Summer's Rocking Cricket Returns

Standard Bank Pro20 series sets the stage for Kaboom Tour 09

Fast facts

  • You can catch the Australia vs. South Africa Pro20 matches on SABC 3, or visit the Pro20 blog or Twitter for the latest updates.
  • Congratulations to the Nashua Cape Cobras who are this years Pro20 Kaboom Tour champions after a sterling performance at the Newlands cricket grounds.
  • The Standard Bank Pro20 series explodes into action on 21 January when the Kaboom Tour 09 takes the kaboom of rocking twenty-over cricket to fans country-wide.
  • New-look stadium activations and a new series format keep Standard Bank Pro20 cricket at the global forefront of innovative spectator experience.
  • The Standard Bank Pro20 series offers affordable sportainment for all age groups, with ticket prices starting at R20.
  • The series introduces a new dedicated website www.standardbankcricket.com.
  • Integrated Social Media platforms facilitate rapid and widespread sharing of information, images, audio and video using channels like blogs, YouTube, Flickr, Facebook, Twitter, and Mxit.
  • Standard Bank’s Achiever Banking is integrated with the Standard Bank Pro20 series for the first time to offer unique and exclusive entertainment experiences for clients.
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Rock on! Cricket’s Top Twenty Hits

  1. The sixth Standard Bank Pro20 series, South Africa’s premier limited-overs cricket tournament, is back – bigger and better! A domestic tournament with global impact, the award winning Pro20 series has set marketing benchmarks emulated the world over... and yet Standard Bank, as the sole sponsor of South African twenty over cricket, continuously seeks new ways to evolve the series and the 20-over format further.
  2. We got the Kaboom shook up last year’s tournament and in 2009, the kaboom is taken to new levels of rocking cricket. The Kaboom Tour 09 promises to deliver the best “sportainment” both on and off the field.
  3. For the first time in the tournament’s history the 2009 series offers a change in format: the introduction of a best-of-three semi final round. "Home” and “away” semi final games, with a third decider if necessary, ensure that fans get a rocking addition to the business end of the series.
  4. The Standard Bank Pro20 series has consistently produced scintillating rocking cricket, with an impressive array of records and stats held by South African players. Performances at the Standard Bank Pro20 offer the finalists a berth at the Champions League Twenty20 to compete with other domestic contenders from Australia, England and India.
  5. Summer rocks when good cricket is affordable for all pockets. With tickets starting at R20, the Standard Bank Pro20 series is a three hour adrenaline rock fest of boundary bashing, seam-splitting, action-packed cricket that offers value for money.
  6. The series introduces Standard Bank’s new cricket website: www.standardbankcricket.com. Amongst the many innovative features on the site are live score feeds from every game, up-to-date fixtures and results tables, match reports, podcasts, player profiles, competitions, fantasy league and wallpapers.
  7. Introducing an integrated social media campaign for the series in 2008, Standard Bank set new international benchmarks in sponsorship leveraging. In 2009, the innovation continues with updated social media platforms set to deliver speedy and smart content to encourage maximum supporter participation.
  8. All information on the series is packaged in this custom-created, information rich Social Media Press Release (SMPR), which includes multimedia content as well as links to the various Standard Bank Pro20 online social networks. In 2008, the Standard Bank’s SMPR was a communications first for South Africa, taking sports sponsorships worldwide into a new realm of facilitating rapid and widespread sharing of news, information, images, audio, video, and other content.
  9. The supporter network is maximised even further via the mobile phone market. The Standard Bank Pro20 series interacts with cricket supporters using the MXit mobile platform, a Vodafone Live Mini-site and Standard Bank's innovative WAP.
  10. Fan-created content is linked to dedicated spaces on Facebook, the Standard Bank blog, www.thunda.com, Standard Bank's dedicated Youtube channel, and Flickr,allowing sharing of opinion and uploading or downloading videos and pictures with prizes on offer for participants and contributors. Fans can also share insights, opinions and views with rockstar blogger Jonty Rhodes.
  11. Twitter, will be used to update followers on the latest Pro20 buzz as it happens. Twitter is a free social networking and micro-blogging service that allows users to send "updates" or "tweets": text-based posts, up to 140 characters long to the Twitter website. Become a Standard Bank Pro20 Twitter follower.
  12. Live blogging from every match will integrate the cricket and broadcast experience for both in-stadia spectators and TV viewers across South Africa.
  13. A Fantasy League will offer fans a chance to create their own teams and enter the tournament, and can be accessed through both the Standard Bank Achiever site and www.standardbankcricket.com. Top prize money for the Fantasy League is R15 000 which Standard Bank will double if the winner is an Achiever account holder.
  14. Standard Bank’s Achiever clients are in line for a rocking experience in The Achiever Box at selected games. Account holders who enter the Standard Bank Pro20 Achiever competition on the Achiever site can win an entertainment experience for themselves and three friends. They will rub shoulders with other "financially savvy" Achievers with serious rock star credentials, and “Myles the Butler” the star of Standard Bank's entertaining Achiever Club campaign.
  15. Seeking to continuously evolve the series in order to keep it innovative, Standard Bank has introduced a number of new “sportainment” elements for the Kaboom Tour 09. The first of these is a funky update to the long established and iconic Standard Bank Hard Hat. In the last five series, over 350 000 have been handed out. A new version – a standardised black hard hat, with detachable Mohawks in franchise relevant colours – will be handed out free to fans at each venue on a first-come-first serve basis. Fans now have the option of changing their Mohawks to show their support for different teams at different venues.
  16. Music has always played an integral part to the stadium experience of Standard Bank Pro20 cricket, and the Kaboom Tour 09 offers a new 5 metre high “Rockstar” stage with DJs hitting the decks for 4s, 6s, and wickets taken. New visual elements on the tower – including smoke and flame funnels – and dancers grooving to the Kaboom Tour 09 tracks, increases the all-round entertainment for spectators.
  17. The series introduces The Kaboom Slide....for over 16’s only… An 8-metre tower, with a suspended harness on a 22-metre cable will see willing participants released into a giant Standard Bank Pro20 inflatable for 4s, 6s, or fall of wickets.
  18. Other crowd favourites back for the Kaboom Tour 09 are the Mega Dunk Tank, and mascot Hardy.
  19. New features for players bring the rockstars closer to the action: the new 15 man Dugout means the full batting team can support the stage-side action. A new kit design from Canterbury keeps the rockstar “look” of Pro20 at the cutting edge.
  20. Standard Bank Inside Edge – SuperSport’s long running cricket magazine show is to be relaunched with an exciting new format, during the 2009 Pro20 series, on 27 January.

