The ICC World Twenty20 official broadcaster Star Sports is promoting its upcoming tournament coverage with a multi-phased new ‘superstition’ campaign called ‘Taiyaari Kar Lo’.
The campaign, using the related hashtags (#Taiyaari) and #HDKiTaiyaari, essentially has been built in three phases: the first was a teaser strand late last year, the second focused on India captain Dhoni’s ‘lucky hairstyle’ and the third revolves around ‘creating miracles’.
The campaign initially kicked off in December 2015 when Star Sports rolled out TV teaser ads on playing on the themes of ‘superstition’ and ‘good luck charms’.
The launch teaser spot (which generated 500,000 YouTube views) featured a tenant returning to his former landlord’s house and to ask to rent the place where he had lived when India last won the ICC World Cup 2011.
The spot closed by asking viewers to get ready ‘Taiyaari Kar Lo’ for the next T20 World Cup tournament.
This was then followed by a second phase, which began in January 2016, featuring Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni and his celebrity stylist Sapna Bhavnani.
The ad also plays on the umbrella theme with the narrative built around which hairstyle Dhoni will have for the tournament and closes with him going back to the lucky ‘Mahi’ cut he wore when India last won the competition.
The spot, which generated more than 1m views on YouTube, closes by suggesting that the audience themselves get ready for the March tournament.
It was followed a few days later by additional supporting spots playing on the same topic
and more direct, sales-led spots too.
This second phase was then followed up a third strand as the tournament itself approaches that was called #MakeYourMiracle.
It is fronted by stars such as Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina and Ravindra Jadeja and uses a series of films fronted by Indian players to drive awareness and excitement.
The narrative follows the idea that Team India’s stars don’t wait for things to happen on the field, they go out there to create their own miracles.
As Jadeja explains, in the shortest cricket format the game can turn the tables in a matter of one over:
‘It takes only one over to turn the game. This is tough T20. The players have to go through rigorous training. As there is no room for mistakes in a T20 encounter, they have to put their heart and soul to sharpen their skills. They have to walk through all the cricketing ideologies to stay ahead of the opposition. “You must try every trick in the book. This is the ICC World T20.’
All the participants will leave no stone unturned to defeat one another. Each team can’t wait for things to fall in place. “You can’t wait for miracles here. You have to make your miracle.’
The spot racked up 101,357 YouTube views on its first day and was supported across Star Sports and the ICC’s social media channels too.
Ravindra Jadeja features in the latest @StarSportsIndia promo for #WT20 India 2016! WATCH @imjadeja #MakeYourMiraclehttps://t.co/bnG29MYCDo
— ICC (@ICC) March 4, 2016
Yeh Tough 20 Hai, Yahaan Miracle Banana Padta Hai! This ICC #WT20, watch Team India make them! #MakeYourMiraclehttps://t.co/DsktiVtvoF
— Star Sports (@StarSportsIndia) March 6, 2016
Ravindra Jadeja features in the latest @StarSportsIndia promo for #WT20 India 2016! WATCH @imjadeja #MakeYourMiraclehttps://t.co/bnG29MYCDo
— ICC (@ICC) March 4, 2016
Comment
This latest campaign follows on from Star Sports’ hugely successful, much admired and award winning ‘Mauka Mauka’ 2015 campaign for the previous ICC One Day World Cup (see case study).
It is proving a tough act to follow.
Whilst it successfully avoids the classic cricket competition clichés, such as building a campaign around a team/tournament anthem (something that is tried and tested and yet Cricket South Africa has successfully cut through with for this tournament – see case study), this lower key approach perhaps isn’t quite as catchy or as natural as ‘Mauka Mauka’.
Not yet anyway.
Star Sports is the primary broadcasting rights holder for the ICC World T20 2016 which runs from 8 March to 3 April, features 16 teams and is being played in India across seven cities.
Links
Star Sports Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/starsportsindia
Star Sports Twitter:
https://twitter.com/StarSportsIndia
Star Sports Website:
ESPN Star YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/user/espnstar
ICC Twitter:
ICC Cricket T20 World Cup:
