Wavin, an Orbia business and a piping solutions and advanced water management systems provider, has announced Rohit Sharma as its brand ambassador for the Indian market.
Said Randhir Chauhan, President, Orbia India: “For years, Wavin has been dedicated to addressing the needs of an aspirational nation by ensuring widespread penetration of quality plumbing and drainage systems across India’s diverse cities and communities. We are now thrilled to have Rohit Sharma, a cricket icon admired by millions and known for his stellar performances, as the face of our company that reflects our own commitment towards providing breakthrough infrastructural solutions and superior products. After recently leading India to a historic win, we truly believe that his persona aligns perfectly with our brand values and together showcase a strong spirit that we are sure will resonate with our business excellence.”
The ICC Men’s Cricket T20 World Cup garnered unprecedented social media chatter, reports Interactive Avenues, the digital arm of IPG Mediabrands India which released its “‘apturing the Glory: A Social Listening Report on #T20WorldCup’ report on Monday.
The report is based on data gathered from social platforms such as Twitter, Reddit, and popular cricket forums and reveals insights on player popularity, most appreciated performances, most talked about matches, top brand partnerships and more.
Commenting on the report, Shantanu Sirohi, COO, Interactive Avenues, said: “The Cricket T20 World Cup has once again proven the unparalleled ability of cricket to captivate audiences. This tournament has set new benchmarks for player popularity, with stars like Rohit Sharma and Jasprit Bumrah leading the conversations. Our comprehensive social listening report not only highlights the staggering number of mentions and engagements, but also delves into the elements that drove these numbers.”
Key findings of the report:
Social chatter highlights:
Overall, the tournament garnered 55.9Mn mentions and drove 461Mn engagements.
Rohit Sharma emerged as the most talked about player and batsman (5.5Mn mentions). Jasprit Bumrah was the most popular bowler (1.2Mn mentions), and Hardik Pandya was the top all-rounder (1.1Mn mentions).
The finale between India and South Africa was the most talked about match (2.2Mn mentions), followed by India vs. Pakistan (1.7Mn mentions).
Most thrilling moments:
Suryakumar Yadav’s stunning catch which clinched the T20 World Cup title for India got 209K mentions.
Afghanistan beating Bangladesh in a low-scoring thriller to seal their semi-final spot drove 156K mentions
India’s victory against Pakistan by 6 runs in the low-scoring group stage match garnered 122K mentions.
Most popular players:
Powered by consistently stellar performances, India’s Rohit Sharma (5.5Mn mentions), Virat Kohli (4.1Mn mentions), Suryakumar Yadav (1.3Mn mentions), Jasprit Bumrah (1.2Mn mentions) and Hardik Pandya (1.1Mn mentions) emerged as the most popular players on social media.
Top emerging players:
Making their debut in a T20 World Cup, players from USA topped the popularity charts among emerging talent. Saurabh Netravalkar led the roster (163K mentions), followed by Ali Khan (67K mentions), Aaron Jones (49K mentions), and Monank Patel (30K mentions).
Top emotional moments:
Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli’s ‘bromance’, including videos of their journey together, resulted in 7.1Mn engagements.
Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli announcing their retirement from T20 international matches drove 4.1Mn engagements.
Rohit Sharma kissing Hardik Pandya in an emotional moment after India won the cup garnered 2.3Mn engagements.
Biggest comeback story:
After being booed at every match venue during IPL 2024 (92% negative mentions), Hardik Pandya made a spectacular comeback with 88% positive mentions during T20 World Cup 2024.
Top brand partnerships:
Brands across diverse industries leveraged T20 CWC-based partnerships to drive engagement. Maruti got 258K mentions, Amul garnered 200K mentions, and ICICI Bank got 145K mentions.
Nandini Milk witnessed a whopping 390% increase in average monthly engagement, while BPCL’s “Snap The AD” contest drove a 191% spike in average monthly engagement.
Dentsu Creative celebrates the achievement of Devansh Chaudhary, Associate Creative Director – Copy, and Rohit Sharma, Art Director, who have won the Kyoorius Young Blood Award 2024 for their work ‘Cali: The Indian Denim Thread’. The winners will be honoured with the Red Elephant – an award that recognises excellence and innovation among young professionals under 28 years of age.
The challenge, presented by brief partner Myntra, was to reimagine the timeless denim with an Indian twist and create a narrative that reflects the rich and diverse culture of India, with a contemporary appeal.Under the guidance of Manzoor Alam – Executive Creative Director, Dentsu Creative India, the duo created the winning proposition.
Amit Wadhwa
Speaking on the win, Amit Wadhwa, CEO, Dentsu Creative India said: “We are extremely proud of Devansh and Rohit, who have shown exceptional talent and originality in their work. They have not only met the challenge but also exceeded our expectations by creating a product that is both functional and meaningful. This recognition reinforces our belief in nurturing and empowering creative minds to make a lasting impact on the industry.”
AbhiBus, an online bus-ticketing platform, has launched an ad campaign that celebrates the thrill of last-minute adventures and unexpected travel plans. The series of four ads showcases the ease and convenience of planning spontaneous journeys through the AbhiBus app.
