T-10 Gully Cricket media spend pegged at Rs 4 crore

The second season of T-10 Gully Cricket, ‘Ab Har Koi Khelega’, a cricket talent hunt-cum-tournament announced on Tuesday, July 7, 2009, is scheduled to begin from August 15 and continue till November 15. The three-month long tournament will see 896 players from 64 teams in 16 cities play against each other.

The media spends for Season 2 is estimated to be around Rs 4 crore, which is inclusive of all communication expenses. Though it will be a 360-degree campaign, 60 per cent of the media spend has been allocated for outdoor and BTL activities comprising street-plays, canter activities and roadshows.

Group and regroup matches, semi-finals and finals will be telecast live on DD Sports on Saturdays and Sundays, which will happen for a period of nine weeks followed by highlights on DD1 on preceding Mondays and Tuesdays.

While Crayons Advertising is the creative and media agency, actor Riteish Deshmukh has been appointed as the brand ambassador for T-10 Gully Cricket.

In conversation with exchange4media.com, Anoop Wadhwa, Director, Reasonable Communications Pvt Ltd, said, “We are hopeful of Season 2 being able to garner enough support from advertisers to make it a grand show. The aim, however, is to discover talent from small towns and villages.”

“Earlier, 70 per cent of India’s advertising would be spent on metros, which contribute to only 30 per cent of the population. However, now things are changing and the industry is shifting focus to rural India in a big way,” he noted.

While Season 1 (January- February 2009) of the tournament had only two sponsors – title sponsor HUL through Rin, and Pepsi as pouring partner – Season 2 of T-10 Gully Cricket is reportedly looking out for one title sponsor, three associate sponsors and 4-5 other partners – kit, snacks, fitness partner, etc. HUL is reportedly being approached yet again to be the presenting sponsor for Season 2. This apart, talks are said to be on with P&G, Dabur, ITC, and Pepsi, as well.

The organisers plan to promote T-10 Gully Cricket through the franchisee model and merchandising. City fan clubs like ‘Lucknow Gully Fan Club’, ‘Gwalior Gully Fan Club’ and ‘Pune Gully Fan Club’ are being explored to be formed from the call for entries stage. These fan clubs will be aimed at creating loyalty leading to frenzy across these towns. A multimedia campaign featuring Riteish Deshmukh, along with a music video showcasing Gully Cricket in all its elements, and an official tournament anthem by singer Kailash Kher will promote this hunt on a national basis.

Launched by media marketing company Reasonable Communications, T-10 Gully Cricket is a biannual talent hunt-cum-tournament. Only non-first class cricket players in the 15-24 age-group from Tier 2 and 3 and below towns are eligible to take part in this tournament. A total 64 teams comprising 896 players will compete with each other. The call for entries will commence from August 15. More than 50,000 entries are expected to come in for this season from all the cities.

After culmination of the tournament, the best 14 players will be selected, who would be taken to a training camp for a week, after which they would be sent to South Africa for a two-week cricket tournament.

Reasonable Communications, promoted by Ashok Wadhwa and Anoop Wadhwa, is an established name in the media and television marketing industry. The company has marketed serials for production houses like Balaji Telefilms, UTV Software, BR TV, Mukta Arts, etc., and has also produced a serial, ‘Kashmakash Zindagi Ki’, for DD-1.