  • Contests2win.com is one of the oldest and most recognized Internet Brands of India

    Rohit Nair is COO of C2W

    By A Correspondent

     

    Contests2win.com India Pvt. Ltd announced the appointment of Rohit Nair as the COO of the company. Previously, Rohit was the co-founder of ‘QuizWorks’ – one of India’s premier quizzing Companies.

     

    Alok Kejriwal, Founder of Contests2win said: “c2w has changed rapidly over the past 12 years. From being a Company set up to replace the Indian ‘contest postcard’, to becoming the first Internet Company from India to set up shop in China, we have come a long way. In this age and time, we see a brand new, global opportunity beckoning us. We own a great brand; have over 2 million registered users; possess over 10,000 pieces of original content, and enjoy blue chip, global brand relationships.”

     

    “Rohit and I have known each other for some time and we both share a common, unique vision for c2w – that will unveil itself in the months to come. I am thrilled to have Rohit on board and believe him to be truly capable of leading c2w into its new chapter of future wins,” he added.

     

    Rohit Nair said: “As an entrepreneur who has built one of India’s leading quiz companies, I am now ready for my next big career challenge. Contests2win provides the ideal platform to demonstrate how consumers and engrossing content can create an unparalleled dimension in engagement. As COO, I assume responsibility of the complete business and will strive to make c2w an outstanding example of how delightful global brands can be built out of India!”

     

    Contests2win.com is one of the oldest and most recognized Internet Brands of India. Best remembered as a Company that created a media industry around contests and prizes, c2w (as the brand is better known) also famously survived the gruesome 1999-2001 Internet meltdown and emerged as a winner. c2w is responsible for introducing almost all the Fortune 500 brands to the Internet in India and making millions of Indian Internet users win prizes ranging from Movie tickets to cars.

     

  • Sports fans can catch all the DLF IPL action real-time on their mobiles even when they are on the move.

    Watch IPL on mobile through Apalya

    Apalya Technologies, specializing in mobile video streaming delivering more than 150 plus million minutes and the leading mobile TV service provider for all telecom service providers will provide exclusive, mobile, video streaming for all the matches of the 5th edition of the IPL. This will be the 4th consecutive year for Apalya for IPL Streaming.

     

    Apalya Technologies, this year again, through its platform will enable sports fans to catch all the DLF IPL action real-time on their mobiles even when they are ‘on-the-move’. Subscribers will be able to watch it on the mobile through their existing mobile service providers, as Apalya has tied-up with all the leading telecom partners in India to enable the DLF IPL Mobile stream on the existing Mobile TV service. To avail this, subscribers can SMS TV to 58888.

     

    Speaking about this alliance, Vamshi Krishna Reddy, Co-founder & CEO, Apalya Technologies said, “We are happy to announce that we are yet again the Official Mobile Streaming Partner for IPL 2012.  This year we aim to cross 10 million subscribers with IPL V and expect the viewing minutes to more than double. Thanks to the evolving 3G network, better and stable 2.5G network coupled with advanced smart phone proliferation in the market, mobile TV has been a big success among consumers who are always on the go.”

     

    With emerging technologies and growing mobile video viewing habits, India records over 200 million video views a month on mobile devices and Apalya is all set to capitalize the opportunity to tap the interest of the youth, allowing them mobile video viewing for various popular events. During the World Cup season in April 2011, Apalya generated 17 TB of streaming and with close to 50 minutes of usage per user for the 6 matches India played. Currently, Apalya powers mobile TV for all the major telecom service providers in India and has also launched its services with leading operators in Sri Lanka & Indonesia.

     

  • Bollywood music channel 9XM has crossed the 1 million fans milestone on the channel's Facebook community.

    A million Likes on 9XM Facebook page

    By A Correspondent

     

    Bollywood music channel 9XM has crossed the 1 million fans milestone on the channel’s Facebook community – www.facebook.com/9xm.in. The winning combination of super-hit Bollywood music, humour, animation, e-commerce and innovative content has catapulted 9XM to the 1 million fans club on Facebook.

     

    The colossal fan base on 9XM’s Facebook Community was achieved in just over a year’s time, by making it the one-stop destination for Bollywood news, humor and gossip presented in the true 9XM style. From the latest movie reviews to hot gossips on film stars and their parties to Bollywood fashion – it’s all there on the 9XM Facebook Community. The fans regularly voice their opinions, likes and dislikes on all the happenings in Bollywood, making the page the most preferred Bollywood hangout.

     

    Commenting on the achievement, Ms. Vibha Gosher VP-Digital 9X Media Group said “We are extremely thrilled to get over a million thumps ups from Bollywood Music Fans on 9XM’s Community on Facebook. Besides the 1 Million Fans that we have on the page, 9XM is showing unprecedented buzz amongst users. While all the Indian music channels on Facebook see 2-3% average level of buzz, 9XM sees more than 9%. When we talk about the engagement and user’s interest in the brand, 9XM towers above the others in the genre. The content on the 9XM community is 16% ‘Share-able’, whereas the top performing brands on this space have merely 10-13% viability. It produces minimum 1 mention every 22 minutes about the brand on the internet ecosystem. This is extremely motivating and reaffirms our commitment to connect and engage with our viewers and fans across all possible platforms.”

