MUMBAI: Leo Burnett Orchard, The Leo Group India’s full service creative agency, has won the creative mandate for sports tech startup, Dream11.

Fantasy sports, one of Dream11’s specialised offerings, is a game of skill that offers Indian sports fans a platform to showcase their knowledge. Fans can create their own team of real-life players from upcoming matches, score points based on their on-field performance and compete with other fans. Dream11 recently announced MS Dhoni as its brand ambassador.

As part of its new duties, Leo Burnett Orchard will partner Dream11 for all of its sports tie-ups, and will help consumers realise the joy of fantasy sports. There was no multi-agency pitch involved in the assignment of the creative mandate.

Dream11 CMO Vikrant Mudaliar says, "We found in Leo Burnett Orchard a team that understood the vision and need for our brand, Dream11. The team's understanding of our category coupled with their creative ideas, proved Leo Burnett Orchard to be worthy partners for this stage of our brand's journey. We are happy to start this association."

Dream11 has been growing exponentially over the last one year, with over 1.5 crore Indians signing up to play fantasy cricket, football, kabaddi, and for the first time in the country, basketball. So far, the app has tied up with all the major sporting tournaments telecast in India, including the Indian Premier League, Indian Soccer League, the English Premier League and the NBA.

Leo Burnett Orchard chief operating officer Mahuya Chaturvedi adds, “We are extremely proud and energised with this win. Dream11 is a leader in building fantasy sports in our country and we are proud partners in developing this category. Our strength of being a young, energetic team, with a mix of big ideas and aggressive digital content creation helped us win this account. As we scale Leo Burnett Orchard, a diverse set of brands and categories, coupled with new age marketing and communication skills, will pave a blazing way ahead for us.”