MxMIndia

Tag: World Cup Cricket

  • Not that the ads were very interesting, writes Vikas Mehta… they competed with the matches to fight for the boredom crown!

    Men’s World Cup Cricket ad review – Zara Hatke

     

     

    With apologies to none at all

     

    By Vikas Mehta

     

    Vikas MehtaInspired by some memes and posts of ads that appeared during the World Cup Cricket, my ‘hatke’ take on the same.

     

    It’s not just us Indians who are proud of our culture. The Aussies were offended by the use of ‘fork’, the two fingered sign with the palm-facing inward, common in Australia as a slur, which the Bollywood stars used in the Vimal elaichi ad. The Aussies were infuriated.  How dare these stars pass off something insulting, as something acceptable? And that my readers is the simple answer as to why we were outplayed by the Aussies in the final.

     

    Can’t afford medical insurance premiums? No problems. Just yank away the plaster from your hand or simply walk away while still in your surgery gown and attached to the drip. Don’t believe me? Oh! I forgot to give you an alternative solution. Simply pay your premiums every month via PhonePay.

     

    Talking about PhonePe, if you cannot digest big payments use PhonePe lite. It’s as lite as not having to remember your PIN.

     

    Now we know the secret of how children playing badminton, can become champions. By playing alone at night on mud courts with Polycab cables lighting up the place.

     

    It’s only the older, retired, mature cricketers who can handle Kamla Pasand. Or maybe Kamla Pasand can afford them only.

     

    You thought Danube is a river? Naah! It’s a builder in Dubai.

     

    Never go to buy a mixer grinder with your wife. Unless you only want Sujata mixer

     

    If I follow Dream 11 philosophy, Indian players did not lift the World Cup as they did not do some heavy lifting. Literally. I didn’t say it. Rishabh Pant said that.

     

    Hardik could not recover from his injury as he did some strenuous shots for Jindal Panther ad which dominated the airwaves even after he retired hurt, out of the tournament.

     

    Dhoni is no more in demand as Indigo paint is a better crowd puller

     

    The Thums Up toofan did not blow away the doubts in the mind of Rohit, Bumrah, Siraj & Jadeja but the Toofan worked for SRK.

     

    Lays wanted us to stock up on the brand as Dhoni drops in to random homes to see the match, with the condition that Lays is available at those homes. I mean, Dhoni cannot afford a TV?

     

    Kit Kat fingers crossed was inspired by Rohit Sharma’s wife’s screen presence.

     

    Rahul Dravid was more dependable for MAK lubricant than for team India.

     

    The Aussies were definitely watching the world cup ads. Maybe they wanted some endorsement deals! But they took the Sprite ads very seriously. The team was Thand Rakh personified.

     

    Nobody takes Oreo seriously. They had said mat bol. And, we took for granted that the world cup is ours!

     

    Fog is a storm, not perfume.

    And even dogs sulk when they hear nationalistic spiel in such ads.

     

    Lendingkart hai toh business is good. So, no need for business schools churning out MBAs?

     

    Maybe, Lenskart didn’t give SKY the correct lens.

     

    Snickers made a noobie mistake in trying to link the brand to cricket. Err! What’s a noobie mistake, please?

     

    Good for Amul that neither SA or SL or Afghanistan defeated India. Else nationalists would have had to butter their toast with some other brand.

     

    It seems PC Chandra Jewellers is in property business too as it advises us to own a piece of Calcutta. No Kolkata baiters?

     

    Size is important for Ranvir Singh. Sorry, I mean Royal Stag. Actually, just make it large.

     

    And Dettol soap also wants us to believe the same.

     

    For Neena Gupta foreign sounding exotic names matter. No am not talking about her partner or daughter. Just look at her choice for Electronic scooters.  So, what if one cannot remember or pronounce it.

     

    Mahindra SUVs have set a very high benchmark for their breaks. If your father in law comes in front it stops. Is that why the foreign sounding protagonist looked displeased? Or because  they did not want to show an Indian son law symbolising stereotypical, son in law, father in law relationship? How very correct!

