The greedy spoilsports of Twenty-20. Review on Twenty 20 Cricket

*So we have won a ‘World Cup’. Great! That should revive all those good glorious days of endless ads with Men in Blue selling brands of all shapes and sizes. But while that onslaught might still be on its way on the tube, the compulsive notoriety of piggybacking on the cricket craze was already visible while the tournament was on.

Special mention to the likes of Maruti Zen, Maruti SX4, Pepsi, Greenlam, Hero Honda, Fanta and Tulip who thought it was a brilliant idea to thrust their commercials right in the middle of the most ecstatic moments of the India-Pakistan final, whenever the match was at its hysterical peak.(Not that the ordeal during other matches of was any less)

So, every time an Indian bowler ripped through the stumps of the Pakistani batsman, it was not a shout or a jump that would come first. It was either the story of a girl running away with her boyfriend, where the girl’s father takes a good look at the car interiors.(The ‘good look’ feels agonizingly slow, as the man blocks all that madness at the field).

Or the Greenlam’s ‘Dikhaane la ji kare’. They actually managed to ‘show’ us the brand forcefully at a time when even the most liked, award winning commercial would simply be unwanted.

Then, just as the crucial fourth Pakistan wicket fell, in comes a Fanta couple doing a magical number in air. You cry, grumble and prepare for the same bout of irritation and helplessness as you pray for another wicket fall.

May be a bunch of media planners and brand custodians thought it was so so smart to hijack the fever at its peak. And end up being ‘capturing’ the audience, because this time they knew everyone will sit through the ads. No one simply had, no choice.

Because even the channel that brought the tournament live seemed insensitive to the ‘janta’. It’s understood that Ad revenues are critical for a channel. But what about the timing of it. Indeed in the new Twenty20 format, the time crunch makes the game suffer at the cost of the ads. But again, why such bad, unwanted timing to air the ads?

Sometimes, the best way to get connected with audience during such ‘cashable’ situations is, by not advertising at all. Respect the mood and emotions of the people and you gain a lot. Brilliant example of a brand that must be mentioned here in current context is ‘Shell’.

During an important world cup Football tournament in the west, Shell – who was sponsoring the game, did a brilliant piece of communication. Right before the match was to start, they had a super on the TV screen that read something to the effect – “For all those who love the game… no commercial break during the match”, followed by the Shell logo. It struck with the audience. They remembered the brand for such a thoughtful gesture, all through the game. Not for just 30 seconds.