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MUMBAI:
Emerging Media – the owner of last year's IPL winning
team - had announced in November 2008 that it would be looking
at licensing and merchandising the Rajasthan Royals brand.
That
promise has been met. The company today announced that it
has has signed up Kids Media India (KMI) as its licensing
and merchandising agent to represent the franchise in different
product categories. These include toys, back to school products,
clothes.
"The
aim is to do 10-12 deals this year," says Rajasthan Royals
chairman and co-owner Manoj Badale. "Emerging Media did
this deal as Kids Media has successfully exploited the likes
of Spiderman and WWE. The aim is to start releasing products
around the middle of March to cash in on the hype that the
second season of the IPL will generate."
Emerging
Media will also produce a DVD on its own highlighting the
success of the team in the first year. A film will be shot
during the second season by the franchise. There are also
plans for the franchise to play matches in Australia and England
during their summer period.
Badale
says that the franchises marketing budget will rise three
fold this year. There will be contests around match day experiences.
Last
year the franchise had launched the five tier Royal Army fan
club. This is a membership programme with five fan categories.
Membership fees range from Rs 2,500 to Rs 150,000. Benefits
will include season tickets, autographed bats, team jerseys
etc.
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