     

    And suddenly many automobiles ads are also paying lip service to women power. All being driven by women. What’s the desired response? Women have arrived? Safe driving? Women handling power? Naah! It’s just a tick box.

     

    Tide is only about colour? Not Whites? By default therefore is Ariel about whites only?

     

    Surf Excel Matic liquid is about mummy getting angry about stains. And I thought Surf Excel stood for stains are good.

     

    I had fun doing these as watching the ads seemed to be a better idea than watching all those boring one-sided matches. Not that the ads were very interesting. They competed with the matches to fight for the boredom crown. But at least I could look at their brighter side.

     

    If you have some more interesting takes on the ads telecast during the World Cup, write into the comments column.

     

    Vikas Mehta is a senior marketing and business strategist based in Dehradun. He writes on MxMIndia every other Monday. His views here are personal.

     

  • The trapped labourers have finally got a bit of traction from some sections of the media, writes Ranjona Banerji

    Ranjona Banerji: But why was the tunnel built in the first place?

    Ranjona BanerjiBy Ranjona Banerji

    It’s been seven months since civil unrest began in the Indian state of Manipur, six weeks since Israel started bombarding Gaza with its military might after a Hamas terrorist attack on October 7 and 10 days since 41 labourers have been trapped in an under-construction tunnel in the Uttarakhand Himalayas.

    In all these three situations, either little has changed or things have got much worse.

    During this time, the cricketing world played a World Cup in India. Like quidditch in the Harry Potter series, this is a compelling game but has few takers worldwide because of its playing norms and ethos. Even without the requirement for flying brooms.

    Priorities however must be kept and cricket is cricket, a religion in India, an Indian game invented. Add to the clamour for the game itself, the political involvement, from some important person in the Board for Control of Cricket in India to the Prime Minister himself. Please forgive the order in which I have written the last sentence. Under no circumstances did I mean to imply that the important person in the BCCI is more important than the Prime Minister himself.

    This meant that all eyes were on the final, which India was destined to win according to the dispensation’s organisation system. I don’t know the going rate to hire the Indian Air Force to fly past your home when you have a big party, but the BCCI managed to hire out nation’s fighter jets to fly over the Narendra Modi stadium in Ahmedabad.

    As the game progressed and Australia refused to follow the Indian script, a somewhat less-than-perfect scenario emerged. The Presence of The Great Man did not lead to sport changing its rules. A hasty trophy ceremony full of bad hospitality was the result, plus the usual behaviour of something not going the dispensation’s way – insults and abuse at the winning team. But a quick photo op with the losing Indian team was quickly cobbled together. Where you have cameras and a captive media, why lose the opportunity to make yourself look better under any circumstances?

    Should we return to the first three events mentioned at the beginning? The civil war is still on. Sporadic incidents of violence continue. Anger continues. Government inaction and media disinterest continues. SNAFU is some air force somewhere or the other put it.

    The bombardment is still on. India’s media put on its camouflage costumes, popped down far from the violence zone and did its best war-time acting and returned. It then lost some interest in proceedings, unless it could use them to stir anti-Muslim sentiment in India. The signals from their masters were mixed anyway. The ruling party supports Israel, so the mainstream media had to support Israel. But the official Indian government position has always been to support Palestine. Therefore in India, you can be stopped by the police for supporting the official Indian position and lauded for supporting the official party position. If you were a cowardly TV studio, what would you do?

    The trapped labourers have finally got a bit of traction from some sections of the media. The reasons for the collapse of the tunnel have got little or no attention. Instead, the company tasked with making the tunnel, engineers involved, bureaucrats, the labourers themselves are all going to have to share the blame.

    Why the tunnel is being built in the first place – well, you cannot expect the media to get into that.

    Why were scientists, geologists, various experts ignored – well, you know experts, they rarely say what you want them to.

    I forgot about some assembly elections. They happened and will still happen. We know these to the extent that the Great Man jumped into a costume and waved at crowds. TV told us. As for the results, it all depends on the co-relation between machine and man.

