New Delhi, Apr 13: In a bid to heard in the World Cup noise, Philips India is set to kick off a mega World Cup promotion with interactive contests anchored by MTV VJ Cyrus Broacha. The czar of music videos Ken Ghosh, has been roped in to direct the contest films. The interactive contests have been designed to be different from the run-of-the-mill promos and would involve consumers by asking them to look out for controversial umpiring decisions, a favourite batsman sweep a ball for a six; or a fielder drop that near catch. In return the viewer would have a chance to win a 29-inch colour television, gold coins or even a Maruti Esteem.``This World Cup we shall capture our consumers with interesting and interactive campaigns,'' says Philips India head, corporate brand strategy, Kaushik Roy.
The company has set aside a budget of Rs 12-crore for the two-month-long promotions which should help Philips enhance its brand appeal among the younger generation of consumers. The tournament also provides the company anopportunity to push forward its worldwide strategy to position the brand as young and aspirational.
``The contest offers an interactive sponsorship opportunity, synergising brand awareness and voluntary response. Philips will use its connection with Cyrus Broacha to anchor the contest,'' added the company spokesperson. The MTV VJ was first used by the company for its Powervision television commercial that has been on air since November 1998.
The contests have been conceived so as to capture moments of a cricket match that would remind the customer of the brand. The spots will appear on Star Plus, Zee and several south Indian channels. ``The objective of the contest is to make our presence on television entertaining and memorable," stated Roy.
The contests would require the viewer either identify the player, or the match or decide where the ball may have disappeared in a selected clip of the match. ``We will use hi-tech rotoscopy and compositing to bring Cyrus virtually into the playing arena tohilariously guide the viewers through their three choices,'' the spokesperson added.
In addition to the contest, the company intends to woo the consumers and dealers with numerous schemes which should push up the company's television sales. For the consumers, the company is set to announce exchange schemes, special World Cup prices and finance opportunities, while the dealers would be wooed with incentive such as foreign trips.
The company expects the World Cup frenzy to push its market share for televisions beyond the 10 per cent this year. In addition, as a run-up to the World Cup, the company would be launching multimedia campaign spread across TV and print media which will showcase the best technologies in Philips TVs.
Philips will also tie up with certain publications for a branding exercise where cricket legends like Kapil Dev will participate.
Copyright © 1999 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
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