Ogilvy’s Sukesh Nayak on the making of the WPL anthem 

The anthem’s ‘W’ symbol was conjured in the unlikeliest yet the most original of minds. 

A few hours before the Mumbai Indians and Delhi Capitals battle each other to become the first-ever Women’s Premier League champions, it does not hurt to go back a little over three weeks to see where it all began. 

No, it was not the first match of the tournament but Har Zubaan Par Naam Tera, the anthem which started the wave for this women’s T20 tournament. 

An important bit of the film, produced by Good Morning Film, is at the start when the bowler approaches the incoming batswoman and asks her name. It is a sign of how the players will become household names. 

“When some work is noticed, it is asked who's behind it. That is the idea and look how we have projected it in the film. One player asking tera naam kya hai?” explains Ogilvy chief creative officer Nayak. 

Our entire thinking he says “came from this being a phenomenal start, and we put that as a base and it gave us the creative idea and the line we wrote.”

Ogilvy was behind the launch of the Indian Premier League and many of its anthems. When asked if the team looked up to it before crafting the WPL anthem, the chief creative officer disagreed. “They are two different marquee events. There is no comparison, but a lot of learnings.”

The WPL anthem features rap and trap music, and it was the first choice. And when Viacom18 first heard it, he says they loved it. “We'd a couple of rounds of discussion on how will it end and one thing was clear, it is a celebration and not a comparison. We must stick to that and nothing else.” 

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A crucial bit of the anthem was the ‘W’ symbol. Seeing the prime ministers of Australia and India make the symbol is quite the reach. Its origin comes from the unlikeliest of sources. 

An account manager recollects his 7-year-old daughter forming variations of the alphabet ‘W’ using her fingers. He thinks, ‘what if we have a memorable gesture to mark this historic event of the Women’s Premier League?’

The anthem has clocked 2.7 million views but its making was challenging because, like most sports campaigns, the logistics of players remain the biggest headache. “You've to be clever and smart to ensure your end output does not dip because of it,” says Nayak.