     

     

    Ranjona Banerji is a senior journalist and commentator. She writes on MxMIndia on Tuesdays and Fridays. Her views here are personal.

  • Very few brands were advertising on both DTH and digital streaming, notes Vikas Mehta

    World Cup Cricket: Digital Streaming vs DTH

     

     

    With apologies to none at all

     

    By Vikas Mehta

     

    Vikas MehtaFinally, home after two weeks on the road. Watching World Cup Cricket streaming on the mobile or laptop was fun. But I am a traditionalist. Give me large screen TV and a DTH connection and you have me hooked. You may say that I can watch streaming on my large screen at home also. True. But my streaming experience has been mostly imperfect. I may be watching streaming on 5G or on broadband but the fluctuation in internet speed is imminent and hardly a day went by while watching World Cup streaming when the quality of video did not deteriorate or I did not face buffering. DTH at least lets me watch all the action without any drop in picture quality or interruption. My wife though was quick to point out that DTH also faces interruption, when it rains or when the electricity supply is interrupted. At least 5G or even broadband with a mini-UPS assures no disruption due to power cut. Well, that’s India for you. So many permutations, so many pros and cons.

     

    But I digress. Today, I am going to talk about what advertising I encountered on DTH and how it was different than on digital streaming.

     

    The first observation I had was that digital streaming was always a ball slower than on DTH. The reason I found out was technical. But it definitely is a bummer, specially during close matches. Not that there have been many in this World Cup, but I would hate to be watching matches like Pakistan vs South Africa or Australia vs New Zealand on streaming and my daughter telling me the result before I know it!!!

     

    The second obvious observation was the sheer number of advertisers on DTH vs digital streaming. And that was a surprise to me. Disney + Hotstar is streaming the matches free on mobile through its app and I would have imagined that this in turn will get them more advertisers. And the overall audience for streaming has been good. The India vs New Zealand match for example got over 4 crore viewers, more than the India vs Pakistan match. So, what explains the less number of advertisers on streaming?

     

    The answer I think may lie in the type of viewership that DTH vs digital streaming offer. If I may take the liberty of slotting the type of audience by the media channel, though this is purely hypothetical and I have no data to back it up, but do hear me out.

     

    During my travels, I noticed that mostly it is the GenZ which was comfortable watching the matches on mobile screens. Definitely because it was free but more importantly because matches on mobile could be watched anywhere. GenZ could watch it in her/his university, while travelling by public transport or at home in her/his own cocoon with earphones plugged on. There is a sense of individuality and privacy while watching the matches on mobile, something which GenZ craves for.

     

    Laptop or maybe tablet screens is the preferred choice for the millenium. Specially during working days. The Disney + Hotstar window would be minimised, volume muted but catching the action  every few minutes is the norm. I witnessed this even during a presentation!

     

    DTH is a family pastime at home or for the retired people. The millennials with their friends, or spouses or even parents watch the action late evening at home. The exception here again is the GenZ. They value their privacy. But they multitask while watching the matches. Multitask in terms of chatting about the matches with friends, exchanging instant memes, all the while maybe doing their college or school tasks.

     

    And I think advertisers have observed the same. And most of the advertisers are targeting the family or the millennial. No wonder, auto brands like Skoda and Mahindra are active on DTH but absent on streaming. GenZ is not whom auto brands are targeting. And they catch the millennials in the evening on DTH. That’s also the reason I do not recall seeing any Dream 11 ad on TV but discovered that it is a broadcast sponsor on digital streaming. Mostly, it’s the tech-saavy GenZ and to some extent the millennial who are the TG for gaming apps like Dream 11. Not necessarily a family type or retired person.

     

    I guess that’s what public sector banks like SBI, PNB etc were thinking with their presence on DTH. So too was Fogg as it has had a family personality as opposed to Axe which is more individual, seductive. No wonder Axe is on streaming. But I was surprised to see that Axis Bank was advertising for its app on DTH. Maybe streaming would have been a better choice for the same.

     

    The presence of health brands like Herbalife or Emami Herbal Kesh on streaming again was a no-brainer, since such health products are preferred more by millennials and GenZ to some extent.

