MxMIndia

Tag: IPL

  • Joins the IPL 2022 brandwagon

    Mullen Lintas wins communication partner for KKR

    By Our Staff

     

    Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) has appointed Mullen Lintas as its communication partner for the cricket team’s creative mandate for Tata IPL 2022. The creative agency will be responsible for delivering the campaign idea for the latest IPL season.

     

    Speaking on the partnership, Binda Dey, CMO, Kolkata Knight Riders said: “KKR fans have always been the focus of our campaigns. We are fortunate to have one of the biggest fan communities that passionately root for the team. Our new campaign for this game season, designed by the Mullen Lintas team, aims to capture the frenzy and love our fans have always shown us unconditionally. We look forward to watching our fans cheer us on as they always have and have a great season together.”

     

    Priya Balan
    Priya Balan

    Commenting on the association, Priya Balan, Executive Director, Mullen Lintas added: “IPL is as much about the franchises and players as it is about fans. The game is incomplete without the latter. Teams thrive on fans’ love and enjoy a sense of responsibility towards them. IPL is a shared space between the team’s players and their fans. Being the year of change and induction of new team members, our campaign for KKR seeks to strengthen and widen this beautiful bond with its large community of fans.”

     

  • Targets different consumer segments

    Sideways shoots 12 films for Meesho online

    By Our Staff

     

    Meesho, the online shopping marketplace,  has launched its latest campaign – ‘Arrey Waah!’

     

    Said Lucky Saini, VP & Head of Brand-Meesho:  “The inspiration of this campaign is Meesho’s mission to democratize internet commerce for everyone in India and the joy every shopper experiences when they can own what they desire”. IPL is India’s favorite sports entertainment event that presents an opportunity to tap into a newer and larger customer base, by showcasing how Meesho is driving accessibility and elevating customers’ online shopping experience. The objective of the campaign is to create an ‘Arrey Waah’ moment in the minds of the consumers by showcasing the discovery of the desired products at unheard of prices. The campaign underlines how Meesho is solving for the value seeking aspirational India.”

     

    Added Abhijit Avasthi, Co-founder, Sideways: “Meesho has set out to delight Indians across geographies and pop strata in an unprecedented manner. They truly want to democratize ecommerce. With the ‘Arrey Waah!’ campaign we hope to capture this joy that millions of people will experience thanks to Meesho. I believe the simplicity, the relatability and the level of localisation will build affinity with people everywhere. I think this is also the first time when a trio of A- list Directors – Rajesh Krishnan (Soda Films), Prashant Issar (Tubelight Films) and Ryan Mendonca (Bang Bang) – have come together as a team to partner with a brand and an agency to execute something at this scale.”

     

  • Vikas Mehta is back with his weekly reviews of #AdsOnIPL as the 10-team, 74-match league took off last weekend

    Unusual is the new normal in IPL 2022

     

     

    By Vikas Mehta

     

    Vikas MehtaIt’s been an unusual 2022 so far. For Indian cricket. India lost a Test series in South Africa after an unusual first Test victory. Then we also lost the ODI series with an unusual 0-3 scoreline. Sri Lanka toured India after an unusually long interval and got beaten soundly. That I must confess was as usual. The women’s cricket team was unusually dumped out of the World Cup. But the most unusual thing has been that the IPL is happening in India and that too in front of some crowds. And the one constant or the usual is that I am back with my weekly column looking at the new ads released during IPL.

     

    The first weekend has as usual resulted in Mumbai Indians losing their first match. And many new ads. As usual, most of them have been predictable, boring and ordinary. So rather than draw up a list of all such ads and pan them, which I usually do, I thought of doing something unusual. Let me look at one brand which has through the last two-three editions of IPL produced some memorable advertising and indeed been unusual in its approach.

