MUMBAI: Global character creation and animation production company YouNeedCharacter (spearheaded by CEO Minsu Song) has recently signed Indian cricket player, Ajinkya Rahane as the brand ambassador for CricketPang. As a part of their promotion, marketing, and branding initiative, Ajinkya Rahane has been roped in as the ambassador for India for ‘CricketPang’ – The soon to be launched original animate series.
YouNeedCharacter is a company that creates animation and educational content with its original characters and is currently planning and producing ‘CricketPang’, a tv animation based on Cricket. It is currently in the final production stage and as the first stage of the launch, the comic series will be aired in India. Followed by other major countries.
CricketPang has signed with popular OTT platforms in India and is in talks with local companies to start its services in March 2021.
“India is a country of cricket. It is the nation’s favorite sport and famous cricket players along with Bollywood actors are some of India’s most influential role models. Among the cricket players, Ajinkya is a top-class player who is loved and respected by the Indian audience. He has garnered around 7 million followers on Facebook. I am extremely happy and think it is very important that such an excellent and famous player has shown interest and has become the brand ambassador of CricketPang.” Said CEO of YouNeedCharacter CEO Minsu Song, “With Ajinkya, we not only plan to promote the CricketPang animation but also initiate activities keeping public interest in mind. Through these initiatives, we intend to support cricket by securing scholarships for promising young cricket players in India.” He added
Rahane said. “An animation series on Cricket will be very interesting for children, especially when the narrative is interesting and the characters are cute. I feel an animated series like this will appeal to kids and it is a great way of promoting the sport. It is an interesting concept that convinced me to associate with the launch of CricketPang in the Indian market. I hope to have a long-standing association with the brand.”.
The interest in the IP is high, considering the tremendous response that the recently launched CricketPang Kindergarten App (an educational app for kindergarten-age children) has received. Despite the pre-airing of the CricketPang animation, the app has exceeded 100,000 downloads in India. With CricketPang’s official YouTube channel, ‘CricketPang TV’ that launched in mid-January exceeding 18,000 subscribers and 4 million views, the scope for early childhood education platform business is quite promising. Most of the views are from countries that are passionate about cricket such as India, Bangladesh, and so on. The possibility for successful commercialization locally is becoming clearer. Discussions with major Indian publishers to publish a series of CricketPang books are on the cards. The publication is to be expected soon. In addition, CricketPang has signed with Rooh Entertainment, a renowned brand marketing agency in India, for their brand marketing and licensing business. .Rutika Malaviya, Founder - Rooh Entertainment will be building and launching the CricketPang Brand Licensing Program in India, which we believe is something to look forward to.
YouNeedCharacter plans to raise awareness in a short period of time by broadcasting the series through local media channels, conducting local marketing, and actively promoting partnerships with various local companies in India. In particular, the association with Ajinkya is expected to have a meaningful impact on the initial launch process. A collaboration of a cricket-themed animation and a star cricket player is expected to show interesting results.