The Standard Bank Pro20 series and Kaboom Tour 09 expands and revolutionises an already winning format, providing action packed cricket coupled with all-round entertainment. It’s truly rocking cricket!

This years Pro20 Kaboom Tour has come to end. Our victors, the Nashua Cape Cobras. After an impressive season, the Cape Cobras have proven that they really do have the Kaboom!

The Kaboom Tour might have come to an end, but Standard Bank Cricket rages on! The South Africa vs. Australia Pro20 bring us bleeding-edge, dynamic cricket!

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Quotes

 

“The Pro20 series has grown enormously since our launch of the format in 2004 – it’s incredible that this year on the Kaboom Tour 09 we are celebrating the sixth edition! The enormous success that we have seen over the last five years in Pro20 cricket has been built on a business model of constantly evolving the game, the stadium and broadcast experiences, and the many elements that make up the sportainment of Pro20." - Clement Motale, Director Group Sponsorships, Standard Bank

"Standard Bank’s innovations in marketing, communicating and activating Pro20 cricket is recognised globally, and has set a number of international benchmarks." - Clement Motale, Director Group Sponsorships, Standard Bank

"The 2009 series looks set to deliver, once again, the outstanding levels of contest we’ve seen in previous series. Standard Bank Pro20 cricket has always been the place to test the newest cricketing format, and to set sights on the emerging specialists in the twenty-over game." - Clement Motale, Director Group Sponsorships, Standard Bank

"We look forward to welcoming back cricket lovers from around the country – their overwhelming support is the proof that that the Standard Bank Pro20 series remains a winning formula, from event to broadcast, to quality action packed cricket." - Clement Motale, Director Group Sponsorships, Standard Bank

“In 2008, Standard Bank’s SMPR on the Pro20 series was a communications first for South Africa, taking sports sponsorships into a new realm of facilitating rapid and widespread news, information, images, audio, video, and other content. In our efforts to evolve all facets of the sponsorship, including media communication and the sharing of Pro20 content, using SMPRs has taken the traditional press release into new territory.” - Kate Johns, Group Sponsorships PR Manager, Standard Bank

“We believe that the SMPR creates new ways to engage and inform media – in ways that are dynamic, interactive, relevant and accessible. More importantly it facilitates two-way dialogue with our key partners, allowing for feedback in the online forums.” - Kate Johns, Group Sponsorships PR Manager, Standard Bank

“Cricket South Africa’s vision is to make cricket a truly national sport of winners and we’re excited about Standard Bank’s innovative marketing strategy, which is a key component in reaching new markets. Social media has revolutionised personal interaction in recent times, and it’s been exciting to watch Standard Bank’s pioneering use of these new platforms to promote the domestic Pro20 series. The Standard Bank Pro20 series has grown in popularity each year, and we’re looking forward to another rocking edition of this thrilling format.” - Kass Naidoo, Commercial & Corporate Relations Manager: Cricket South Africa

“This year it was important that we build on the success of our social media strategy for the 2009 Standard Bank Pro20 cricket marketing campaign. In conceptualizing the social media elements of the campaign we had to ensure that we improved their experience on the various social platforms. We have retained our Pro20 blog, including live blogs from the matches, a Facebook fan club, Twitter and YouTube presences all with some enhancements. We have added a Flickr, Thunda.com presence this year to enable people to share their photographs of their experiences more easily.”– Bellinda Carreira, Senior Manager, Direct and Online Marketing, Standard Bank

“Another key difference in this year’s digital marketing campaign for Pro20 was better integration in the mobile media space. We have a dedicated Pro20 presence on VodafoneLive and in our Standard Bank contact in MXit. You will also be able to get live scores on these platforms as well as from our standardbank.mobi wapsite. This will enable people to keep up to date with the fast paced Pro20 action like never before.”  – Bellinda Carreira, Senior Manager, Direct and Online Marketing, Standard Bank

“This is the sixth annual Standard Bank Pro20 Series; this new generation form of cricket delivers fast paced action and attracts a broader spectrum of fans. We hope that the new live feeds into our standardbankcricket.com website and our standardbank.mobi wapsite enable Pro20 fans to keep up with the action as it happens.” – Bellinda Carreira, Senior Manager, Direct and Online Marketing, Standard Bank

“We are thrilled to see the Pro20 return with a bang in 2009 - and this year's Kaboom Tour '09 campaign provides a great platform to build on the success of the 2008 season's mobile and social media initiatives. We have more dedicated bloggers, more coverage and live scoring on the standardbank.mobi site and more Pro20 content within the Standard Bank Contact in MXit, on Twitter and on Facebook. All this means that Standard Bank Pro20 cricket remains at the forefront of digital innovation.” – Angus Robinson, CEO, Brandsh Media

Credits

Social media press release created and issued by Brandsh Media on behalf of Standard Bank.