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Cafe Coffee Day is the new gaming zone
Reaching out to the youth directly at its hangouts, Sony PlayStation promotes the PSP by placing these at CCD outlets
Café Coffee day (CCD) was initially launched in Bengaluru as a place where people could access the internet and have coffee at the same time. However, the company evolved to finally become a coffee bar.
Now, this popular hangout has also doubled up as a gaming zone. The company has tied up with Sony PlayStation, wherein the latter has set up kiosks across CCD outlets in Mumbai, Bengaluru and Delhi. While sipping on a cup of coffee in a relaxed ambience, gamers can get firsthand experience of true gaming entertainment at these kiosks.
Discussing the idea for this promotion, Atindriya Bose, country manager, PlayStation, Sony Computer Entertainment, tells afaqs!, "Experiential marketing has always been the core focus of PlayStation's marketing strategy. It is important for the consumer to experience the multiple features of the PSP, be it game play, music, video or internet connectivity. The positive consumer experience helps create an expression on the product."
Bose adds, "We chose CCD specifically, since in terms of the youth, CCD and PlayStation share common synergies. Also given the experiential nature of this activity, CCD provides the perfect setting to carry out an activity of this nature."
Alok Gupta, director, Café Coffee Day says, "A diverse variety of age groups visit the café on a daily basis. This will enable our youth patrons to have an enhanced in-café gaming experience and help us in bringing greater value to our customers; yet again establishing our brand promise that 'A lot can happen over coffee'."
In fact, over the years, CCD and other coffee chains have emerged as an interactive alternative media for brands to communicate with the 'young at heart'. Brands like Levi's, Channel V, Bindass and TVS Scooty have, in the past, tied up with CCD to target their common audience base.
Apart from the on-ground promotion within the CCD outlets across Mumbai, Delhi and Bengaluru, the brand also ran a special feature on the MTV show, Wassup, where this activity was promoted.
For the record, Café Coffee Day is a part of coffee conglomerate, Amalgamated Bean Coffee Trading Company. Starting out with one coffee bar in Bengaluru in 1996; today, CCD has become India's largest retail chain of cafés with 833 outlets in 118 cities around the country.