     

    And the best example of media segmentation and targeting came from Hero. It has used DTH for its festival offers on motorcycles under the sub-brand Hero GIFT (Great Indian Festival of Trust). Targeting the family and maybe more small-town buyer who is middle-aged and not into technology but wants an affordable mode of personal transport. DTH and cable are the perfect media to catch this person. Whereas for their EV scooter Vida, digital streaming is the targeted medium.

     

    But then what explains the presence of a new brand of EV, Eblu Feo on DTH and cable broadcast? And it seems to be targeting independent women as Neena Gupta is the brand endorser. Your guess is as good as mine but I think it wants to announce its presence nationally on a medium which gives it a wider reach and also depth of reach. Digital streaming maybe is restricted on those parameters.

     

    I was also impressed with the use of digital streaming by Whisper. Targeting young women who want the best protection for themselves, Whisper is alluding to the reality that these women are also avid cricket fans. Something that has been reinforced by the presence of Pantene, another P&G brand on digital streaming. As an aside, it sems that P&G is making a big play on cricket and that too through digital streaming. The first two weeks matches on streaming were dominated by an overwhelming presence of Tide and truth be told, the one ad being repeated ad nauseam had started to grate. Will Tide or Pantene make a comeback or some other P&G brand will come in the later stages on streaming?

     

    Very few brands, I can recall only Phone Pe and Bookings.com, who were present on both DTH and digital streaming. The reason again is simple. They are targeting very wide instead of narrow focusing. They are still selling their categories and brand building is incidental.

     

    But the most significant presence for me on DTH has unfortunately been the presence of surrogate brands. The various brands of Pan Masala posing as silver-coated elaichi or whatever and also liquor brands under dubious categories like water or experience or playing cards. Interestingly, none of these brands are on digital streaming. What does it tell us? That there is hope. That the advertisers know that targeting GenZ may get them into trouble. That the younger generation is more into healthy products and doesn’t care too hoots about such ads. That the same younger generation is maybe more ethical and frowns upon such surrogates. Or very simply it is the family man who is into these vices? Whatever the reason, the divide is stark.

     

    Join me next time as some new campaigns unfold in the final phase of the World Cup. Let’s see if some new observations are going to unfold.

     

  • Break the cycle. Start building brands. Rediscover the art of storytelling, writes Vikas Mehta on ads aired around the World Cup

    World Cup cricket advertising in the times of digital

     

     

    With apologies to none at all

    By Vikas Mehta

     

    Vikas MehtaLast week and this week, am on the road and as such am watching the World Cup cricket, streaming on my phone or laptop. So, after a long time I am actually cut off from the traditional DTH media and have a unique opportunity to assess the state of advertising in a digital world. Let me start with my observations:

    It didn’t seem to be a Cricket World Cup event. Because I actually saw more cricket than ads.

    It was unbelievable that sometimes no ads were shown for 3-4 consecutive breaks. Can we even call them ad breaks anymore?

    Earlier Hero, LG, Pepsi were “traditional” advertisers and sponsor of global cricketing events. Then came the new age brands like Cred, Groww and Byju’s. Also: the online gaming brands like Dream 11, My Circle 11. Hardly anyone of these survive today as a mega event advertiser or sponsor.

    And am I glad that Dream 11 is an exception that survives. Because it’s the only piece of communication which stands out with a good thought ”Uthana hai to uthana padega” (If you have to lift, you have to get up), alluding to the cricket heroes having to make an extra effort to lift the cup.

    Not only is the thought interesting its execution is also spot on by using the out-of-sight-out-of-mind Rishabh Pant as the anchor exhorting his teammates.

    Or does it point to the fact that Rishabh Pant is the next Virat Kohli or Dhoni in terms of his status and acceptance by the Indian public?

