Kingfisher and ZipDial Launch World’s First Mobile Game based on Missed Calls

With two back-to-back cricketing events, the cricket fever in India has been at all time high. Kingfisher, India’s most popular beverage brand, has called upon ZipDial to launch Book Cricket through missed calls. The game is developed and promoted by ZipDial, a Bangalore-based technology startup that has patented various marketing and engagement services around the simplicity of dialing numbers or ZipDialling.Book Cricket is a popular game that most Indians play as kids. The players take turns to flip pages of a book and depending on the page number you score runs, or get out. ZipDial has enabled the same game on mobile where the page flipping is replaced with ZipDialling. The game can be played by ZipDialling 080 300 500 77, toll-free.

Within the first 24 hours of launch the Kingfisher Book Cricket on ZipDial was played by 2811 unique users, out of which over 60% played again the same day. From there on the game’s popularity has grown virally through word of mouth. At the time of reporting the Kingfisher Book Cricket on ZipDial was played a total of 84931 times in about 15 days.

This rate of adoption is nearly kept up with Kingfisher’s Facebook fan page which has averaged approximately 1,500 new fans per day since launch.  With a toll-free and simple experience like ZipDialing, it is possible for adoption to grow much faster than on the web.

“This cricket season, Kingfisher brings the Good Times to all of India, whether or not they are connected online, and ZipDial is the ideal way to allow all of our customers to experience the Good Times and celebrate cricket in a way that is toll-free and as simple as dialing,” said Samar Sheikhawat, the Senior Vice President of Marketing for United Breweries Ltd.  “We have been very happy with the participation from customers and the rate of growth of Kingfisher ZipDial Book Cricket.”

Valerie Rozycki, CEO of ZipDial, said “We are excited to see the results and more happy about the fact that we could add value to Kingfisher’s campaigns. The fact that ZipDial works for any consumer today on an handset and any operator while being toll-free makes it ubiquitous. 100% of Indian mobile audience can participate in interactive brand campaigns through ZipDialing.”

ABOUT ZIPDIAL:

ZipDial Mobile Solutions Pvt Ltd is a Bangalore-based company founded by three technology entrepreneurs with degrees from top global universities and graduate schools such as IIT-Kanpur, IIM-Calcutta and Stanford University as well as extensive professional leadership experience in both India and the US, including companies like mChek, Zapak.com, eBay, Ketera and Xerox.  ZipDial is well-funded with its Series A investment found led by Mumbai Angels with participation from other notable serial entrepreneur angel investors.

The ZipDial platform is 100% accessible to the mass market.  The experience is a simple as dialing numbers – or missed calls.  To understand the ZipDial experience, simply dial (toll-free) 080 300 500 00.  The call will ring once and disconnect, and you’ll receive an SMS with more information on ZipDial.

ZipDial has been tested and proven through past campaigns with large customers such as Proctor & Gamble, KFC with Pepsi, Sanofi-Aventis, Videocon.  Services are also live with happy small and medium business customers, including ecommerce businesses, law firms, individual celebrities, NGOs and live event managers.

The range of services includes:

•Lead capturing and customer relationship management on the mobile

•Market research, polling and customer feedback surveys in the simplest and lowest cost form

•Brand promotions and consumer engagement such as sports fan clubs

•Delivery of and access to personalized content, such as mobile banking, made absolutely simple and accessible to the mass market

•Mobile number verification, especially for ecommerce and web businesses

ZipDial’s mission is to create the world’s most accessible engagement platform.  Focusing on the mobile gives reach, and the core experience of dialing numbers (or missed calls) makes the engagement 100% free, simple and accessible to the mass market.  ZipDial’s mission for its business customers running campaigns is the same.  Not only can large corporations such as ZipDial’s existing customers (Proctor & Gamble, LG, Sanofi-Aventis, Videocon, etc.) use the platform, but also small business customers who otherwise are limited in their options for mobile engagement with consumers.

The company was established out of Bangalore in early 2010 and now has a growing team of 14 exceptional members who all highly enjoy working together.  ZipDial’s technology is patent pending and was built in-house by the ZipDial team. With successful customer campaigns in India and the Caribbean, ZipDial is ready to further expand globally.

Valerie Rozycki (Founder & CEO, ZipDial) says, “The incredible pace of growth in the mobile industry in India provides a large and untapped market. ZipDial’s innovative technology and business model will continue to open new markets and create new opportunities. The company will continue to evolve with (or ahead of) the market.”