Categories Name : SPECIAL AWARDS

Sub-Category : Best Integrated Media Campaign - Product/ Services

Entry Name (Campaign) : VIVO IPL 2018

Brand Name : Star Sports India

Metal : Gold

Covering Note / Overall Experience

VIVO IPL is about the best players from the best cricket-playing nations coming together and battling for one coveted trophy. A competition that sees the BEST face off against the BEST! We used this fact to drive conversation on social media and pit the BEST fans against each other via engaging content coupled with interesting innovations.

Concept

Our strategy to be recognised as the go-to place for all things VIVO IPL began months before the league began with Election Se Selection. To keep the fans engrossed, we launched an interesting voting portal, Election Se Selection, wherein the fans could voice their opinions; and with over 2.7 million votes, the fans sure made their voices heard! Involving the fans in every part of our journey formed a key aspect of our overall digital strategy. With this in mind, we not only ran a fan-based engagement activity on social media before the league began to pique interest levels, but also launched our very own chat bot on Facebook – the Star Sports Bot! From match updates to trivia and keeping a tab on the TV guide – this bot was the buddy every VIVO IPL fan deserved. We wanted to make the VIVO IPL fan experience as diverse as possible and with this in mind also kicked off our regional social content. We conversed in languages such as Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Bengali and Malayalam to cover a wide fan base in the country and even internationally!

Innovation

Since VIVO IPL was going to be on Star Sports for the very first time, a unique experience for the fans was a must. With Election Se Selection - for the first time, fans got an opportunity to vote for the their favourite VIVO IPL players. The use of Twitter Q&A for Select Dugout allowed fans to engage with the experts and pioneers of the game like never before. Regional content dispersion allowed fans to enjoy the regional audience to enjoy content in their native language.

Execution

Interesting press to reveal graphics were used to communicate and reveal the retained players on Facebook. To involve the fans in the player auctions, we started the Election Se Selection Portal. Fans could pick two players from a pool of players, and if their choice were to match with their team's pick at the auction, they could win match tickets. To develop loyalty for their teams’ fans were urged to share their photos/videos sporting their team colour and paint the digital world with it. We launched the VIVO IPL 2018 anthem and other promos at 8 PM as our experts, hosts and all posts throughout the day asked the fans to do Eight ka Wait via Infinite FB Lives, Instagram stories with experts, memes, etc. Live match updates found a new home in Instagram stories & the chat bot, albeit with a creative touch. Widely appreciated, these Insta stories took the fans through the match like never before, giving them a clear and interesting insight into the match. Innovative video content kept the fans entertained, notably the 'Brett Lee Snap video' that was an instant hit! The Select Dugout received massive following throughout. Twitter Q&As received a huge response as fans got a chance to indulge in conversations with their favourite cricketing icons! The move to communicate in regional languages was much appreciated by the fans across India who cherished this new facet, which saw content in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Bengali and Malayalam.

Results

VIVO IPL 2018 was the talk of the town, with a 70% increase seen in conversations as compared to last year. We generated around 68.6 Mn+ video views and an engagement of 14.7 Mn+ on Facebook, and the fans on Twitter weren’t too far behind with an engagement of 3 Mn+. Star Sports was at the centre of twitter conversations as we tweeted more than 5 IPL teams. The Instagram content was well-received with more than 1 Mn video views. All in all, the best cricketing tournament deserved the best digital and broadcasting partner, and that’s what it got with Star Sports.