Boost, an HUL brand, has been synonymous with ‘sports’ and ‘cricket’ in India has partnered with the world’s leading mobile cricket game, World Cricket Championship (WCC). The brand’s latest campaign highlights the plight of women interested to pursue their career in cricket. Women who are interested in playing cricket in India have to navigate through obstacles of social sanctions and limited chances. Despite that, some go on to play the game at the highest level. The campaign highlights that on-field, there is only one language – performance. To take this campaign to the masses, Boost has partnered with WCC which has over 170 million downloads and is available in multiple language commentaries including English, Hindi, Telugu, Bengali, Kannada, and Tamil.
With a singular objective to decouple ‘gender’ with ‘performance’ in sports as a social narrative, Mindshare India and GroupM ESP have brought to life the proposition “Boost: Game Stamina Ka” wherein first-time-ever a unique game mode has been customized within World Cricket Championship 3 (WCC3). The million+ gamers will take on the ‘male’ squad with an ‘all-female’ team to propagate the message that playing cricket just requires stamina and skill and is not based on the gender of the person. The integration juxtaposed alongside ICC Women’s World Cup in New Zealand makes for a great backdrop to drive home the message.
Next Wave Multimedia CEO and Co-founder, P.R. Rajendran said, “WCC is the world’s leading mobile gaming franchise and diversity, and innovation has kept it fresh after all these years. We brought in the women’s cricket mode to bring further inclusivity. The game has witnessed more than half a million minutes of engagement from female gamers since the launch of the campaign. We are glad to have partnered with Boost, GroupM ESP and Mindshare India for this initiative which brings focus on women’s cricket.”
Ajay Mehta, Sr. Vice President – Mindshare Content+ & Partnerships said, “We live in a cricket crazy nation, and we are proud to associate with this campaign that aims to break stereotypes. While the TV and Digital campaign drove home this brand messaging around ‘stamina’ and ‘performance’, it was equally important to demonstrate the message in an engaging manner and at scale. Collaborating with Boost, WCC3 and GroupM ESP, we wanted to appeal to our audiences including women gamers in a unique & compelling way, with the ongoing women’s world cup.”
Subhamoy Das, Senior Business Director, GroupM ESP said, “While the traditional campaign drives home the brand messaging around ‘stamina’ and ‘performance’, it is equally important to demonstrate the message in an engaging manner and at scale. WCC3 makes for a perfect platform to do so when it comes to women’s cricket with couple of millions established audience.”
The campaign aims at breaking gender stereotypes in India’s favourite sport with its core message – “Game Ladke Ladkiyon ka Nahin, Stamina ka Hai”, spreading the word that cricket is not a gender-based game but a game of stamina and skill. Thus, STAMINA BEATS ALL, which translates to ‘#AbPermissionNahiStaminaBolega”