Ace2three: The arduous search for a Rummy partner

In its campaign, created by Scarecrow Communications, online gaming site Ace2three talks about the limitations of playing in real space, and the perks of virtual.

Online gaming site Ace2three has released its first advertising campaign, in an attempt to increase brand awareness and position itself as the destination for online rummy. The ad has been conceptualised by Scarecrow Communications.

Ace2three is a product of Head Infotech and claims to have 40 lakh registered players. Available as an online rummy game for desktops, tablets and mobiles, it has also released an app recently.

The ad is a quirky take on the difficulty a rummy player faces in finding a partner to play with. 'Rummy Anna' gets slapped multiple times when he interrupts people and tries to interest them in a game of rummy. It targets college students, executives, housewives, blue collar workers, businessmen, or anyone who plays the game. Inspite of the broad TG, the ad only caters to existing rummy players.

Says Deepak Gullapalli, CEO and founder, Ace2three, "User happiness is our goal. Apart from a complete bouquet of card games, the site excels in offers, bonuses, cash prizes, regular tourneys and other incentives which keep the adrenaline gushing. Our communication needed to reflect that our balance between player need, occasion and incentive has taken us to the top."

Raghu Bhat, founder-director, Scarecrow Communications, says, "Rummy players are looking for a partner to play with - this was the insight we zeroed in on. Ace2three fills this need seamlessly. Shooting this was a blast with a lot of improvisations on the sets with director Naren Multani. We also wanted the music to be catchy yet quirky. So, we went to Rohan Vinayak as we wanted something really original."

When asked if an ad can induce the habit of playing rummy, he adds, "Maybe not. The objective here was to target existing rummy players, who are online and offline, and tell them that if you are thinking of rummy, think of Ace2three."

Manish Bhatt, founder-director, Scarecrow Communications, adds, "When you are talking to the youth, humour is always an option. We hope this clutter-cutting and sticky ad for Ace2three accelerates the process of making it a household name."

Scarecrow Communications is an independent creative agency handling clients such as ITC, Anchor Panasonic, Zee, Viacom 18 and Hungama.