Mumbai: Zapak is trying to boost the culture of online gaming among corporate professionals in India by conducting a national level gaming tournament called Corporate Gamer in March. The competition is open to executives of all levels, from lower level executives to chief executives. Around 2000 corporates from 100 organizations participated in the tournament.
The IAMAI I-Cube 2007 report reveals that around 25 per cent of the 16.8 million active internet users residing in 30 cities in India surf the internet in office and more than 60 per cent of them are men.
Commenting on the reason for targeting the corporate sector, Zapak chief marketing officer Arun Mehra says, "A lot of corporate professionals in BPOs, ad agencies, IT and telecom companies play games on the internet in their office during breaks and this competition is a natural extension to reach out to them and recognize gaming champions among corporates." He says that contrary to what one might expect, the human resource heads of several companies were ‘excited’ when Zapak approached them for the tournament.
"Gaming is a great stress buster that is enjoyed by executives at various levels across organizations. Our association in this initiative is aimed to embed a strong brand recall for Reliance Money in the minds of these executives as they sharpen their competitive skills in lighter moments of their work life" , says Reliance Money Limited director & CEO Sudip Bandyopadhyay.
A budget of Rs 50 lakh has been earmarked to promote the tournament. The company is carrying out below-the-line activities across 250 corporate offices along with radio and print ads.
The finale took place at the Hard Rock Café in Mumbai on 21 March amongst great fanfare and support for the individuals and teams battling it out. 30 finalists participated. Ten finalists from Delhi and Bangalore flew to Mumbai for the finals.
The title sponsor is Reliance Money. The co sponsor is Electronic Arts while the associate partners are Kingfisher Airlines and Force India. The travel partner is Travelport while the fuel partner is IndianOil Xtra Premium.
