'For digital, Rajasthan Royals’ big focus this year will be to reach out to new audiences'
As BCCI gears up for the mega auction of IPL players in February, Atishay Agarwal, Head of Content, Rajasthan Royals, talks about their campaign strategy and more
During the pandemic when sports are mostly out of bounds for fan engagements at venues, sports marketers are finding innovative methods to keep their brands and players top of mind with both local as well as global supporters.
The Rajasthan Royals (RR) cricket team is leading the way on digital channels with their novel approach of connecting players and fans on social media to help both the team and players expand their global influence while also support sponsors with more digital activation.
In IPL season 2021, Rajasthan Royal team bid a difficult farewell to player Ben Stokes after an injury cut his season short. They let the fans into the raw intensity of the moment when the rest of the team said their goodbyes to him.
That video garnered 2.4 million views and thousands of fond get-well-soons from fans on Youtube alone.
From emotional goodbye exchanges between players when the IPL called off mid-season to the posters featuring viral stories such as Rahul Dravid’s ‘Indiranagar ka Gunda’ ad, the RR team created buzz on social media platforms throughout the last season.
RR’s has had the highest engagement rate among sports teams globally on Facebook in 2021, and the second-highest among IPL teams on Twitter. The team’s total social media engagements rose by 99% in 2021, team officials say.
The Jaipur-based team has started strategizing about scaling up its fan engagements in IPL 2022.
Atishay Agarwal, Head of Content, Rajasthan Royals, says, “Big focus this year would be to reach out to newer audiences, which offers a lot of growth potential to our franchise on digital. The year 2022 brings with it a mega-auction, which in many ways is a fresh start. A lot will depend on the squad composition, which players come to the Royals and how we can build around their personalities in an authentic way.”
“At the end of the day, if you don't entertain your fans on social media, you may as well not exist there,” Agarwal says, adding that the team’s focus has been on organic content in the last two years, which is the best way to grow.
The team also delivered on performance objectives like app downloads, website visits, and time spent on both; adding 20% more followers in 2021 as compared to 2020.
Agarwal claims that RR surpassed other IPL teams in the social media domain although its ad spend has been well below a number of other franchises. He doesn’t share the AdEx and digital AdEx details though.
He insists that RR’s app is certainly the best among all IPL teams.
“What makes our app unique is that it's absolutely loaded with various features and engagement opportunities beyond the usual. Just to list a few, we have a live chat room, functionality to upload fan stories, some superb games like Predictor, Housie and QuizzeRR, as well as fan-first features like a Fan Lounge. Above all, the app offers Royals Coins, a rewards feature that earns fans points simply for using and engaging with the app, which they can redeem for merchandise and other benefits,” he noted.
Siddharth Sethumadhavan, AVP - Client Servicing, Interactive Avenues, who is spearheading RR’s ad campaign, says, “RR on social media followed three key principles: team love, love for the sport & that cheeky ‘RR Admin’ personality. These three pillars helped our fans and other teams always look out for the ‘RR angle’ to every piece of content, eventually making us one of the most entertaining brands in the previous season of IPL.”
Sethumadhavan said the biggest challenge before them was to beat the significant fan base that all other IPL teams had amassed over the years (owing to trophies and big ticket Indian players).
“What RR introduced to the playing field on social media was a brand of cricket content that tapped the pulse of the current generation of social media consumers, whether it be visually powerful imagery on Instagram or a cheeky tonality on Twitter. It’s because of this that fans of our competing teams consider us as their second favourites,” he adds.
When asked about the most powerful social media platform, Sethumadhavan says, “Twitter is a game-changer during match days & for topical moments, and Instagram helps give a richer visual window to the players & the team as a whole. Facebook on the other hand is a helpful reach platform helping us connect with fans globally too. In short, every platform has its purpose but what matters is how smartly you use it.”
