On the ground with Pro Kabaddi

Star Sports is organising a Kabaddi-themed BTL activity across eight cities to promote the Pro Kabaddi League.

In order to promote the on-going Pro Kabaddi League, STAR Sports, the official broadcaster and central sponsor for the league has planned to go for a unique mall-based promotion strategy across the eight cities where matches of this caravan-style league would be played.

It has hired EG! an experiential marketing agency to do the job. To enable and re-introduce the concept of Kabaddi to the people, the team will be installing a indoor Kabbadi game unit, where a team of two will play as 'raiders' and tag the seven promoters who are 'antis'. The game offers a player the chance of three rounds, with a time limit of 30 seconds per round.

The idea is to give people a first-hand experience of the game within the comfortable and controlled environment of a city mall. The activations will take place in the Oberoi Mall and Viviana Mall in Mumbai, City Centre Mall in Kolkata, DLF Place in Delhi; P&M Mall, Patna; Seasons Mall Pune; CMR Central Visakhapatnam; Crystal Court, Jaipur and Phoenix Marketcity in Bangalore.

Vjay Dewan, chief creative guardian, EG!, says, "We are certain that just like we had fun creating this spectacle, the sports and shopping patrons will enjoy it too!" Commenting on the initiative Shubhranshu Singh, senior vice president, marketing, STAR Sports says, "By offering this superlative experience, we're confident that people will engage with the game at a much greater level."

Lydia Buthello, senior vice president, events, Star India, says, "As Kabaddi is a full contact sport, having the support of people from all age groups, we decided to bring their favourite game closer to them." STAR Sports launched STAR Sports Pro Kabaddi League in conjunction with Mashal Sports, last month, to showcase the new face of Kabaddi. The league opened to a massive response from fans with over 200 million television viewers tuning in to watch the game in the first eight days of its launch. The league began on July 26 and the finals of the tournament will be played in Bangalore on August 31.