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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, Arun Mehra, Chief Marketing
Officer, Zapak, 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 recognise
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" , Sudip Bandyopadhyay,
Director & CEO, Reliance Money Limited. The
tournament was divided into two rounds - preliminary and finals. The prelims were
conducted at Zapak Gameplexes in Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore on 8th, 9th, 15th
and 16th of March. Participants were able to choose from games such as Counter
Strike 1.6, a tactical game involving shooting of terrorists; FIFA, a football
game; Need for Speed (NFS), a car racing game; and Zuma, Bejeweled and Heavy Weapon,
the casual games. 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 21st 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.
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