Virgin Spoofs Indian Premiere League (IPL) To Indian Hatke League (IHL)
Royal Chill Maadis Bangalore v Chennai Super Muthus is actually a very tempting name to make anyone check out how the spoof might have panned out. Of course, no particular introduction maybe needed on what the spoof is about though. The news that’s been passed around a few times now is Virgin Mobile’s caricature of the Indian Premier League with its Indian Hatke League. The website offers a wide range of interactive content and is primarily banking on a online fantasy cricket game for engagemen – which in fact is the IHL.
The Indian Hatke League
As expected the game is all about playing as any of the 8 participating teams in the IPL, of course with IHL’s own brand of hatke names. However, unlike other online games, IHL follows a tournament strcuture scheduled on the same lines as the IPL and a winner among the participants will be announced right at the end of the league. The prizes includes virgin mobile handsets, Hyundai i10 and Sony PSPs (maybe I should have written them in another order). India server reports that Virgin was in fact planning on sponsoring the Delhi Daredevils team in fact before pulling out of it because the venue shifted to South Africa.
Another interesting factor in my opinion is the level of experiences that happens on the site. There is a daily hatke news, there is a gaszone and many other interactive zones on the website besides the game. And the site is filled with cliche but yet interesting cricket characters. Take Ziddu for instance. The wallpapers, the screensavers (like the slap Sreesanth screensaver) all do add a lot of value to the site. The site has been developed by Culture Mafia and it defintiely bears a lot of Web Chutney trademarks. The product essentially is good.
The Agenda of the Brand
Commenting on the initiative, M A Madhusudan, CEO, Virgin Mobile India said, “The Indian Hatke League is all about interacting with the Indian youth and giving them a taste of some stimulating entertainment and a sense of being part of a cricketing phenomenon in a hatke way.”(Source)
That essentially puts the entire campaign as a brand building strategy. And to think about it, it does extend the very successful Think Hatke campaigns when Virgin had just launched. However, does it really extend the brand of Virgin the mobile service provider? I am not too convinved about that yet.
The engagement that happens on the site is not with the brand but with a separate product just associated with the brand. It is just my take but the engagement should also have been with the main product of the brand if it was indeed to take the brand to its target group. The flaw is not in the execution here but in the concept. From whatever little time I spent I didn’t engage with a mobile brand on the site. On the other hand perhaps if I am to share the site with some others or talk about it later, the fact that I will mention it is by Virgin mobile might do the trick for the brand.
An innovative take on the IPL and definitely worth a visit, for the team names if nothing else!
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nice spot. Would have loved to see you dissect the product and give us your thoughts on what makes it work/ doesn’t work and what brand managers should look for while building something like this…