03/08/2016

Ads, Anthems & E-Books Lead Edelweiss’ Expansive IOA #‎iAmTeamIndia Support Campaign

Insurer Edelweiss’ multi-platform #iAmTeamIndia campaign aims to generate support for the Indian Olympic team and spans traditional advertising, interactive digital and social assets, an inspirational anthem and an e-book which urges the nation’s athletes to ‘Go fearless, entire India is with you’.

 

Edelweiss, the official Indian Olympic Association sponsor (IOA), has worked with Scarecrow communications to develop an integrated campaign – running across TV, cinema, radio, print, outdoor, digital, social, on-ground, events and experiential – that aims to build support for the team and excitement around India’s Olympic medal hopes.

 

The core campaign film highlights that the 120-strong Rio 2016 team is backed by the cheers of the nation’s billion supporters and its anthemic soundtrack carries athlete ‘protection and support’ messages (relating to the brand’s insurance offering).

 

The spot, first posted on the brand’s own YouTube channel, encouraged Indians to comment/share using the#iAmTeamIndia hashtag to show support for the Indian Olympic Team.

 

 

It was, as ever, amplified socially across the usual platforms such as Twitter,

 

 

 

with content in multiple languages.

 

 

The brand urges everyone to get involved and share their messages of support which will be added to the campaign e-book.

 

 

The E-book itself is a compilation of images and messages of people holding the #iAmTeamIndia placard that have been collected through the campaign from right across the nation.

 

This social support drive has been promoted by a selection of social assets,

 

 

as well digital film,

 

 

and on-the-ground experiences.

 

 

The campaign is also being drive through support by many stars across India; from actors,

 

 

through a phalanx of major celebrity names spanning current Olympians (Saina Nehwal, Tintu Luka, Saardar Singh, Gagan Narang and Abhinav Bindra), retired Olympic stars (eg Geet Sethi and Prakash Padukone), as well as non-sport celebs (eg Shilpa Shetty and Madhavan)

 

All sorts of Indian companies are also offering their support for the team through the campaign,

 

 

including the sponsor’s very own agencies – like @MediaComGlobal.

 

 

Thus far the support strand of the campaign has generated more than 300,000 pictures and over 1.5 million interactions, shares and comments.

 

The initiative was built around the brand’s Facebook page,

 

 

 

and it is also being supported by a ‘Know Your Olympian’ strand of the campaign built around introducing individual Rio athletes.

 

 

 

Other competition led activation phases to drive support include a ‘sports quiz’ for students across 100 schools (where sports merchandise, laptops, and cash are offered as incentives) and contents for customers, consumers, channel partners and Edelweiss employees (with prizes ranging from shopping vouchers,

 

 

to tickets to Rio.

 

 

The primary IOA sponsor also hosted a team send-off party.

 

 

Indeed it was at the brand-backed send-off event in Dehli that the catchy anthem was officially launched and when the e-book book was personally given to IOA chairman Ramachandran by Edelweiss chairman Rashesh Shah.

 

‘Through #iAmTeamIndia anthem and the E book, we at Edelweiss have taken our association with Indian Olympic team to the next level. The main objective is to attract the interest of as many people as possible towards Olympics,’ explains Edelweiss Group CMO Shabnam Panjwani.

 

‘This campaign is a beautiful way to motivate and promote the Indian contingent at the Olympics.’

 

Scarecrow founder Raghu Bhat added that: ‘Indian sport needs all the support it can get. Through this film, Edelweiss exhorts Indians to stand behind the national team. Our brief to the film maker (Naren Multani) and the music composers (Rohan & Vinayak) was to create a contemporary rendition of ‘veer ras’. The final result has scale, visual drama and emotion. Something we are proud of.’

 

Comment

 

It was back in April 2016 that Edelweiss was first unveiled as the principal sponsor of the Indian Olympic team.

 

As well as the sponsorship rights package, Edelweiss also offered a life insurance cover of Rs 1 crore (US $150,000) to all athletes representing India at Rio.

 

The decision and the associated campaign certainly looks to be a huge successs thus far.

 

At time of writing, 48 hours before Rio’s Opening Ceremony, the ad had notched up around 1m YouTube views and the brand’s Facebook page was showing that 2,467,885 people are personally supporting the #iAmTeamIndia campaign.

 

For any first-time sponsor these are impressive numbers – even in India where engagement metrics are typically fairly eye-bulging.

 

This campaign is another illustration of the degree to which the socio-cultural landscape around Indian sport is changing fast – particularly beyond the dominant cricket juggernaut and in relation to women and sport.

 

It follows in the footsteps of Nike’s recent blockbuster ‘Da Da Ding’ campaign (see case study).

 

The 2016 Rio Olympics sees India send a 100-plus strong contingent – its largest team in Olympic history is a sign of the continuing, expansive development of Indian sport.

 

Links

 

Edelweiss YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/user/edelweiss

 

Edelweiss Twitter:

https://twitter.com/EdelweissFin

 

Edelweiss Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/edelweissfinancialservicesltd

 

Edelweiss Web:

https://www.edelweissfin.com/

 

Scarecrow Communications:

http://www.scarecrow.asia/

 

India Olympic Association

http://www.olympic.ind.in/

https://www.olympic.org/india



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