A barber hailing from Bihar’s Madhubani district became a millionaire owing to his foresight while building his fantasy team for the Indian Premier League clash between Chennai Super Kings and Kolkata Knight Riders.
“After the match, I came in the first position and won Rs one crore. The official call also came soon after. I was told that a sum of Rs 70 lakh would be credited into my account in the next two days. The money will be paid after the deduction of taxes. I couldn’t sleep that night,” Ashok Kumar, who owns a barbershop at Nanaur Chowk in the Andharthandi block of Madhubani, was quoted as saying by the Indian Express.
While some would say he hit a jackpot overnight, Kumar reveals that he has been passionately invested in fantasy sports apps for a long time. Having tried his luck for years, he finally made the right choice which led him to bag the prize of 1 crore rupees by paying just a meagre amount of 50 rupees to enter the contest.
“I selected the Chennai Super King and Kolkata Knight Riders teams after paying the entry fee of Rs 50. I never thought I would be so lucky. When the match ended, the team I had selected performed remarkably. They have helped me win that contest,” he fondly recounts.
A million rupees haven’t changed his love for his profession. Grounded and modest-sounding Kumar is planning to first clear his debts with the winning amount and then build a house for his family.
Ashok Kumar is among the many in rural India playing on Dream11. The company is known for its aggressive marketing campaigns to acquire as many users as possible in a relatively short span of time.
Earlier this month, the company reported a record profit of Rs 181 crore for the financial year 2019-20 up from a loss of Rs 87.8 crore in the previous year, according to its regulatory filings.
The Mumbai-based company had spent amounts aggressively towards advertising. It is noteworthy that Dream11 was the sponsor of the IPL 2020 edition (the sponsorship expenses will be accounted for in FY20-21). The fantasy platform relies heavily on advertising across media platforms to attract downloads on its app solely through APKs or Android Application Package. The app is not available on the Playstore.
Advertising and promotional expenses made up for 71.1% of the annual expenses with a YoY increase by 69.20% to Rs 1328.02 crore during FY20 from Rs 785.1 crore in FY19. Sponsorship costs reportedly went down by 39% to Rs 100.7 crore during FY19-20.
In what can be considered as a marketing and publicity coup, leading sports fantasy company Dream11 has announced its collaboration with Khaby Lame, marking the first-ever association of the latter with an Indian brand.
Khaby created a short video skit with Indian content-creator, Viraj Ghelani, and in his trademark style called upon people to accomplish day-to-day tasks in a straightforward manner and use their brains to play on Dream11.
In the video, Ghelani is sitting with a friend who is eating french fries with toothpicks. Ghelani isn’t amused and calls Lame to simplify this. Lame picks up a fry with his fingers and eats it, showing viewers how simple this is in his signature style, extending his arms with inimitable facial expressions.
Wearing a Dream11 jersey, Lame then points to a placard that says ‘Dimaag Lagana Hai Toh Dream11 Pe Laga Na’ reiterating the brand’s message to put their intellectual might for picking a team on Dream11.