Cricket fever is on and in full swing. This World Cup season, where Team India is ruling the game at the global stage, its zillions of fans are elated and euphoric to see their favourites hit the ball out of the park.
There may be many religions in India, but it is said that cricket unites Indians better than any religion can ever do. From a school going kid to retired old man, the charisma of cricket has enchanted almost every Indian. Cricket binds and gives joy. Joy of achieving and winning together.
No matter what, the game connects, always and everyone, especially in India. And guess what folks? Its impact has gone beyond the pitch and field. It’s amazing and inspiring how the game and its features are being seamlessly integrated in different forms of life.
Cricket and premier league is embedded in the minds of people. And while surfing the web, we came across a unique initiative which seamlessly amalgamates cricket and business, and more interestingly, SME sector – powerhouse of Indian economy. Thus, we thought it is imperative that we write and talk about it, given the fact that innovation is key at times where audience interest and attention span is short. The initial interest/find led to more deep diving about the concept and we were left impressed with the overall thought and execution.
The case in point is a tailor-made cricket premier league for SMEs. It’s amazing how two worlds – business and cricket, pretty diverse, got connected by a common thread of passion, hard work and success.
Christened as the YES BANK Premiere League, it is laudable that within a span of 5 years the endeavor has created a large community spanning multiple cities and towns in India Brands like Jeep, RAW Pressery etc, aptly gauged the relevance of the first-of-its-kind initiative, thereby joining the league as partners.
We personally feel that the idea to marry cricket with business is a great way to engage at an interest and enthusiasm level and create a continued relay impact. You can take the idea to length and breadth of the country and beyond. The entire storytelling around it, via smart relatable videos, themed on ‘#MeriTeamMeriLeague’ was well received. The tonality and storytelling connect has left an indelible mark in the minds of one and all.
The league had a lot up their sleeves to create one-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the business fraternity by live streaming the match on the brands YouTube channel – the video had mesmerizing look and feel of a big ticket leagues.
It is a perfect innovation to connect the ambitious and enterprising – SME folks towards their innate passion for cricket. This is how you mix the proverbial business with pleasure.
And we are not the only one who is impressed by the league.
We thought of taking an expert opinion from Atit Mehta, the man who heads marketing initiatives at BYJU’s and follows the game of willow closely and dearly.
He says: “In today’s era, innovative customer engagement is going to be a key differentiator for brands. It’s going be a pathway for everything good that businesses want right from customer loyalty, referencing as well as retention thus keeping the mindshare at the highest level. I believe with YBPL, YES BANK has been able to draw the business fraternity closer to the brand and simultaneously giving them a chance to take part themselves. The concept of MeriTeamMeriLeague is very intriguing and tonality of content is very segment focused and refreshing.”
We too hope the same.
Note: Originally published in IWMBuzz.com
