Mumbai: With the Cup Edition being a symbol of fandom and sportsmanship, Volkswagen, a brand that personifies German excellence launched this edition by celebrating the joy of getting support from unexpected places- in this case, football-crazy Germany. Thus was born, #GermanyCheersForIndia.
Conceptualized and executed by the DDB Mudra Group, supported by PHD India and MSL India; this one of a kind, multi-media campaignhas brought Germany and India together over the sport of cricket; by bringing in German support for Team India.
Kickstarting the campaign on May 27th, Volkswagen India published a teaser film on its social pages; featuring the highlights of the Cup Edition in visuals and an enthusiastic cheer for Team India as a background score.
Following this, the brand along with the DDB Mudra Group and media agency- PHD India, involved legendary German football player- Thomas Muller. Muller tweeted a photo of himself in a blue jersey, with his wishes for the Indian cricket team with the hashtag #GermanyCheersforIndia. He tagged the Indian captain Virat Kohli who has been a long-standing supporter of Die Mannschaft, the German National Football team. In a matter of hours, the tweet went viral and supporters from both the countries joined in the conversation. And Twitter exploded.
To fuel the cheer further and to widen the fan reach, the agencies looped in Indian cricket icons Harsha Bhogle and Shikhar Dhawan, who responded to Muller’s tweet with messages of appreciation. Their acknowledgment and admiration for the support pouring in from Germany made the movement stand out in the eyes of Indian fans, who were delighted at this unexpected support.
The movement was further supported with a corporate website revamp, print, radio, and outdoor legs; accentuating the Cup Edition carlines while using #GermanyCheersforIndia.As we go further into the tournament, the DDB Mudra Group and the brand intend to keep the fans engaged with #GermanyCheersforIndia, using more topical content about the upcoming matches and details about the brand’s Special Cup Edition.
Speaking about the campaign, BishwajeetSamal, Head of Marketing, Volkswagen Passenger Cars said, “World over, Volkswagen has a great commitment towards sports. It plays an integral part of our business as it unites performance, passion, inspiration, excitement and lastly emotion. As a German brand, it is great to witness the support that this campaign has received from Germany so far, with more and more people joining in the cheer. With Thomas Muller catalyzing the #GermanyCheersForIndia movement, we aim to celebrate and bring together sportsman spirit all over.”
Rahul Mathew, National Creative Director, DDB Mudra Group added, “At a time when every brand would be doing their bit to support the Indian team, we needed to do something that would not only stand out but also had a strong Volkswagen connect. And what better way to do that than to use its German origins.
#GermanyCheersForIndia does the unthinkable – Thomas Mueller in a blue jersey pledging his support for India. The campaign has garnered unprecedented conversation for the brand. And has gotten cricket stars and fans applauding both Mueller and Volkswagen, for this gesture.”
Agency Credits:
Creative Team – Rahul Mathew, Shagun Seda, Manish Darji, Vinay Singh,Sean De JervisSequeira, VighneshGangadharan, Yash Ambre, Tanya Agarwal, Vivek Bhatia, Mahalakshmi Kumar, Nikita, Amarsinh Bhagat, Amol Lad, Amruta Raut, Vaibhav Bhave, Mohit Patil
Account Planning – Sonal Jhuj, Aadya Sharma
Business management – Anurag Tandon, Rakesh Varma, Yesha Bhagat, Hemant Joshi, Raghav Chitra, Nikita Kumar, Sreshtha Basu
Insights and analytics – Prateek Vora, Ishqaue Shaikh, Jeet Gor
Films – Vishal Sane, Meenaz Lala
Production – Hrushikesh Inamdar