    Talking about execution there were two ads that I saw which had interesting thoughts. But the execution left a lot to be desired. First was Oreo. The thought of ‘mat bol’ (do not speak) captures the Indian thinking of ‘nazar lagna’. Of not talking about something because if we do then it won’t happen. It will be jinxed. And it sounds eerily true if one looks at all the campaigns run in the last decade which were in the hope and build up to India winning the world cup. But the straightforward mouthing of the concept by Dhoni and no creative leap points to a wasted opportunity

    The second one is Kit Kat. They have used the thought of fingers crossed. Though, my first thought was “fingers crossed” Indian enough for the masses to understand? The execution was better than Oreos straightforward narration but this too was a case of missed opportunity.

    But wait, I discovered that Kit Kat had done an exactly similar campaign in the UK in 2010 hoping England will win the Football World Cup. Well, so much for originality and creativity. And the gall to use a jinxed thought!!!

    It may also point to the fact that account planners are playing a bigger role in brand strategy. But were these ads also scripted by account planners? Oreo sure looks like one.

    On Kit Kat, one thought. Why doesn’t Nestle use Mrs Rohit Sharma? In almost all matches, not just at World Cup but even much before, my lasting image of hers has been sitting with her fingers crossed on both hands. She will be the best brand ambassador for fingers crossed. You read it here first, Nestle.

    And Dhoni is still endorsing more brands than the Rohit Sharma. Does it mean that Rohit is not as bankable, even though he is breaking records and is the Indian captain?

    I daresay that Bumrah seems to be more bankable than even Rohit. After Kapil, Sachin, Dhoni and Virat he is the next Boost endorser. And also Thums Up. Now, which brands have I seen Rohit Sharma endorsing? Hmm, let me think. An airline… was it Emirates? I think I saw him in a frame of Bookings.com too. But I saw Rahul Dravid also being used. And not many brands used Rahul, even during his heydays. You draw your own inference.

    Then brands like Booking.com and Mak Lubricants were desperate to connect to cricket. Howzatt for the perfect stay. Huh! Seriously?

    There were Parle brands like Kisme, Kacha mango bite, platina… but I forget what they were all about. Same for Sting. Or MRF. All eminently forgettable. And guess what, Sachin has ditched MRF for another tyre brand. Was it Apollo? Or did MRF ditch Sachin? Musical chairs, I say.

    But the other brand which caught my eye was Herbalife. Not for its insight, nor for its strategy and definitely not for its execution. But for the fact that it has used varied sports stars giving them equal prominence and weightage. Manika Batra, Mary Kom, Smriti Mandhana and Virat Kohli. It has also used Ronaldo for a long time. It was not a Kohli-dominated ad and Kohli just happened to be in it like all others. Brave decision. Because I am sure it must have paid many more times the amount paid to Kohli than others and still to resist the temptation not to give him a higher exposure is commendable.

    Amul must have been worried that it’s a jinxed sponsor given the results of Sri Lanka and Afghanistan. But last night’s result would have given it some relief. And of course South Africa is its trump card.

    My reckoning is that Disney Hotstar, did not anticipate the India-Afghanistan match to last for 85 overs. What otherwise explains the fact that close to end of the match, when 2 crore people had switched on the live streaming, they ran out of advertising inventory. While, when Afghanistan was batting and at the start of the Indian innings, with live streaming figure fluctuating between 90 lakh to 1.5 crore most of the advertising was scheduled. Go figure.

    And for the India-Pakistan match, I had both my laptop and my mobile switched on to Disney Hotstar and both had different inventory of ads. How does this happen? Different streams within digital too?

    So, are there any conclusions. Yes, one big one. Advertising in the times of digital is getting swayed by all digital parameters. It’s about measurements. It’s about brand presence. Disney Hotstar displays a figure of how many people are watching the livestream next to their logo on the top right-hand corner. And I think brands reach orgasam with such figures. Big metrics which run into crores of viewers (read measurable metrics) means everything. What happened to brand building? What happened to storytelling? Did those crores of people even register your brand? Or did they even connect with it?

