Star Sports has launched the third instalment of its 'Mauka' campaign to get viewers to tune into the India Vs UAE match on February 28. 'Can UAE do what Pakistan and South Africa could not?'
The Indian team is on a roll, and after crushing South Africa and Pakistan, the hopes of the team as well as the fans are riding high. India's next bout is with UAE on Saturday, February 28. It is important to note that the international cricketing experience of UAE is much lesser than that of India, and the latter is a favourite already, but cricket is a game where nothing can be predicted because most unreal things happen on ground and history is a witness to it.
Star Sports, the official broadcaster of the ICC World Cup 2015 is back with its #MaukaMauka campaign with the latest #MaukaPeChauka, where three South African fans watching the India Vs South Africa match get annoyed at the loss. One of them removes his jersey and breaks the crackers. And just then, the doorbell rings. A UAE supporter is seen giving him a UAE jersey, as the background tune 'Mauka' plays, signifying that they have a chance to rejoice if UAE can defeat India.
The creative in the end says 'World Vs India'.
The promos have been designed by Bubblewrap Films, and directed by Star Sports team members.
Speaking about the campaign, Star's spokesperson says, "Our TVCs capture India's journey at the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015. We wanted to do a disruptive campaign for the World Cup. This TVC builds on the success and adoption of the Mauka films and India's next opposition in the World Cup."
For the record, the first promo under this campaign was for the India-Pakistan match, in which it was highlighted that India had defeated Pakistan on their last five encounters in the World Cup and asked the question from the perspective of a Pakistani cricket fan - 'Can Pakistan cricket team give him an opportunity to burst crackes in jubiliation this time?' The promo fetched over 2.2 million views.
The next promo was for the India-South Africa match. The Indian team had lost to South Africa on the last three occasions. Taking a cue from this insight, Star Sports launched a promo titled '#MaukaMauka', where it took a dig at the Indian team by pointing this out. The video has fetched nearly two million views.
Speaking about the #MaukaPeChauka campaign Ketaki Guhagarkar, Bubblewrap Films, says, "We needed to keep the spirit of cricket alive, and it was not meant to look down upon any team. Shooting it was a tricky one, since the experience of UAE is way to less when compared with India, so we had to be real and careful."
This new promo has already fetched nearly a million views.
Industry Speak
Nilanjan Dasgupta, ECD, Rediffusion Y&R, says, "India Vs UAE doesn't sound like a match that will get too much of eyeballs anyway, that too after the Indians have defeated the best two teams in the group. The "mauka-cracker" device is well set and is being talked about. But, the idea needs to evolve and become much more interesting and engaging than what is happening right now."
Jai Tekwani, senior strategic planner at TBWAIndia, says, "It's a force fit, because the first two ads had a story that had a statistical perspective. One a high point and the other a sore. The third one actually veers away from the campaign plot into the realms of schadenfreude, and the only commonality is the firecrackers. A force fit indeed. It's more about taking a dig at Pakistanis, rather than having a statistical take on the World Cup. It does not have a great recall value. The only reason it has caught attention is because it's a follow-up to the previous two ads, and, of course, the jingle 'Mauka Mauka'."
Dasgupta observes that the crackers have become quite a rage and also the word 'mauka', so to see them as a continued device in the current ad is not surprising. "The return of the Pakistani fan is a nice touch, but the first one in the series remains the best of the lot," he adds.
Tekwani agrees, but says that this ad was necessary. "Star wants to promote every India match. Therefore, a creative execution per match is the campaign logic. But, this does seem to be the weaker one from what is, in reality, a good campaign," he adds.
Post India-UAE, the defending champions will clash with West Indies (March 6), Ireland (March 10) and Zimbawe (March 14) in the league matches.
Source: Afaqs.com