    Cred is a unicorn which has gained much more traction than any other new brand. With a reported revenue of around Rs 95 crore, the brand has reported a loss of about Rs 425 crore. Before you start saying that’s also unusual, let me point out that it is not, as most new age tech companies have a similar financial model. But what’s unusual about Cred is that a big chunk of its expense is towards traditional advertising. Which is not unusual as Cred has a clear grasp on its TG. Cred is talking to the credit card owners, and there are around 50 million credit cards issued in India. Most of these are the high net worth or the salaried senior management millennial. And these millennials have seen India changing in front of them. For them, India changed from Mother India to Miss World, India changed from we to I and India changed from a problem of few choices to a problem of plenty. And of course, India changed from Madhuri Dixit, Kumar Sanu, Bappi Lahiri to a new influencer every day.

    So, the nostalgia of a yesteryear superstar caught on. Then came the nostalgia of some cricketing icons. The people who were fierce competitors but gentlemen in spirit. To unleash their hidden beast was almost like a what if situation. Imagine if Dravid was not unflappable or Srinath and Prasad were actually part of a boy band. And now comes the third stage of nostalgia for the same millennials. Old iconic ads being remembered with a twist. Nostalgia has been Cred’s secret success sauce and it has hit the nail on the head with the TG.

     

    So enough of my pontificating. Did you notice the unusual Kamla Pasand ads? Why unusual? Because last year AB had very solemnly declared that he did not realise that the brand was doing surrogate advertising for a gutka or pan masala which is not good for health and now that he has been informed of the same, he is withdrawing from the campaign and returning the money to the company. I guess his cheque was postdated. For after eternity. Or is it the case of an unusual publicity stunt?

     

    And did you see the Harsha Bhogle being tortured after being kidnapped ad for some Fantasy Akhada game? The ads have a “to be continued” at the end. I am not sure who is being tortured here. Harsha or us? Incidentally, the brand did try a PR stunt. It seems Harsha was being interviewed live from home on some digital channel when he disappeared with some audio of his alluding as if he has been surprised by intruders. It did go viral with lot of fans expressing concern. Harsha finally apologised for the stunt. Going viral by hook or crook, be it the KP way or the Harsha way is not unusual now. Hey, I meant Kamla Pasand not the political discourse you have been following.

     

    It also looks like that a new Aamir Khan film is on its way. His usual PR machinery is on an overdrive with quite forgettable ads for PharmEasy and Vedantu.

     

    I will of course have no comment on the unusual Jaguar bath plus light ad which featured fully clad people in living rooms sitting on a toilet or taking a shower. Please, let’s get back to some usual ads.

     

    Vikas Mehta, a senior advertising professional, is now a strategy consultant and educator based in Dehradun. He has a considered, often contrarian view that we enjoy consuming (and contesting) on most things around him: cinema, cricket, advertising, politics and life in general. His views here are personal.

     

  • IPL continues to be a TV-first property; however engagement on digital is higher

    Havas Media Group India’s Hi-Cricket 2022 report out

    By Our Staff

     

    Havas Media Group India has partnered with YouGov, a global research and analytics agency, for its syndicated study that helps advertisers measure the impact of their ads during the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022. The study helps establish the efficacy of IPL as a platform when it comes to influencing mind measures and also answers one of the most critical questions that advertisers have today: the role of premium buys on brand health.

     

    Said Deepa Bhatia, General Manager, India, YouGov: “The Hi-Cricket research that YouGov India conducts annually in partnership with Havas Media Group India has become one of the most pivotal research exercises for us. Hi-Cricket provides an in-depth, customised look into the coveted Indian Premier League (IPL) as an advertising and sponsorship vehicle and is an invaluable tool for brands and marketers to understand how the tournament delivers on their marketing objectives. This is critical given the exponential growth in investment that’s pumped into this cricketing extravaganza by brands, which has in fact made the IPL the biggest platform to create long-term brand image and value. IPL 2022 is coming back with it’s the first season in an endemic world. This study is designed to deliver valuable insights into a post-Covid world, within Havas’ Meaningful Brands framework.”