Speaking on the campaign, Rohit Sharma, Chief Operating Officer of AbhiBus, said: “In today’s fast-paced world, we understand that the desire for spontaneous travel experiences is on the rise. Our new ad campaign embodies the essence of these impromptu adventures and highlights how AbhiBus is here to make them effortlessly possible.”
Max Life Insurance Company Ltd has unveiled a social media campaign, ‘Sharma Ji Ka Beta,’ featuring brand ambassadors, Rohit Sharma with his wife and entrepreneur, Ritika Sajdeh. The social media campaign provides a unique glimpse into the cricketer’s off-field persona, highlighting his deep-rooted values and love for his family.
Commenting on the campaign launch, Rahul Talwar, Chief Marketing Officer, Max Life Insurance said: “In the digital age, storytelling has the power to inspire individuals to reflect on their own life journeys and consider the role of life insurance in protecting their aspirations. Anchored to Max Life’s overarching theme of ‘You Are the Difference’, this social media campaign brings to light the real Rohit Sharma, not just as a cricket sensation but as a loving family man. The social media campaign underpins our belief that every individual, much like Rohit, has a unique and valuable story that makes a difference.”
Samsung Ads India, the advertising division of Samsung Electronics India Private Limited, and Max Life Insurance Co. Ltd (“Max Life”/ “Company”) have unveiled the first of its Connected-TV (CTV) advertising campaigns on Samsung Smart TVs across India.
The digital ad features Indian Cricket Captain Rohit Sharma and his entrepreneur wife, Ritika Sajdeh. The objective of the partnership is to expand the reach of this digital ad that talks about the importance of financial protection for loved ones, rooted in Max Life’s brand philosophy, ‘You are the Difference’. The ad film also captures ‘India Ke Bharose Ka Number’ to highlight the company’s industry leading claims paid ratio of 99.51% as a representation of trust.
With this approach, Samsung Ads India has helped Max Life to develop a comprehensive understanding of audience segmentation and viewer preferences on Samsung Smart TVs via automatic content recognition (ACR) technology.
Leveraging Samsung Ads India’s leading ACR data, Max Life gets access to unique audiences and develops a comprehensive understanding of audience segmentation along with preferences.
Rahul Talwar, EVP & Chief Marketing Officer at Max Life said: “We are excited to launch our first-of-its-kind Connected TV campaign with Samsung Ads India and enter an exciting customer outreach territory. Connected TV provides triple benefits to our brand– the ability to reach a large and growing audience, the ability to target ads to specific demographics, and the ability to measure the effectiveness of ads in real time. We will continue to harness this platform to drive our narrative of ‘You are the Difference.”
Added Prabhvir Sahmey, Senior Director India at Samsung Ads India: “As the pioneers in CTV advertising, we’re seeing more results driven marketers lean in and take advantage of CTV. CTV can open up a whole new world of advertising opportunities such as driving incremental reach, improving brand salience or driving frequency amongst more affluent audiences. We’re excited to work with Max Life to see what valuable insights and results we can drive together with this campaign and in the future.”
Max Life Insurance has launched its new ad campaign featuring its brand ambassadors, Rohit Sharma and his wife, Ritika Sajdeh.
Commenting on the TVC launch, Rahul Talwar, Chief Marketing Officer, Max Life Insurance said: “In our endeavor to drive financial awareness and adoption, the TVC underlines the significance of guaranteed savings plan and how it enables consumers to achieve key milestones -children’s education, marriage or retirement – while enjoying life’s moments today with loved ones. Along with building our protection portfolio, Max Life is focused on long-term savings plans that offer financial stability to families, especially the millennial segment. Reiterating our brand philosophy of ‘You are the Difference’, Rohit and Ritika deliver the key message of our savings solutions, specifically to the younger audience that is seeking holistic, new-age financial products that cater to all their requirements.”
So, it’s been a very usual and unusual IPL so far. Usual, because Mumbai Indians (MI) have lost the first two matches. But the MI captain Rohit Sharma felt it was business as usual in his post-match interview. Unusual, as Chennai Super Kings have also lost the first three matches on a trot, albeit after years. Unusual also for CSK as Dhoni, after relinquishing his captaincy seems to have taken it back and is also scoring runs as in his heydays.
And as usual, Dream 11 continues its dream run at IPL. The idea of “Dream Big” has seen many new frontiers. The series of various players like Shikhar Dhawan, Rishabh Pant, Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah and Hardik Patel reminiscing their struggles but not giving up on their big dream has two new creatives so far. One, with Pant and the other with Sharma. And this time, they pay tribute to some behind the scene people like the groundsman or even a stranger helping Pant at a gurudwara. The thought of one is never alone if one’s big dreams fits seamlessly into the Dream Big theme of Dream 11. Whew! Too many dreams here.