     

    9XM, the flagship channel of 9X Media Pvt. Ltd has a robust digital presence in India and has introduced many innovative concepts on the internet. 9XM is India’s first Music Channel to stream its content live on its website – www.9xm.in – and is available across various mobile TV platforms.

     

    In the recent past, 9XM in partnership with Hungama.com, has launched an online Bollywood Music Store – ‘9XM.Hungama.com’ and 9XM Radio – the on-the-move radio for Bollywood Songs, Celebrity interviews, Bade& Chote’s Bakwaas, etc. These services are available on web, WAP and IVR platforms.

     

    9XM also offers Caller Tunes, giving the viewers an instant opportunity to set caller tunes of the latest Bollywood songs aired on the channel. 9XM has launched ‘Mezza 9X’ the Ecommerce portal by the network selling quirky merchandise.

     

    9XM has also launched many games and applications for the iPad and iPhone users. Fans of 9XM’s animated characters can select and download their favourite games like the Angry 9XM Heroes, Silly Chicken and Talking Silly Chicken (India’s first talking application) from the IOS App store.

     

  • Border War LOC, the sequel of Border War Face off (a patriotic attempt from Jump) is out

    Border War Face Off gets one million downloads on Nokia

    By A Correspondent

     

    Border War Face-off, an arcade game made on patriotic lines by Jump Games (a part of Reliance Entertainment Digital and a leading developer and distributor of mobile games) was released in October 2011 across all leading operators like Vodafone, Docomo, Reliance, Idea, and others.

     

    The game is to save Mother India from enemies’ invasion by playing a courageous soldier defending our borders from an enemy invasion. This game is Jump’s own IP and is extremely popular among the youth gamers. The figures have been good from the very beginning but in mid-February Jump decided to ad wrap this game and put it up on Nokia OVS stores and by mid-March the game had over one million downloads.

     

    Since then Jump’s social website pages have been flooded with user requests to add innovations to the game. After the over whelming success of Border War Face Off and persistent user request Jump has now come up with the sequel called Border War-LOC.

     

    Border War Line of Control is the modern day rendition of an arcade classic. The gamer, as an Indian soldier, will have to protect the Indian borders with a new age weapon, Super Cannon.

     

    The various features of the game are:

    • A classic arcade game with very vivid and crystal clear graphics
    • A huge diversity in the type of enemies
    • Easy to use controls

     

    Speaking about this particular launch of the game, Chaitanya Prabhu, Business Head India, Jump Games said: “The game ideation started around august last year. We wanted to create games which are suitable for Indian audience and tap the Indian mentality, sensitivity and lifestyle. The game Border war, as the name suggests is based on patriotic lines with some great visual graphics. Jump has always believed in the motto of Think Global – Play Local. Now seeing the over whelming response of Border War -Face Off we have made a sequel to the same called Border War -LOC. It has a very engaging game play and we are expecting a similar or better response for the same.”

     

    The game, priced at Rs 50, will be available on all leading operators like Vodafone, BSNL, Idea, Docomo.

     

    Jump Games is a leading International developer and publisher of mobile games, apps and content. It is an integral part of Reliance Entertainment (Digital Business). Jump’s foray and expertise lies into the media and entertainment space.

     

    Jump’s experience and expertise in creating innovative and cutting-edge gaming content reflects in its client roster, which sports some of the best brands from across the world – Codemasters, GLU, Playboy Hands On / Connect 2 Media, Honest Entertainment (Fido Dido), Coca-Cola, Cartoon Network, and Konami to name a few.

     

    The company develops content across leading wireless platforms and its catalogue includes leading titles like Ben 10: Battle of the Omnitrix, Bloons, Putt-Putt Golf 3D, ICC World Cup, Ashes Cricket.

     

    Distributed across the US, Europe, South Africa, Australia, the Middle East, and Asia, Jump’s content can be accessed through 80 leading networks across 40 countries as well as global AppStores.

  • Brands like Volkswagen & Parle 20-20 cookies have joined hands with UTV to launch the official IPL season 5 mobile game

    UTV Indiagames gets ‘IPL Cricket Fever’

    By A Correspondent

     

    UTV Indiagames has launched the official IPL season 5 mobile game, ‘IPL Cricket Fever’. They have made sure that all elements of the actual IPL cricket are experienced through the game including the brand associations. Brands like Volkswagen and Parle 20-20 cookies have joined hands with UTV Indiagames, to associate with ‘IPL Cricket Fever’.