     

    Commenting on the study, Sanchita Roy, Head of Strategy, Havas Media Group India, added: “Hi-Cricket 2022 is in alignment with our philosophy of ‘Meaningful Media’ – fundamentally, this means media that is trusted, engaging and influential – and YouGov’s Cube philosophy (people, time and variables). The recent study tracks the impact of IPL 2022 on brand metrics in the endemic world as people have finally come out of isolation. IPL is all about community building and enjoying the sports league with family and friends, so sentiments surrounding it are undoubtedly high. Involvement with IPL goes far beyond the actual matches as there are peripheral properties including Fantasy Leagues and Gaming that ensure high engagement of viewers thereby making it the best choice for brands to connect with the audience. This makes Hi-Cricket a real time solution that consistently and accurately measures and monitors brand trends based on key indicators. It helps us identify the most Meaningful Brands and drive Meaningful Conversations with our clients as we help them understand the overall impact of their association with the IPL.”

     

  • Campaign celebrates spirit of Mumbai and camaraderie of teams

    MI rolls out red carpet to welcome IPL Family

    By Our Staff

     

    With the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022 season set to witness 55 matches be held in Mumbai, five time champions Mumbai Indians have splashed huge hoardings covering the entire city to welcome the fellow nine franchises.

     

    A dash of yellow to ‘Welcome Chennai Super Kings – Whistle Podu Dil Khol Ke,’, while Kolkata Knight Riders are welcomed to the city with their iconic ‘Korbo Lorbo Jeetbo Dil Khol Ke slogan. The #WelcomeDilKholKe billboards, customised to each of the visiting teams, have been set up across key locations in the city, uses a creative rendition to bring alive the spirit of sports, excitement and affection.

     

    Said an unnamed Mumbai Indians spokesperson: “The billboards installed across the city capture the creative expressions of the spirit of Mumbai – the city of dreams which welcomes every individual to its land of opportunity. We, Mumbai Indians are a reflection of the city, its ethos and this campaign is a tribute to the warmth of the people of Mumbai in welcoming all the franchises of our IPL family.

     

    “With IPL back in India and in Mumbai, Mumbai Indians look forward to welcoming its loyal blue & gold Paltan back to the stadiums. We take pride in having one of the most passionate fan army –  the Paltan who have backed the team for a decade and more with their unrelenting energy and enthusiasm.”

     

  • Celebrate the return of Tata IPL 2022 back to Indian shores

    MS Dhoni in new campaign of Star Sports

    By Our Staff

     

    Star Sports, the official broadcaster of IPL, has launched #YehAbNormalHai campaign featuring MS Dhoni. The campaign is to celebrate all the excitement and the return of IPl to Indian shores. Tata IPL 2022, to be precise. Scheduled to start from March 26, 2022.

     

    Speaking about the #YehAbNormalHai campaign ahead of TATA IPL 2022, Sanjog Gupta, Head – Sports, Disney Star said: “The Tata IPL 2022 campaign seeks to recruit millions of TV viewers and digital users across the country. Structured in four phases, the campaign turns the spotlight on fan frenzy and unique situations typically associated with the tournament as well as the distinct proposition of this year’s edition. #YeAbNormalHai adequately represents this, tying it with the social context of people discovering a “new normal” in their lives. The launch phase of the campaign strives to create a sense of excitement for the start of the 15th season, which promises to be the biggest ever.”

     

  • As per the 2021 report of IPLomania, 60 matches were played wherein a whopping 219 brand variants across 117 brands appeared during the matches

    Hansa Research launches IPLomania 2022

    By Our Staff

     

    Hansa Research, consumer insights company, has launched IPLomania 2022, a syndicated study that captures insights about the advertised brands during the IPL tournament. IPLomania will track brands on a daily basis and understands return on investment among other things. It will also track the popularity and loyalty among fans for different teams and players.

     

    According to the previous reports of IPLomania, Rohit Sharma’s reliability in the Indian team as well as his leadership qualities helped him reach the top position in the favourite player category for three consecutive years while Virat Kohli came second and MS Dhoni was third.

