Virgin Mobile urges IPL fans to take ‘pangas’ online

Piggybacking on the on-going IPL Season 3 frenzy, Virgin Mobile has unveiled an online campaign, Indian Panga League, comprising 100+ unique digital films of 15 seconds each.

Said Prasad Narasimhan, chief marketing officer, Virgin Mobile India, "The Indian Panga League is our initiative to connect to the youth of India and provide them an exciting opportunity to join the cricket frenzy. With the launch of indianpangaleague.in, our digital initiatives take another leap in engaging with youth giving them an opportunity to support their favourite teams and take friendly banters with fans of other teams."

Comprising 100+ digital films that have been scripted by Bates 141 and produced by Curious Films, the campaign showcases banter amidst friends across various cities and, thus, supporting different IPL teams. The Indian Panga League campaign, besides having its own micro site, has links across social media sites like Facebook, Orkut, Twitter and YouTube. “Every IPL match lasts 3.5 hours and an ad not more than 45 seconds. Even IPL as a tournament has recognised the power of digital and that's why there's a separate feed for it on Youtube,” said Sandeep Pathak, CEO, Bates 141. "Besides being a big idea, Indian Panga League is also long idea. Never before has this kind of content, both quality-wise and quantity-wise, been created for digital that has such a virality built into it."

The web page has been designed by bcWebwise and the campaign is being driven by Mindshare Interactive and Watblog.

“The campaign, while being ‘hatke’ – it being a digital-only campaign, also pushes the new layer of positioning that Virgin Mobile has adopted for its GSM service: “Doston ka network (network of friends)”. Explained Sonal Dabral, regional creative director, Bates141, “True friendship is all about friendly banter; laughing together; crying together and pulling each other’s legs. IPL has seen even closest of friends rooting for different teams, thus, creating situations where conversations happen and pangas are taken. Virgin Mobile's STD offering of 20 p/minute helps friends across India to have endless conversations without worrying about the cost. With interactivity built into it, the campaign also urges cricket fans to share comments, reply to threads and forward their own pangas to become a part of Indian Panga League.”

The campaign has one unique character per team and these, according to Dabral, have the capability to grow and have independent personalities year after year.

Within a week of the launch, according to company’s figures, the campaign has witnessed 39,480 Youtube views; 1,643 Facebook fans and 50,000 mentions on Twitter. There have been 1,10,000 hits on the website in the last five days.

WATCH the first ten films below. Campaign India will bring you a new set of ten films everyday over the next few days.

Chennai v/s Kolkatta:Real Tigers

Bengaluru v/s Punjab: Swimsuit

Delhi v/s Punjab:Mom ki serial

Rajasthan v/s Bengaluru: Royal Rajasthani

Chennai v/s Delhi: Hockey ko dil de diya hai

Punjab v/s Hyderabad: VVS ka full form

Chennai v/s Hyderabad: How much do you charge?

Hyderabad v/s Kolkotta: Baazigar

Delhi v/s Mumbai: Sachin ka kyaa?

Delhi v/s Punjab: 30 min delivery