Launched on 14 March, a pair of new commercials fronted by Mahendra Singh Dhoni from Indian TV network Star Sports marked the BCCI official broadcaster’s first promotional work for the 14th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL).
The campaign, which begins building excitement ahead of the 9 April start of the 2021 VIVO IPL, is called ‘India Ka Apna Mantra (India’s Own Mantra)’ and seeks to reflect the resilience, determination and enterprise shared by the tournament in particular and by the nation as a whole. The idea is that the broadcaster believes the VIVO IPL is a national platform for expressing the ‘nothing is impossible’ spirit on the field and across the country.
The message is that players rise to the challenge and come up with inventive and inspirational ways to challenge conventional cricket wisdom in order to achieve success in the Vivo IPL. It champions the players’ inner belief and indomitable spirit and their commitment to cricketing success.
The first film features former India skipper and current Chennai Super Kings (CSK) captain MS Dhoni playing the role of a teacher telling students how greed is a good thing via a story about Rohit Sharma (the captain of Mumbai Indians who are the defending IPL champions). He explains how he has won the IPL five times, but is still not satisfied because of his ‘greed for victory’.
The second film is based around Virat Kohli and his on-field anger channelled into motivation and commitment.
“Vivo IPL 2021 is returning to Indian soil with a lot of anticipation across the country. Fans are excitedly looking forward to what promises to be a very different IPL,” explained Star Sports India head Of Sport Sanjog Gupta. “With the campaign launch, we are geared up to engage millions of fans and offer them high-quality content clubbed with innovative and immersive experiences.”
Comment:
This promotional campaign from the official tournament broadcaster aims to capture the mood of a generation and of a nation: one which is confident, enterprising and entrepreneurial.
The pre-tournament work follows on from the broadcaster’s February ‘Election Selection‘ campaign promoting its coverage of the 2021 IPL Draft and its Autumn 2020 campaign promoting the late-running 2020 IPL ‘Ek Saath Waali Baat‘ campaign.
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