    What else explains that almost all ads were straightforward presentation of benefits. Statement of facts. The types of services offered. So Lendingcart.com ad had no differentiation. No insight. No emotional benefit. It could have been and ad for Groww for all you know. That’s what Oreo did. Got Dhoni to mouth some superstition and then tried desperately to connect with the brand. There were some big brands. MRF, Parle, Pedigree…none tried any bonding with its target group. None tried to connect. No story telling techniques like twist at the end, stimulus response or even building momentum was used.

    Some brands may not feel the need to build a brand or differentiate. They may think they already have a strong positioning and they need to be just reminder brands. Maybe that’s why Finolex Pipes or Avalon cycles just used static presence of the brand name and maybe a line. But do all brands fall in this category? Categorically, no.

    And then the industry moans that it is losing relevance and not attracting talent or not getting enough remuneration. What you dish out is what you get. It’s not a chicken or an egg syndrome. It’s not a vicious cycle. Break the cycle. Start building brands. Rediscover the art of storytelling.

    Maybe I am jumping the gun. Maybe the next few weeks will prove me wrong. I did see some new ads in the India-Pakistan match from Credit Bee, Thums Up and Snickers. More about the same next time.

     

    Vikas Mehta is a senior marketing services and business strategist and educator based in Dehradun. He writes on MxMIndia every other Monday. His views here are personal.

     

  • In a new column series, Avik Chattopadhyay presents the Good, Bad and the Ridiculous in World Cup ads

    The ICC World Cup of Brands 2019

     

    By Avik Chattopadhyay

     

    Cricket is possibly the only thing that binds India on this date. A few others like the National Anthem, the Constitution and the Flag are going through their phases of revisionism and identity-crisis. Bollywood has never been a unifier! If you feel offended, ask the movie-goer in Chennai and Cochin for the right perspective.

    So, when the ICC One-Day Cricket World Cup happens, every brand wants to ride the bandwagon. Either directly as ICC sponsors and partners or with the media vehicle Star Sports. In either case, paying top money for primetime. We were pitted against England as the favourites to win the cup, so eyeballs would be guaranteed till the 12th of July.

    The biggest sponsors of this world cup were Kohli and Dhoni.

    Kohli was on air for Uber, Shyam Steel, Google Duo and Nuvoco Vista.

    MSD for Dream 11, SRMB Steel, Orient LED, MasterCard and Bharat Matrimony.

    Pardon me if I have missed out any more.

    Through the tournament I just hoped some guy with a sense of humour would announce, “This match is brought to you by Nissan, Oppo, Coca-Cola, MRF, Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni.” But that moment never came.

    Instead, India stopped at the semis.

    And so did most of the eyeballs.

    Now that the nation is at relative peace and debating only about ICC rules and New Zealand being short-circuited [almost patronisingly], here is a good time to look at how the brands on the b[r]andwagon fared. My assessment basically from the multitude of products and services that spent oodles of money on television over the 48 matches…into 3 sets of the good, the bad and the ridiculous. They are in no ranking order, hence the alphabetical order.

     

    The Good 5

     

    Coca-Cola – adorable communication featuring Paresh Rawal and Ranbeer Kapoor. Simple story, brilliantly told. Though one might argue the open invitation to gulp down gallons of aerated sugar water, the sheer quality of the campaign pardons the sin. “Chaar saal dete hain world cup waale…” should go on to become an iconic quip over time.

     

    Dream 11 – in the 5 WhatsApp groups I am part of, there were at least a dozen individuals hooked on to this site. Old and middle aged people, mind you, leading otherwise responsible family and corporate lives, indulging in betting! Obviously, the communication, simple and compelling enough, made the most of the occasion. MSD kept well here…no byes and drops.

     

    Google Search – while the Google Duo communication was quite flaky, the one by Search was bang on! Again, like Dream 11, made the most of the occasion.

     

    Swiggy – they had started off during the IPL, but the excellent campaign continued through the world cup. The brilliant tie-ins with various cricketing situations through the commentary brought a smile on millions’ faces I am sure. They had quite a few stories on air but my favourite one is the “Batsmen are taking a risk here…” featuring the two old friends ordering quesadilla and lasagne!

