Virgin Mobile cashes on the launch of IPL, season two

Close on the heels of the launch of the second season of Indian Premier League (IPL) and in line with its brand positioning, Virgin Mobile has launched its own take on cricket, Indianhatkeleague.com. The website has been designed and executed by Culture Mafia.

The website is targeted at Indian youth and went live on April 17th, 2009. It will be live till May 24th, 2009. The viewers have to register on the website to play matches online. There are eight teams with 11 players each and the format is T20.

The team names are basically the twisted names of the IPL teams. Some of the teams are called Deccan ChilliEaters, Kolkata Tram Riders, Mumbai Manoos, Delhi Dhinchaks and Royal ChillMaadis Bangalore. Similarly, the players have been given names like Sachim Martodkar, Veeru Suhag, Mike Lassi, Hari Bhajji, Lakshmipatni Maalaji and Handdraw Shallowman. The website also features characters based on cricket personalities like Navjot Singh Sidhu amd Inzamam Ul Haq.

There are various prizes to be won including a Hyundai i20. There are also points for recommending a friend to the website that can be redeemed against Virgin Mobile connections and merchandise. The players on the website can get online retail offers on Virgin Mobile products.   

Commenting on the initiative, M A Madhusudan, CEO, Virgin Mobile India said, “The Indian Hatke League is all about interacting with the Indian youth and giving them a taste of some stimulating entertainment and a sense of being part of a cricketing phenomenon in a hatke way."

The Indian Hatke League is being promoted through an advertising campaign and through community and fan pages on various social networking sites.