Marston’s, the official beer of the England cricket team, has launched a sponsorship deal with StickCricket.com – so dedicated beer and cricket fans can play online over the summer.
Stick Cricket is the world’s most popular online cricket game and the second most popular cricket website on the Internet. It offers a series of addictive and free-to-play batting games, and is predominantly played by young professional males.
Marston’s is offering users a series of addictive, free to play, online cricket games at StickCricket.com. The campaign kicks off with a Marston’s Head2Head Challenge between England and the West Indies changing to Marston’s Head2Head between England and India on 19th July. Players compete with their favourite team, and have to hit the largest target score from just 15 overs. The ‘run rates’ required are tough, forcing users to ‘hit out or get out’ to reach their target.
Justin Way, Marston’s Marketing Manager said: “We’re aiming to push the boundaries in terms of our commitment to English cricket this summer with an online games campaign for cricket and beer fans everywhere. Our partnership with StickCricket.com gives fans the opportunity to enjoy playing their favourite game while enjoying a much loved pint of Marston’s. Players also have the opportunity to sign up to www.marstonscricketclub.com for their chance to win beer for a year.”
The Marston’s Head2Head Challenge has been designed to reflect the look and feel of the Marston’s cricket club – a portal offering fans the latest cricket news, exclusive competitions and information about Marston’s.
As headline sponsors of StickCricket.com, Marston’s brand and colour scheme are featured on every page of the site and throughout the Head2Head Challenge game. The deal also features prominent adverts for Maston’s Pedigree in the game and throughout the StickCricket.com site.
In the first four days of the game’s launch, the Marston’s Head2Head Challenge received more than 18,000 visits, with users spending an average of 11.76 minutes playing the game on each visit.
Director of Stick Sports, Paul Collins said: “Sponsored and branded free-to-play online games are one of the most exciting and effective marketing platforms around. The Marston’s Head2Head Challenge enables cricket fans to interact with the Marston’s brand for an extended period of time, every time the game is played. The success of the Marston’s Head2Head Challenge campaign is already reflected in the popularity of the game and the number of users being exposed to the Marston’s brand.”