Zapak celebrates 'friendz'ship with McDowell's No. 1

The gaming portal has launched McDowell's No 1 Friendzy and is asking friends to come together and celebrate their friendship

McDowell's has used friendship as an underlying theme in all its campaigns. Now, United Spirits has launched a friendship carnival in association with Zapak Digital Entertainment. McDowell's No. 1 Friendzy celebrates friendship through on-ground and online events.

Mathew Xavier, business head, United Spirits, says in an official communiqué, "Continued patronage of McDowell's No. 1 by friends who bond over a drink has catapulted the brand to an unmatchable scale. With McDowell's No. 1 Friendzy, we hope to reach out to several more people who truly enjoy and celebrate their friendship."

Rohit Sharma, chief operating officer, Zapak Digital Entertainment, says in the same release, "Friends are an important part of all our lives. But our busy work schedules don't allow us to spend quality time with our friends. The McDowell's Friendzy Carnival is dedicated to people who consider friendship an important aspect of their lives. We hope that this initiative will help people have a good time."

While McDowell's conceptualised the entire campaign, Zapak has launched a microsite, which is the hub for the online part of the carnival.

Zapak will promote the Friendzy programme among registered users and patrons through interactive and striking features such as games, video and photo uploads, discussion boards, screen savers and contests, while deriving new registrations for the newly launched microsite. Participants in the carnival will get a chance to win iPods, every week, through quirky contests.

Arun Mehra, chief marketing officer, Zapak Digital Entertainment, points that though the initiative was launched only in the second week of October, the microsite has already seen more than 50,000 registrations.

As for the on-ground part, Zapak and McDowell's will host celebrations across 43 cities and 698 outlets, comprising prestigious clubs, restaurants and bars. Parties will be hosted at these venues on pre-decided dates, the details of which will be given out on the microsite. There are no prerequisites for attending these parties, except a spirit of friendship, says Xavier.

The gaming portal will also lend a hand to the pre-event promotions by publicising the events in many of its gameplexes.

Though Zapak and McDowell's have had past associations in the form of McDowell's releasing some advergames on the gaming portal, both sides claim that this is the biggest online carnival ever attempted by any brand in India, with extensive offline events complementing the initiative.

Xavier tells afaqs!, "The brand is a perfect companion to celebrate camaraderie, bonding and for enjoyment with friends. The McDowell's No. 1 Friendzy Friendship carnival will reinforce this message. As part of the amplification and to reach out to Net savvy consumers, we have tied up with Zapak.com to leverage synergies."

On McDowell's decision to take Zapak as a partner, Mehra says, "Zapak has a base of more than six million gamers and more than 80 per cent of this base comprises the country's young crowd. McDowell's was looking for a similar kind of target audience to hold the biggest online carnival and we were the natural choice."

The on-ground activation will be handled by the event management companies of each region. The parties will have several features, such as live music and humour based performances, magic, tarot card readings and interactive games. Well-known regional and local artists have been signed on, including Aurko, Sound of Music, Janaki, Ragu & Co., Habeeb Qadeer and KB Jani.

While McDowell's refused to divulge details on the money spent on this extensive campaign, Xavier says, "A significant proportion of the total advertising expenditure on McDowell's was for the Friendzy carnival. Considering the size of the McDowell's No. 1 franchise and the contribution of whisky, this is the biggest activity on the brand this year."

Outdoor, radio, print and digital media are being used to make the carnival a resounding success.