https://youtu.be/3JazfubLOgI
Dream big is also following a classical strategy of thematic and tactical ads. For the uninitiated, when advertising was the be-all and end-all of all communications, brand ads were created for brand equity, may be once a year, extolling the virtues of a brand and its personality. These were called thematic ads. Interspersed through the year were tactical ads which by nature would drive sales. These were by nature about inducements or sale pointers. Personally, I think this was more of a jargon-spitting marketer’s delight, as for the end-consumer. every communication is a message and she or he does not delve into it with a separate compartment of thematic and tactical in her or his mind. The ads with Dhawan, the Pandya brothers, Ashwin and even Pant in a metro asking people to try the Dream 11 seems to be in the genre of the tactical ads of yore.
https://youtu.be/Dn7ixMGB_dM
But one dream seems to be missing from Dream 11. Dhoni has disappeared from all communications and has now appeared for Winzo. Another gaming app. Winzo is not about a fantasy league. It’s about skill and social gaming and I presume it’s clear of any controversy related to “gambling” as Dream 11 is. Maybe that’s why Dhoni moved away from Dream 11. In the ad, Dhoni cheekily starts by saying that he is called gamechanger so he is changing his game from today. Very unusual but typically clever from Dhoni.
Quite unusually, I am seeing Byju’s ads without Shah Rukh Khan. And these are good. Emphasising on understanding the concept rather than memorising for an exam. ‘Samjho seekho jeeto’ encapsulates the idea well. As a parent, these resonate with me more than the Shah Rukh ads which seemed more gimmicky. I also think Shah Rukh’s personality does not gel with that of Byju’s and made the brand more flippant.
There has been a lot of buzz about the new Spotify ads. I like them because they amplify the generation gap between Gen Z and the millennials as also Gen X. While Gen X and the millennials are passionate about politics or shopping offline or any discussion and are more social, GenZ is more reclusive and more digitally social. So, Spotify is their ‘kavach’ or protective armour from these indulgences of the older generations. Unusual, yet simple.
I also think that the Meesho ads capture a similar trait of Gen Z. The features of photo search or free delivery are neither new nor unique but they capture the essence of Gen Z. While millennials or Gen X prefer offline shopping and want to see all options, Gen Z is not only used to online but also wants trendy or happening products. So, these features serve them well.
Does Aamir Khan have a triple role in his next film? The series of Netmed ads make me think so. Or, wait! Was it Pharmeasy? Or 1mg? At least Pankaj Tripathi was not about triple or double role. Not only are the names confusing but so are the generic benefits. From a consumer perspective, when I fall sick, I need medicines, fast. Not in a day or in a few hours, but in minutes. So, except for long-term medications like for diabetes or cholesterol, I am not sure how these medicine aggregators can help. What do the investors and these start-ups know that we don’t?
And just when I was about to sign off, I saw two similar ads from PepsiCo company. For Pepsi and for Slice. It seems the company has taken competitive stance as a corporate paradigm. But then what’s the fun if unusual things don’t happen. More on the two ads next week.
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. AdsOnIPL is a series of reviews of the ads aired around IPL programming. The column is in its second season. His views here are personal.
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.
Faze Technologies, a startup that builds digital collectibles, has announced that Rohit Sharma will be exclusively launching his personal NFTs on FanCraze, a non-fungible token (NFT) platform.
Said Anshum Bhambri, the startup’s CEO: “We view marquee athletes as artists who create their best moments of art on the field of play. We are very excited to partner with Rohit Sharma, a pure cricketing genius, to build the new paradigm of engagement between the athlete and the fan.”
FanCraze has already agreed a three-year deal with the International Cricket Council (ICC) for the rights to its catalogue of video and audio clips, which goes back to 1975. It is creating thousands of NFTs linked to specific clips, which cricket fans will be able to buy in packs and trade on a secondary market.
Screengrab from Disney+Hotstar website (https://www.hotstar.com/)
By Vikas Mehta
I 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.
Oakley, sports equipment company, has released a film that celebrates self-expression and encourages people to believe in themselves, to ‘Be Who You Are’. The campaign launch follows the release of Oakley Kato, sports sunglasses with Prizm 24K gold lenses. The product features a frameless design, crafted with extended wrap and built-in retention to mimic the structural properties of a typical frame. Brand ambassador Rohit Sharma is part of the campaign.
Said Caio Amato, Oakley Global Brand Director: “With this film, we wanted to create an anthemic message that inspires our community to truly be who they are. Fundamentally as humans – and especially as athletes – we are all unique, however at times we feel the burden to fit in, to adapt to an idea of normal, and we end up losing sight of that ‘thing’. The thing that makes us different and allows us to reach our full potential. Our goal is to empower people around the world to believe in themselves, to follow their gut, and to embrace this uniqueness to achieve their own greatness.”
So, it’s been a very usual and unusual IPL so far. Usual, because Mumbai Indians (MI) have lost the first two matches. But the MI captain Rohit Sharma felt it was business as usual in his post-match interview. Unusual, as Chennai Super Kings have also lost the first three matches on a trot, albeit after years. Unusual also for CSK as Dhoni, after relinquishing his captaincy seems to have taken it back and is also scoring runs as in his heydays.
Faze Technologies, a startup that builds digital collectibles, has announced that Rohit Sharma will be exclusively launching his personal NFTs on FanCraze, a non-fungible token (NFT) platform.