     

    Uber – very tactical and topical but well communicated and that is why it is in my list of the Good 5. Virat played well, on all types of pitches, in all conditions. Disarming and to the point. Only I could not understand playing the ad on the final. But that is for another day and under another subject…

     

    The Bad 5 – these are brands that spent a lot of money on advertising that did not work, according to me, for various reasons, specific to each.

     

    Fogg – we know that “Fagg chal raha hai” but why? There was no new story…nothing on the occasion of the world cup. They are smart communicators, hence I was sure disappointed when they spent a lot of money rehashing their IPL messaging. And I just wish we stop playing up the anti-Pakistan bit any more. What is innocent fun at one time can become laboured if stretched beyond relevance.

     

    Kamla Pasand – this one really shook me up by the scruff of my neck. The dream of 130 crore people! Give me a break please. I expect such talk in Parliament, not for a sport catering to the middle class and above. And all that flag waving? Nope, does not work. Being a ‘pan masala’ does not help things. Do not try to be Amul or Tata Tea. To communicate like them you need to switch businesses.

     

    MasterCard – okay, so you got a couple new stories to tell, but do you need two celebrities to drive home your message? Also, too many messages I thought, with none clearly registering [in my mind at least, in spite of being a MasterCard user]. Visa did a much better job with a single story being driven home.

     

    Oppo – you are the sponsor of the Indian team and the ICC and this is all that you do…bring a pretty girl close to a prettier bird?! Did you think that just your name appearing on shirts, grounds and backdrops would do the job? Nope, according to me. That was just your name that millions saw across the cricket playing world, not your brand. Lost a big chance of doing something truly relevant and memorable.

     

    Pepsi – I know, I know…they were not on television but so what…they did spend a lot of money trying to out-do Coke. They thought they did this super clever “digital” campaign forcing the grand old lady Charulata Patel do weird poses with her fingers. You think that’s swag? Take a good swig!

     

    The Ridiculous 5 – these are the jewels that I have not figured out why they were there in the first place! I am sure they still do not have the answer themselves.

     

    Apollo Tyres – just because MRF is there? Huh? You think that is reason enough? “Ambush marketing” in the age of AI and ML!! Sad. Please think up a better reason. It’s a nice, feel-good ad, but totally wasted on this platform. Therefore, money well wasted.

     

    Bharat Matrimony – we know young immature couples do propose at the cricket ground or in flights taking them to one, but you really want to talk about all this just because MSD is your brand ambassador? This is no way to “maximise” presence and squeeze the last bit from your lemon. Lemon!

     

    Nissan – you are one of the world’s most respected brands and this is what you do? Make an SUV reverse into the crease, create an android hand and smash a metallic ball? Seriously? Katayama-san would commit hara-kiri on this!

     

    Orient LED – I was a kid once so let’s get this straight – kids do not study during summer vacations and when a world cup is on…any world cup. Period. So, stop the preaching on whether the LED light flickers or not. That’s when exams come up. Okay?

     

    Shyam Steel – every time I saw yet one more ad of the most loving couple in the cricketing world, I cried. For I wanted it to end as soon as it started and the only way out was to look away or quickly check WhatsApp messages. Need I say more?

     

    Avik Chattopadhyay is a senior brand and business strategist based in Gurugram. This is the first in a new series of columns he will write for MxMIndia.

  • A significant number of regional channels have also been approached

    MyTeam11’s new ad film targets upcoming World Cup Cricket

    By A Correspondent

     

    Fantasy sports website MyTeam11, announced a collaboration with 25 television channels across the music, news, sports and knowledge sharing genres among others, in a nationwide campaign targeting the upcoming T20 and World Cup cricket season.

     

    Commenting on the move, Vinit Godara, CEO and Co-founder, MyTeam11 said: “We are planning to become the leading brand in the world of fantasy sports, and the upcoming cricket season involving T20 leagues and the ICC cricket world cup seems to be the right fit for our plans. With this collaboration we want to reach out to people in every nook-and-corner of the country and encourage them to use their talent, skills & knowledge of the game to earn while enjoying their favourite sport.”