A month ahead of the 2018 FIFA World Cup kick-off saw Sony Pictures Networks India (SPN) launch a multi-platform, 30-day ‘Doosri Country’ campaign aimed at leveraging football fan frenzy in India.
The campaign, which is being cross-promoted across the SPN network, runs under the title hashtag ‘#MeriDoosriCountry’ and promotes the broadcaster’s tournament telecast.
It aims to engage both ‘committed football fans’ and ‘fringe-viewers’ to support their favourite countries – which temporarily become their ‘Doosri Country’.
SPN’s tournament will be telecast will air in four languages (English, Hindi, Bengali and Malayalam) and all channels will see coverage fronted by a strong line-up of renowned international football panellists.
The integrated campaign, which included both augmented and virtual reality technologies is led by an anchor television commercial.
This #MeriDoosriCountry spearheaded launch spot inspired by Indian fans who exhibit their passion for an adopted team and featuring snapshots of fans cheering and supporting their ‘Doosri Country’ by wearing the team kit, waving the flag and painting their face in adopted team colours.
The campaign continues across digital,
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print, and radio.
The broadcaster will also bring match and fan park experiences to the Indian audience.
The campaign’s launch event was fronted by former National Football team captain and star striker Bhaichung Bhutia who said: “The 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia is one the most awaited tournaments for all of us and I am excited to show my support for the #MeriDoosriCountry campaign. The film gives Indian audience a sense of belonging to one of the most significant sporting events in the world. While I am confident that we will see our football team in the World Cup one day, Meri Doosri country will be Argentina this year.”
The campaign has been developed in harness with agency Culture Machine: where the creative team included Jigar Fernandes, Rohan DSouza, Srijan Shukla, Sandesh Mangaonkar and Jeremy John, with account management by Sapna Bangera.
The production house was Radhika Produces Films, the producer Radhika Sawhney aand the lead spot was directed by Jigar Fernandes, edited by Shahnawaz Mosani and set to music by Karan Kulkarni
Comment:
The official Indian World Cup broadcaster, like Fox in the USA, faces a major challenge as India failed to qualify for Russia 2018.
So adopted an activation approach based around supporting fans’ favourite other countries makes plenty of sense.
In India, cricket is king: it is a behemoth that bestrides the country’s sporting landscape.
But football is growing fast and the World Cup represents the game’s property pinnacle.
As demonstrated by the recent FIFA U-17 World Cup India, football’s growth is solid and it has become the second most viewed sport in the country.
Indeed, Rajesh Kaul, President of Sports & Distribution at Sony Pictures Networks India used the launch event to speaking about the growth of football in India.
“In the last five years, we have seen viewership of football growing every year and season. Be it’s under-17 FIFA World Cup or fan getting exposed to FIFA World Cup or all the top matches of football around the world,” Kaul explained.
“The interest is growing very much and last year we have seen some 400 million viewers of football in the country. It is clearly the number two sports in the country today. SPNI has been home for FIFA four year now which started in 2014 with the broadcast of world cup. FIFA is the integral part of the strategy. We have big plans for the tournament, it’s a biggest property in the world and India also.”
Links:
SPN Sport India
https://www.sonypicturesnetworks.com/
https://www.facebook.com/SonyLIV/
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_WKb6N9iTGc77hxwXLDrbA/featured
Culture Machine