     

    Commenting on the significance of the report, Praveen Nijhara, CEO, Hansa Research, said: “With sports marketing gaining prominence year on year, studies like IPLomania helps to provide a thorough analysis on the impact each brand creates in the viewers mind. We have been tracking brands, players, teams during the Indian Premier League (IPL) for over a decade now through ‘IPLomania’. We are extremely proud of the fact that our syndicated study has emerged as a guide for Indian brands and marketers, especially when it comes to understanding the efficacies of their ad spends during this highly popular tournament.”

     

    As per the 2021 report of IPLomania, 60 matches were played wherein a whopping 219 brand variants across 117 brands appeared during the matches. Nearly 13,85,103 seconds were consumed by these 117 brands, which is a  growth of a whopping 36.64% from 2020. The revenue perception model will probably change in 2022 and brands can learn and fine-tune their brand strategies by recapturing the branding and advertising developments from IPL 2021.

     

  • The brand wants to say ta-ta to its image of being big and bulky and behave young and connected, writes Avik Chattopadhyay

    With IPL, have the Tatas finally found the right vehicle after all these years?

    Photograph source: IPLT20.com

     

     

    By Avik Chattopadhyay

     

    Avik ChattopadhyayNew terminology at IPL…

    Fours and sixes – Tata Assault

    A quick single – Tata Steal

    Strategic timeouts – Tata Consultancy Time

    Wicket – Tata Bye-Bye

    Man of the Match – Match ka Ratan

     

    So goes one of the many WhatsApp messages since BCCI announced that Tata will be the title sponsor of IPL from next season. There is a GIF too being circulated done by someone called Outcry Entertainment which shows the batsman in the IPL logo whacking Vivo out and the Tata logo emerges to the signature tune!

     

    This is certainly big news, beyond just the world of sports as India’s “most trusted” corporate brand chooses to play tag-team with India’s biggest sporting brand. What would have made this happen?

     

    After Galwan and Doklam, BCCI needed a non-Chinese brand to be the title sponsor for its marquee annual entertainment event. The optics were not good for the government and BCCI. Here you have skirmishes every month, chest-puffing galore and even the 14th round of talks breaking down while there you have a Chinese brand sitting proudly on the IPL trophy. Terrible paradox! It had to change. Dream 11 did not apparently have the shareholders’ nod to carry on with such spending beyond a year. The solution had to be more sustainable. Adani and Ambani are not the best brands to reach out to if you do not wish the opposition to have a field day. So, what are you left with? The Tata brand. You have returned Air-India to it. You have awarded it the Central Vista contract. Over the last few years, it has been cosying up to you for a significant pie of ‘Atmanibhar Bharat’. The brand is the talisman of trust and respect. Nobody will ever raise a finger at you.

     

    For the Tata brand wanting to appeal to the digital WFH generation, IPL is a terrific platform to ride. Given its forays into more D2C businesses like BigBasket, 1mg and Cliq, it can get a hold on the Indian family sitting in front of television watching their superstars create magic. Non-metro India can be reached even better on the mobile phone through the IPL platform. The brand wants to markedly shun its image of being big and bulky and behave young and connected. Also reach out to the diaspora who celebrate their biggest annual festival in IPL. The brand has had a long association with sports in general, having invested in football [TFA and FC Jamshedpur], archery, marathons, Formula 1 and a few more. One cannot forget the fact that one end of Wankhede Stadium was called the Tata End. Only that given the stature of the brand, I would have expected them to go more grassroots in sport development rather than join a filthy rich sport and make it richer!

     

    This looks like a win-win.

    BCCI has saved itself the blushes and finally turned nationalistic.

    Tata might have finally found the right vehicle after all these years!

