Mumbai: It’s possibly the only team at the moment that’s having a magnificent run at the Vivo IPL T20. And much of that could be a result of the faith & support being reposed by the fans in the team. This gesture of the unconditional love for the team by the fans is captured appropriately in the latest communication initiative that has been rolled out by Mumbai Indians.
Conceptualized and executed by Lowe Lintas Mumbai, #CricketMeriJaan is the credo that the team is moving ahead with as it reaches out to its fans spread far and wide. Led largely by Outdoor, Print and Digital, #CricketMeriJaan seeks to make the Mumbai Indians franchise a winning, successful sporting brand beyond just IPL. The insight behind the campaign was that while in all the other cities the people are fans of their respective teams, when it comes to Mumbai, the people are fans of the game first and then the team. Thus for team MI and its fans – cricket comes first.
The approach was to give the brand a deeper philosophy, one that only a team emanating from the city of Mumbai (the Mecca of Cricket for this country) can own, a philosophy that will stoke the pride and passion of a fan and make him/her feel superior to any other fan of any team.
Commenting on the communication objective, Mumbai Indians Spokesperson said, “Cricket Meri Jaan – is not just a campaign thought developed by Lowe Lintas, but it emulates the way of life for the players of Mumbai Indians and the fans of Cricket as a sport to swear by. The campaign has brought forth the ‘fan of cricket’ aspect amongst Mumbai Indians players and goes on to resonate the sentiments of millions of Indians towards the love for the sport.”
Sharing the creative challenge undertaken by the agency, Arun Iyer, Chairman and Chief Creative Officer, Lowe Lintas said: “In India cricket is religion and Mumbai is considered to be the holy land. We wanted to infuse this city’s ‘love for the game above all else’ into the brand as this would help it forge a deeper bond with its fans, irrespective of which city or country they come from. Given that MI also is known to be the team that displays the most ‘team-work’ further allowed for it to uniquely own this philosophy of ‘Cricket Meri Jaan’. We brought this philosophy to life by capturing the ‘on-field energy of the game’ as these are the visuals that remain embedded in a fans heart whenever he or she reminisces about the game.”
The campaign has been rolled out with a big focus on merchandise and ticketing collaterals, which is crucial from business standpoint. Apart from this, the idea has been launched in a big way via stadium branding (Wankhede), Outdoor, Press ads, Bus shelters, branding on local trains on Western Railway & Central Railway and also on BEST buses.
