Cricket advertisements that caught the Eye (Part - II)

Weather report:  one of the most exciting things on the television is when the dapper Ravi Shastri explain the pitch and the weather condition. Thus it is not surprising that the weather report is a plug for Berger paints – the paint that claims that it can withstand any type of extreme weather conditions.

Slow motion replays: BPL (British Physical Laboratories) sponsored this feature. Whenever the ball is shown in slow motion the logo of BPL rotates in a ball. Whenever the slow motion or the super slow mo is on, it is a plug for BPL – in pursuit of excellence. The field chosen, audio-visual equipment.

Toyota: The innovative campaign was noticed by the author on the channel nine of Australia. All the spectators in the stadium are given banners with the logo of Toyota (the logo resembles the earth but for the uninitiated it looks like the letter O). The spectators are encouraged to write their caption on the banner. As the graffiti is funny it gets the attention of the television cameras. Toyota gets free mileage. The cost incurred is a piddling amount spent in the supply of banner and writing material.

Today pens: This campaign was inspired by the Toyota campaign. Today Pens has used the same strategy. The cricket world cup of 1999 was awash with the banners of today’s pens. The banners which the spectators warped around themselves had the colors of the Indian flag (of course with the Ashoka Charka missing). The wording can be anything as long as the message starts or ends or with the word Today. One that comes to the mind immediately is India will win – Today.

4, 6, 9: Pepsi and many other companies used this clever ploy. The placard that the spectators wave to the cameras has the company and brand names printed on them. A company can get lots of free airtime. Of course Pepsi stood the strategy on its head by its commercial. The Pepsi commercial had a delighted Shah Rukh Khan waving a placard which says 6. Delighted at a very good shot Shah Rukh Khan reverses the card and 6 becomes 9. Ye Dil Maange More.

Pepsi over: As soon as the over is completed the sign or the crawlie appears at the bottom of the screen “Pepsi over”. It can interpreted that the company is saying your stock of Pepsi is exhausted. It could also be inferred that Pepsi is sponsoring that particular over and that as the over is up it is time for a Pepsi. Akin to a break being Pepsi break or a break could be a Kit-Kat break.

Hit the board: the concept again came from Australia. The idea is to hit the advertising board placed at the boundary line and get money. In India MRF tyres used this concept.  There was a prize for any player who could hit the board placed at the boundary line. Adequate publicity was given for the scheme and it was mentioned by the commentators.