Dream11 Dreaming Big: Ropes in Global Social Media Influencer for its IPL Digital Campaign
| Case Code: MKTG466 Case Length: 12 Pages Period: 2021 Pub Date: 2024 Teaching Note: Available |
Price: Rs.400 Organization : Dream11 Fantasy Private Limited Industry :Leisure & Entertainment Countries : India Themes: Digital Marketing, Social Media Marketing, Advertising & Promotion,Marketing Communication |
Abstract Case Intro 1 Case Intro 2 Excerpts
Excerpts
A Note on IPL
The IPL was started in 2008 by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) with the concept of the T20 cricket league. It was the brainchild of Lalit Kumar Modi who was also its first Chairman and Commissioner . Modi put together a blueprint for the IPL, which featured the world’s best players and the teams owned by the most renowned people in India. He conceptualized the format, franchisee model, auction, and prize money, to name a few. It was said that the IPL was modeled on the English Premier League (EPL) and the National Basketball Association of the United States..
A Note on Dream11
Dream11 was the flagship brand company of Sporta Technologies Pvt. Ltd. (Popular name – Dream Sports) , which was founded by two engineering and management graduates – Harsh Anand Kumar Jain (Harsh) and, Bhavit Rajesh Sheth ¬– in June 2007. Both founders were sports buffs and fantasy league enthusiasts and big fans of EPL. Harsh said, “We were football (English Premier League) fanatics back then, in fact. Even today, we play more fantasy football on EPL than on our platform.” ..
Controversies Surrounding Dream11
The question of the legality of Dream11’s platform first surfaced in 2017 when a case was filed by an advocate, Varun Gumber (Varun), against Dream 11 claiming to have incurred a loss of Rs. 50,000 after trying to create a fantasy team on the Dream11 website. The petitioner, who filed the case in the Punjab and Haryana High Court, sought initiation of criminal proceedings against the company. He contended that the nature of the activities offered on the platform were not based on any skill but on chance and thus they clearly amounted to gambling, which was prohibited under the Public Gambling Act, 1867. Games that seemed to require a certain level of skill were exempted by anti-gambling laws in most Indian states. In his order, the judge of the High Court of Punjab and Haryana, Justice Amit Rawal, stated that fantasy sports online did not come under gambling as it required a good amount of skill to play it and so it would come under ‘game of skill’ and not ‘game of chance’..
Dream11 Wins IPL Sponsorship
Dream11 got an opportunity when BCCI suspended its title sponsorship deal with Vivo, a Chinese technology company, for IPL 2020 following the clash between Indian and Chinese troops in the Galwan Valley, in Ladakh, a Union Territory of India, in June 2020. In this clash, 20 Indian soldiers lost their lives. After this incident, the BCCI came under pressure to let go of Vivo as a title sponsor of IPL, especially as the Indian government had banned 59 Chinese apps on June 29, 2020, and 47 Chinese apps on July 28, 2020. , With growing negative sentiments against Chinese companies and their products, the BCCI finally decided to suspend Vivo’s sponsorship in the first week of August 2020..
Khaby: The Influencer
Khaby came from a very low-income background. He was born in Senegal, West Africa, and his family moved to Chivasso, Italy, when he was just one year old. During his high school days, Khaby used to play sports like football and basketball..
Influencers Collaborate With Dream11
Prior to signing on Khaby, Dream11’s brand ambassadors included famous cricket players such as AB de Villiers, Hardik Pandya, Jasprit Bumrah, Kane Williamson, MS Dhoni, Quentin De Kock, Ravindra Jadeja, Rishabh Pant, Rohit Sharma, and many other sports stars. However, in 2021, Dream11 was looking for something new, different, and more effective for its marketing strategy..
The Road Ahead
In its decade-long journey, Dream11 had faced various legal challenges, but the company managed to overcome these hurdles and receive a favorable verdict on many of the court cases initiated against it by several states. The courts upheld the platform’s format as a ‘game of skill’ and ruled that it was within the parameters of ‘skill gaming’..
Exhibits
Exhibit I: Legality Section of the Charter for Online Fantasy Sports Platforms (OFSP) provided by Federation of Indian Fantasy Sports
Exhibit II: Dream11’s Valuation
Exhibit III: Financial of Dream11
Exhibit IV: Top Indian Unicorns and their Valuations in 2020
Exhibit V: Dream11 Advertisement with Khaby
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