     

     

  • This IPL saw a lot of established players disappoint, as did the ads from established brands, writes Vikas Mehta in a wrap of AdsonIPL2021

    IPL Cricket & Ads: The Parallels

    Screengrab from Disney+Hotstar website (https://www.hotstar.com/)

     

    By Vikas Mehta

     

    Vikas MehtaI write this review while watching the final of the Indian Premier League (IPL). For me, the tournament and the players had lot of parallels with the ads that were on the air. Let’s dive into these.

     

    This tournament saw a revival in fortunes of established teams like Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR). As well as some old stars like Uthapa and Du Plessis. Advertisements which ran in the first edition of this IPL and were then forgotten saw a revival in this extended edition of IPL. Finolex, Phone Pe, Unacademy, Dream 11, Mutual funds….

     

    This IPL saw a lot of established players disappoint. Rohit Sharma, the Pandya brothers, Rahul Chahar, Hazelwood, Morgan, Dinesh Karthik, Rabada… all disappointed. Similarly ads from established brands like Coke, Thums Up, Ceat, Berger Paints, Sprite… disappointed. Eminently forgettable performances.

     

    In the league stage, Delhi Capitals dominated the tournament by winning 10 out of their 14 games. Similarly edtech as a category dominated the ad scene. Byju’s, Byju’s Adarsh, Byju’s Whitehat Jr, Lido small group tuitions, Unacademy, UpGrad, Great Learning etc showed the potential and dominance of the category.

     

    For M S Dhoni there was double success. While his contribution to CSK lifting the trophy was not all that significant, his single-handed contribution of appearing in most number of ads was unmatched. Homelane, Dream 11, ITC Yipee, Mutual Funds sahi hai, Indigo paints all benefitted with the free time he has since his retirement. I won’t be surprised to see him soon in some ed tech ad too.

     

    The last few matches of the tournament saw a new campaign by Dream 11. Captioned Dream Big, the campaign I thought was a standout. Using different players, they used a different narrative for each under the Dream Big Umbrella. It’s interesting storytelling and flexible format was excellent. I liked almost all the ads, with Hardik Pandya, Dhawan and Bumrah being my favourites. A standout performance almost like the performance of K Rahul and Harshal Patel who stood tall amongst the batsmen and bowlers respectively.

     

    Venkatesh Iyer was the star new kid on the block. He played aggressively and even had a good differentiation because he can roll over his arm effectively. The Oven Story ad was a good parallel here. A seemingly new entrant, at least as an IPL advertiser, the brand had interesting differentiation in the Pizza category and created a good enough impact for my daughter to order for it.

     

    While the performer of the tournament was a difficult choice between Gaikwad, Iyer and Patel,  for me the best ad performance came from Neeraj Chopra in the Cred ad. He blended well into the narrative and looked as natural as he does on the athletic field. But the new Cred ad featuring Kapil Dev on the last day was a total disappointment. It did not have the energy and joie de vivre that all the other Cred ads have had. It looked like the opening ceremony of most IPL tournaments. Too much pomp. Very little narrative.

     

    But overall the ads were very tepid. The use of celebrities dominated the scene. Dhoni, Ranveer Singh, Kohli, Bumrah etc were omnipresent. The narrative though was predictable and in most cases just relying on star power. Frankly, the second half of IPL was similar. With just two-three games going to the wire, the one-sided final was a reflection of how most of the games panned out.

     

    The parallels continued right till the end. There was a lot of speculation about Dhoni’s retirement from IPL as a player. And the suspense continued even in the post-match interview. Will he retire or continue?  Exactly the same thing happened with the Kamla Pasand surrogate ad of Amitabh Bachchan. With a holier-than-thou attitude, he made a grand statement of withdrawing from the ad and returning money for the ad as he did not know it was a surrogate ad. He obviously does not live on earth. But like Dhoni, the ad was not retired, even five days after AB’s statement. It was there in the finals too. What did disappear, albeit briefly were SRK Byju’s ads. But blink and they were back. All the twitter brouhaha lasted for just a few days.

