BCCI releases first IPL spot; re-visits 'Carnival' theme

Meanwhile, Sony's ads for the big ticket property have been on air for a couple of weeks.

On Saturday, March 19, during the India versus Pakistan T20 World Cup match, the Board of Control for Cricket in India's (BCCI) new ad for the ninth edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) went on air. The ad, a TVC, conceptualised by Ogilvy India, will be further supported by print, radio and out-of-home campaigns.

Talking about the campaign, Ratnakar Shetty, general manager - game development, and chief operating officer, IPL, says, "The film titled 'Fun Fans Fantastic' is our film for the VIVO IPL 2016 season. It was shot in Romania, and involved fairly extensive fabrication as you would see in the film, with a mass cast of 300 people. To recreate the streets of India, we can assure you that we have added all the bells and whistles on this one."

Talking about the brief given by the BCCI, Ryan Mendonca, senior creative director, Ogilvy India (Mumbai), says, "It was more or less the same kind of brief we get from the BCCI every year and that is to announce that the IPL, a big event and a subculture within itself, is around the corner."

Interestingly, the bilingual song Pista, has been used from the Malayalam/Tamil film Neram, released in 2013. Given the fact that Chennai Super Kings (CSK) has been suspended for two years, there is quite a possibility that this particular ad has been made to appease the audience of Tamil Nadu. All these years, hard-core CSK and M S Dhoni fans have been following the team and the viewership from Tamil Nadu, therefore, mattered to the IPL.

Sharing further on using Pista as a theme song for this ad, Mendonca says, "Even before we saw the video, we liked the way the track sounded and felt its energy. Once we saw the film, we decided to go ahead with this track."

The ad resembles the Carnival ad of the IPL made in 2012, featuring actor Makarand Deshpande.

When asked about the resemblance with the Carnival ad and the brief being on the same lines, Shetty says, "Ogilvy has been the agency engaged by the BCCI to deliver creative campaigns since the inception of the Indian Premier League. Each year, it has delivered campaigns that excite the audiences and communicate a message which is relevant to brand IPL in that specific year. Our intent is to always promote brand IPL and its offering."

Giving his views on the resemblance with the Carnival ad, Mendonca says, "The carnival ad was one of our most successful IPL films that we did out of Ogilvy. When we did a deep dive into what exactly works for this brand by way of communication, we thought the festivity that is around the universal idea is a more solitary way of communicating because it is more than cricket. That was the benchmark and our attempt was to follow up with something as mad as the Carnival ad, but with a different idea."

Ek India Happy Wala campaigns by Sony Pictures Networks India were conceptualised by DDB Mudra, but those ads did not have anything to do with the game of cricket or the IPL tournament. The BCCI's brief for this particular campaign and the execution by Ogilvy India was therefore different, which was to let viewers know that the IPL is around the corner.