Campaign India (CI): What is the idea behind Reliance Communications' association with the Euro 2012? Have you associated with the property in the past?
Shivani Suri Dhanda (SSD): The last Euro in India saw a viewership of 9.3 million and since then football following has grown manifold in India because of the immense popularity of various leagues like English Premier League, German Bundesliga, La Liga (from Spain) etc. We've had big football stars like Messi and Drogba coming to India in the past few months and clubs like Manchester United are really betting big on India. Given the increasing popularity of the sport, it made sense for us to associate with what has become one of biggest tournaments in world football. Even in the past, we've associated with football through the EPL, World Cup et al.
CI: Is Reliance Communications planning something special for the final (on1 July, 2012)?
SSD: As part of our association with Neo Sports, we are running a consumer engagement program whereby Reliance subscribers are given a chance to get closer to the action by commentating on select matches from the Neo Sports commentary booth. We took an integrated approach of using both television and social media by asking users to showcase their passion for football and selecting the winners to be a part of the footballing action. We've had great participation with more than 20,000 people engaging with us on our Facebook page only for this activity and we have identified two lucky winners who will be featured on Neo Sports during the pre-match review show on 1 July.
CI: Does Reliance Communications plan to associate with any further football events ?
SSD: The popularity of football is soaring in India and we expect to continue to drive our association with the sport through short-term partnerships and long-term strategic tie-ups.
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