     

    There was one area where the parallels ended. CSK proved that old is gold. A team led by a 40-year-old with many players above 30 and retired from all other types of cricket, the team did well to win the tournament. The same, of course, cannot be said of the old traditional brands which have ceded ground to new category and brands and have been totally eclipsed. Let’s hope these new categories and brands do create new benchmarks in their advertising too. The next edition of IPL will tell us if that comes true. Till then au revoir, sayonara, alvida, tata.

     

  • With the strapline ‘We Are In The Making’ to highlight the power of self-exploration

    DDB Mudra partners Instagram on brand campaign

    By Our Staff

     

    Instagram has announced a new consumer marketing campaign aimed at encouraging young people to express and explore their personal stories, on the platform. The campaign, ‘We Are In the Making’, is Instagram’s first brand campaign in India, and will air on TV during the IPL and the upcoming T20 cricket World Cup, in addition to other broadcasters. the campaign has been visualised in partnership with DDB Mudra.

     

    Said Avinash Pant, Director – Marketing, Facebook India: “With Reels, we’ve seen the rise of a new cohort of short form video creators who’ve discovered their interests and found their voice, and attained national popularity in the process. The new campaign from Instagram brings these local insights together, with our global platform, and celebrates the multi-dimensional generation. While the young continue to shape their identity, we wanted to highlight the power of self-discovery for them through relatable and inspirational stories. We hope the campaign encourages young Indians to express and shape themselves on Instagram.”

     

    Added Pallavi Chakravarti, Creative Head – DDB Mudra West: “Experimentation is the name of the game. Or at least it was, an hour ago. That’s how quickly the world is changing in the Instaverse. A platform where a storm of creation is constantly brewing, self-expression is being permanently redefined and identities are being shaped and reshaped with every passing day. Nothing is set in stone here, it is culture-in-progress. To bring this reality to life through a campaign, we decided to keep it real. Hence the articulation: We Are In The Making.”

     

  • India does not have a strong sporting culture, and it is that much harder to build that in a one-sport nation

    India’s Sports Story: Looking beyond IPL

     

     

    By Shailesh Kapoor

     

    Shailesh KapoorAn unusual season of the Indian Premier League, held over two parts separated by six months, is concluding next Friday. Despite being held overseas, and hence no home stadia and home fans coming into play, it has been a fairly successful season, with the primetime matches ratings consistently well, with those featuring Mumbai Indians, Chennai Super Kings or Royal Challengers Bangalore being a notch higher than those featuring the other teams. Add the streaming numbers to the TV viewership and IPL looks stronger than ever.

     

    But by now, that’s a known thing. The success of IPL, now in its 14th year, is not exactly breaking news. I remember how the 2011 season, coming on the heels of India’s Cricket World Cup victory, had performed below par. So much so that it created reasonable doubt in the minds of stakeholders if the IPL is losing its sheen.

     

    That’s unimaginable today. Even a choppy IPL season would be immune to that level of dip in viewership. It is now easy to predict what an IPL match will rate, if you know the teams involved and the time slot. The audience is not ‘testing’ IPL as an idea anymore. They have embraced it already. And some years ago.

     

    IPL is an annual fixture that has different kinds of importance for different people and businesses. It is a career opportunity for aspiring cricketers, a solid marketing platform for brands, and the ‘known devil’ for GECs, who no longer fret about what their content strategy during IPL should be. They simply replicate what they did the previous year, and for good reason too. There is no mystery left to unravel after all.

     

    And that brings me to a question that’s been bothering me for a while now: Are we satisfied with just one blockbuster sporting property in this huge country? A host of sporting leagues have been launched over the last decade, and none of them have achieved even a fraction of IPL’s success. Pro Kabaddi League (PKL) is the best of the lot, having resurrected a dying sport from a viewership perspective. But the numbers are not exactly ‘mass’, and it remains to be seen how the league performs when it is back later this year (or early next year) after a two-year hiatus.

     

    Indian Super League, an attempt at cashing in on the growth popularity of football among India’s urban teenage and youth population, has not grown stronger with time. And the other leagues have barely managed to survive. I suspect some of them may have died a silent death during the pandemic, and may never come back at all.

