Nike have rolled out another chapter in its ongoing ‘Bleed Blue’ campaign activating its partnership with the Indian cricket team for the ICC Cricket World Cup.
Nike , which has been the official kit supplier to the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) since 2006 and renewed its partnership in mid 2011 for a further five years taking the tie-up to 2017, used the campaign to launch the latest version of its Indian national team kit for the 50-ver World Cup.
The multi-platform promotion kicked-off a month before the tournament began with a launch event and spot fronted by Bollywood actress Deepika Padukone – who is the ambassador of the new Bleed Blue campaign.
The former badminton player turned Bollywood star wore the new team shirt for a photo shoot by photographer Bharat Sikka and styled by Vogue India’s fashion director Anaita Shroff Adajania.
The campaign also included a behind-the-scenes web film from the photo shoot.
Dressed in Nike she is also fronting the promo idents for the ICC Cricket World Cup coverage on Star Sports.
The actress also took to micro-blogging site Twitter to share her new attire with her fans: writing ‘Who will #bleedblue with me? Victory in 2015. @bcci @nikecricket’.
The campaign saw Padukone fronted a press conference for the launch and issued the following statement:
‘Whether you like it or not, cricket is a religion in our country and it’s the one thing that brings people across the world together, as one unit,’ she said.
‘Cricket was one of the first sports that I followed beyond badminton. And I have an association with the sport from the time I supported the Bangalore IPL team. That’s when I started understanding the game.’
‘The minute you think of blue, you think of cricket. And Nike has managed to capture that. Now that we have the World Cup coming up, you can actually feel the atmosphere changing, you can feel that people are gearing up. The Bleed Blue campaign is one of those things that really help sort of elevate that entire experience. I think blue equals cricket.’
She also recalled how four years ago, when Indian won the last ICC World Cup in April 2011 at Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium, Padukone was in London on a film shoot.
The director gave the crew the day off so they could catch the match on TV at an Indian restaurant and after the vicyory they all celebrated with bubbly, but she still felt frustrated at not being home celebrating on Marine Drive.
The campaign also included a major story on Indian Vogue (see http://www.vogue.in/content/deepika-p…), as well as being covered by other major Indian style publications such as GQ and Conde Naste Traveller.
The Nike campaign continues across its own social channels – particularly on the sportswear brand’s Twitter feed.
“#BleedBlue is about representing this nation,about trying to meet all of their expectations.” http://t.co/ryso4PtmYk pic.twitter.com/Ms0erhQaol
— Nike Cricket (@nikecricket) March 8, 2015
Shivani, Dancer, “#BleedBlue gives you a sense of purpose and togetherness.” http://t.co/ryso4PKXPS pic.twitter.com/X3duOCCNso
— Nike Cricket (@nikecricket) March 17, 2015
Comment
The ‘Bleed Blue’ campaign first started for Nike at the last Cricket World Cup in 2011 when India went on to win the title.
The idea behind the campaign is that ‘Blue’ is not just a colour, but it represents a billion hopes, dreams and aspirations fuelling a cricket crazy nation.
Links
Nike Bleed Blue Twitter:
#BleedBlue
@nikecricket
Nike Bleed Blue Launch Site:
http://news.nike.com/news/iconic-actress-deepika-padukone-sports-new-nike-team-india-cricket-jersey
Nike Cricket Websites:
http://www.nike.com/in/en_gb/c/cricket
Vogue India:
http://www.vogue.in/
https://www.facebook.com/VogueIndia
https://twitter.com/VogueIndia
https://plus.google.com/u/0/104969713…
https://soundcloud.com/conde-nast-india
https://itunes.apple.com/in/app/vogue…