     

    Volkswagen has extended its on-ground association with IPL Season 5 to the official game by introducing brand elements for ‘Super Sixes’ & ‘Man of the Series’. Just like the on-ground association, Volkswagen is the brand partner for every ‘6’ hit in the game. For the ‘Man of the Series’ in the mobile game, the player with maximum number of wins during the current IPL season will be presented with the ‘Volkswagen Vento – IPL Edition’.

     

    Parle has associated with the game with their brand Parle 20-20 cookies for various in-game branding elements like ‘4s’ and ‘Replays’. The brand is also the sponsor of the ‘Man of the Match’ reward in the game during the presentation ceremony.

     

    Commenting on the brand associations for the game, Vishal Gondal, CEO, UTV Indiagames said: “The IPL season is the most exciting time of the year for cricket enthusiasts, both on ground and in the digital space. With IPL Cricket Fever we wanted to offer an as close to real experience of the actual on-ground action of IPL and with Volkswagen and Parle 20-20 cookies on board we have made it happen. Now whether the player hits a 4, 6 or wins man of the match or even man of the series, the presence of these brands will give them the actual IPL feel even on their mobile phones.”

     

    Lutz Kothe, Head of Marketing & PR, Volkswagen Group Sales India Private Ltd. said: “The immense response we received for the IPL Edition I has prompted us to introduce the IPL Edition II and this time with both our popular carlines – the Polo and the Vento. To make this more exciting, we are introducing the official mobile game for IPL in association with UTV Indiagames giving an opportunity to all the cricket enthusiasts to win the Vento IPL Edition II. We are sure cricket enthusiasts will enjoy this game and participate to win their favorite carline.”

     

    Pravin Kulkarnii, General Manager – Marketing, Parle Products said: “Gaming is huge in the country today and the mix of cricket and games appeals to one and all. IPL is as popular on ground as it is in the digital space. Parle 20:20 cookies’ association with UTV Indiagames’ official IPL game is the perfect brand opportunity for us as it extends our brand recall in the digital space instantly.”

     

    ‘IPL Cricket Fever’ is based on the IPL Season 5 format and includes all official 9 teams – Mumbai Indians, Chennai Superkings, Deccan Chargers, Delhi Daredevils, King XI Punjab, Kolkata Knight Riders, Rajasthan Royals, Royal Challenger Bangalore and Pune Warriors.

     

    The users will be able to play with the official IPL players including Sachin Tendulkar, Michael Hussey, MS Dhoni, Ravindra Jadeja, Virendra Sehwag, Adam Gilchrist, Gautam Ghambir, Yousuf Pathan, Kevin Pollard, Rahul Dravid, Shane Watson, AB de Villiers, Michael Clarke and many more. There are three game modes available which include quick match, powerplay and IPL tournament. The user can play the entire season as per the actual IPL season too, 4 stadiums with 3 difficulty modes and original IPL players make this the most exciting cricket game around.

     

    The game is available on Android, iOS and Java to ensure that every cricket enthusiast can lay their hands on it to enjoy the IPL season.

     

    UTV Indiagames is India’s integrated game developer-publisher across mobile, online and the interactive television. The company has been a pioneer in the mobile gaming space and has partnered with several major game publishers and media companies in the world such as EA, Disney, THQ, Atari, Universal, Fox, Warner brothers, Sony, MTV, 2K and others whose IP has been published across global leading telecoms including Verizon, Vodafone, Airtel, AT&T, Telstra and others.

     

  • Pradeep Gairola joins Naukri group's Meritnation as COO

    Pradeep Gairola quits TIL, joins Meritnation as COO

    By A Correspondent

     

    Pradeep Gairola, VP with Times Internet Ltd and Business Head of timesofindia.com has moved on to join Applect Learning Systems as COO. Applect runs meritnation.com which is a leader in the online school education space.

     

    A turnaround specialist in the print and online media with over two decades of experience, Mr Gairola has worked with The Times of India group, Aptech Internet, Mid-Day, Ananda Bazar Patrika and more recently (since October 2008) with Times Internet Limited.

     

    “I had a great innings at Times Internet,” he says. “The leadership team of TIL is outstanding and I have benefited tremendously from my stint with the company.” On his move to meritnation.com he says, “I am quite excited about the potential of the education sector in India. According to Technopak, the private education sector is estimated to reach US$ 70 billion by 2013 and US$ 115 billion by 2018. The team at Meritnation.com has built a solid foundation and it is well-placed to benefit from the education revolution that will sweep the country. It is great to be a part of the team that will touch lives of millions of students in India”.

     

    Meritnation employs more than 125 people, with a large bias toward content creation. It was started in 2009 by IIM Bangalore 1996 batch-ers Pavan Chauhan (CEO) and Ritesh Hemrajani (Director).

     

    Meritnation is part of the Naukri.com group and is headquarted in Delhi. It caters to the learning needs of students for Classes I-12 (K12) from CBSE, ICSE and leading state boards. Amongst pay sites in education in India, Meritnation is reported to be numero uno. It offers online and correspondence learning resources for Maths, Science, English, Hindi, Sanskrit and the Social Sciences.