Exclusive | Topps India's Sanjeev Katyal on the rationale behind CRICKET ATTAX

The Indian Premier League in its last five years has become India’s Superbowl: a celebration of cricket, cricketers and their celebrity patrons.Cashing in onthis very notion,Topps Sport &Entertainment,the world leader in sports and entertainment products has launched CRICKET ATTAX 2 which is the official trading card game of the IPL.Topps had launched Cricket Attax trading cards in Season IV of IPL which were a huge hit.

 

The advertising campaign for Cricket Attax 2012 is a tribute to the game and the gamer.Talking about the evolution of CRICKET ATTAX, Sanjeev Katyal , Country Head, Topps India Sports & Entertainment Company says,”Globally,we are a category in trading cards. Attax has seen huge success in countries like the United  Kingdom where the cards were based on the English Premier League.In India, we extended the  brand Attax  to cricket and launched CRICKET ATTAX.”

 

The advertisement starts off with a montage of shots from a large city like Mumbai where different kids in the age-group of 10-12 are seen carrying giant-sized cards with their favourite star on it. It’s not obvious where the kids are going or why they are carrying their heroes. The music track is ethnic and festive, reminding the viewer about not sports but a large cultural celebration. It then comes to fore that the entire city is converging towards a cricket ground in the middle of the city. It’s a big game today, and two kids are leading two teams in an intense game of Cricket Attax.

 

For the first time in the region, one game will inspire playing of another.The basic idea of the whole campaign is “IPL is not just to be watched, it’s to be played.”

 

The media mix used for promotion of CRICKET ATTAX 2 is television and particularly,kid channels.The core target audience are children that fall in the  age –group  of  8-12  years. And so the focus essentially lies on kids channels like Cartoon Network that cater to the interest of these  audiences.

 

Sanjeev Katyal explains that last year they overshot the market expectations.This huge  success  has encouraged them and they are expecting to sell five times more than last  year.

 

Elaborating on the communication strategy adopted by Topps Sport & Entertainment for CRICKET ATTAX 2012,he adds that the company has launched National Championships followed by city-centric Championships which will be happening on the ground along with the IPL matches.The  finals  of  these matches will be  held along with the IPL finals.

 

Topps Sports & Entertainment had also launched WWE  products earlier this year. | By Aditi Popat [aditi(at)adgully.com]