     

    Cricket itself, outside IPL, is not growing in viewership. The Olympics had great media visibility because of India’s best-ever performance, but very little numbers to show. I fear that we may have reached a point where except the IPL (and the Cricket World Cups, which are not annual fixtures anyway), we have a big hole in our sports viewership story.

     

    India does not have a strong sporting culture, and it is that much harder to build that in a one-sport nation. The broadcasters, especially Star, have done a fair bit, such as to bring up Kabaddi as a prominent option. But the road ahead remains a tough one even there.

     

    In 2025, will IPL still be the only sporting story India has to offer? Or is the next big idea round the corner, and we just don’t know it yet?

     

  • A good many of them are old repeats, some from the time when the IPL was abandoned in April, and the new ones are mostly tepid, writes Vikas Mehta

    Vikas Mehta on AdsonIPL21: Soft drinks category ads disappoint during IPL

    Vikas MehtaBy Vikas Mehta

     

    As the IPL reaches the play off stage, the excitement has mounted about the final qualifiers and who will be the Top 2 teams as they get two shots at the final. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said about the ads on display during the IPL broadcast.

     

    A good many of them are old repeats, some from the time when the IPL was abandoned in April, and the new ones are mostly tepid. Safe, using celebrities, repetitive, cliched. In a world where we are inundated with breaking news, competitive attitude, new product concepts, innovative use of technology, advertising is still stuck in the mire of preachy messages which fail to communicate. Just talk down to.

     

    Take the example of the soft drinks category. Three brands which have in the past done some remarkable work, have showcased new campaigns during the IPL which are a pale shadow of themselves. Sprite specially was a disappointment. Looked like a Friday dressing ad by Allen Solly. A Friday drink? Thums Up has continued with its toofan wahi jo sab palat de thought, using Bumrah. But the execution is so predictable and tepid. For me though, the biggest disappointment was Coke. At a time when Coca-Cola globally has released an interesting “we are one coke away from each other” campaign based on gaming with a metaphor for world peace, the Coke India ad “Khud ko jaga, ek thandaa laga” was a literal interpretation of overcoming sloth. It seems to be regressive given the  classic tea brand “Jaago Re” campaign done almost a decade ago.

     

    Whitehat Jr definitely is trying to establish some credibility by using Sonam Wangchuk. But for me it’s the credibility of Wangchuk that has taken a hit. An education reformer, endorsing six-year-olds to enrol for extra coaching? Doesn’t sound right. But the surprise was the book a free music class ad with Lucky Ali. Is Whitehat Junior getting out of its coding niche? And using Lucky Ali seems to be continuing with the Cred tradition of using “forgotten stars”.

     

    From a pure marketing communication viewpoint, I did find the Oven Story ads intriguing. After a long time, someone is trying something new in the Pizza category. Less crust and more toppings claim was a good beginning but being able to order half pizzas is interesting. One may say that small pizzas are always an option but Oven Story which has been around for sometime, has definitely gained visibility with Semizza.

     

    In the past I always admired the Amazon Great Indian Sale ads for they used interesting Indian insights. My favourite being the “free dhaniya” one. But now not only are they eminently forgettable but also invisible. What a let down! In contrast, the Flipkart Big Billion day ads featuring Amitabh, Virat etc with the “poora India karega flip” thought has at least a semblance of an idea.

     

    It’s not just the quality of thinking and storytelling which is a let down during the IPL but even the quality of execution which is quite disastrous. My daughter pointed out that in one of the Homelane ads featuring Dhoni, one can see the head of someone standing behind the TV and also  hands at the bottom, one throwing objects for the protagonist to catch (purpotedly being thrown by Dhoni from the screen)!!!

     

    Let’s just hope that the last week of IPL produces not just exciting cricket but equally interesting ads. After all the shraddh period ended yesterday and consumer buying festival season is now officially on.