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The cricket season in India is in full swing with the Indian Premier League 2022. It is set to culminate with a grand finale on May 29. The fact that cricket is a religion in India is known far and wide, and the IPL has only heightened this awareness. But this is truly felt in the trickle-down effects on playgrounds, housing societies, etc., which have witnessed countless gully cricket matches.
While brands sponsoring IPL teams have been going full swing in their marketing activities throughout the season, some organizations have focused their energies on capitalizing on the cricketing euphoria to deliver fan and user engagement in creative ways.
Moj is an Indian brand that has taken cognizance of the popularity of gully cricket. They have developed a new campaign targeted at gully cricket enthusiasts. Moj is a short-video-sharing social networking app created by ShareChat.
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To learn more about the nine-week-long Gully Cricket campaign that began on March 26, Sportskeeda caught up with Shashank Shekhar, Sr. Director - Content Strategy and Operations at ShareChat and Moj.
Speaking about the tremendous response and engagement seen throughout the campaign, Shekhar declared:
“In 7 weeks since launch, the campaign has garnered 29 billion+ views and 1.6 million UGC, and we expect a higher engagement by the end of IPL finals.”
Echoing the sentiment and nostalgia behind the popularity of gully cricket, Shekhar added:
“The campaign mirrors India's passion for the sport, especially now when the cricket fever is rising with the ongoing IPL season. With this campaign, we wanted to bring alive the same energy and enthusiasm on a digital platform where our users and sports fanatics can take part in different contests starting from Gully Team, Gully Bowler, Gully Batsman, Gully Entertainer, to Gully Lens Star and get recognized for their cricketing talents.”
Onboarding Yuzvendra Chahal for the Gully Cricket campaign by Moj
In a further effort to gratify its users, the platform also launched some innovative cricket filters. Participants stand a chance to win exclusive cricket merchandise autographed by the current Purple Cap holder, Yuzvendra Chahal, as well as one IPL match ticket daily.
These efforts have paid off exceptionally well and translated into superior engagement and response from their creator community, as noted by Shashank Shekhar.
Commenting on why Chahal was targeted for the endorsement and as the face of the campaign, Shashank mentioned:
“He (Chahal) is a youth favourite cricket icon, and his fan following has been increasing with his exceptional performance in this season’s IPL. As the current Purple Cap holder, he has also been performing exceptionally well on the grounds as well on social media, where his dynamic personality is well demonstrated through his fun, quirky and captivating presence. All these factors combined made him the befitting choice for this campaign. He is also involved in enriching #MojGullyCricket by sharing valuable cricket tips and tricks with all of his Gully fans exclusively on Moj to enable learning along with entertainment.”
Focus on user engagement and retention, as well as new user acquisition for Moj
Casting a wide net with their objectives for the Gully Cricket campaign that puts the spotlight on fans, Shekhar described the importance of new user acquisition, engagement, and retention through this campaign.
Delving into the conceptualization and goals of the campaign, he reflected:
“The campaign is targeted at all cricket enthusiasts irrespective of their age or region. We understand there can be no defined age group or region for a cricket campaign such as #MojGullyCricket. India being a nation that thrives on cricket, the campaign is conceptualised to celebrate the very essence of inclusivity innate to the sport and the sporting stories from the field.”
Further, Shekhar added:
“Whether on rough grounds or in unfavourable weather conditions, a true cricket fan never wavers when given a chance to indulge in a game or watch one. We hope to not only reach out to our existing demographic of cricket lovers but also attract new audiences to Moj and live the Gully cricket experience digitally.”
Moj’s merger with MX TakaTak and content strategy post-acquisition
Having recently announced a strategic merger of Moj with MX TakaTak, the ShareChat family has expanded further.
Founded in 2015, ShareChat has several social media brands under its portfolio, including ShareChat App, Moj, and TakaTak. ShareChat (Mohalla Tech Pvt Ltd) is India’s largest homegrown social media company, with 400+ million MAUs across all its platforms.
With Moj and MX TakaTak having been reported to continue to operate as separate platforms even after the acquisition was complete, Shekhar spoke about the merger, saying:
“Currently, the back-end merger of both apps, Moj and TakaTak, is underway. This will help creators on both platforms reach a far larger audience. For now, both apps will function independently and combine forces in terms of content sharing.”
Finally, on how he sees the evolution of the content strategy for the overall ecosystem, he signed off by adding:
“We aim to build the largest original content platform along with the largest community of users across India, over 300M MAUs with Moj and TakaTak combined. Our approach is to build newer categories of short video content, besides dance & lip-sync, and diversify the content available in niche categories. And to this end, we are diversifying our content platter with genres like Food, Health & Fitness, Beauty & Fashion, Home Decor, Arts & Crafts), AGT, Gaming, DIY, and Education. We have identified many engaging categories within the short video space and support creators who are leaders in those categories.”
With a boom in content and given the ban on TikTok in India, Moj and the larger ShareChat ecosystem seems set to continue with their unprecedented growth.
