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AdStand: Connecting with sports

Sport is the world's biggest phenomenon. It's way bigger than Hollywood. No wonder brands chase sports in a big way

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AdStand: Connecting with sports

Sport is the world's biggest phenomenon. It's way bigger than Hollywood. No wonder brands chase sports in a big way

Delhi | July 11, 2016

Adstand by Naresh Gupta

Andy Murray won the Wimbeldon, so did Serena. Lewis Hamilton won the F1 race over the weekend. And Portugal won the Euro 2016 Cup, again this weekend. So much was dished out from the sporting arena, so many brands leveraged sports to connect with audiences. From sneakers to technology to fast foods to cold drinks to beer, everything was on offer from the pitch or track.

Sport is the world's biggest phenomenon. It's way bigger than Hollywood. Combined sports will beat movies and music and theatre and other showbiz related events. No wonder brands chase sports in a big way. Rolex and Wimbeldon, Ferrari and Formula… Football has many brands with deep, long-standing relationships including Adidas, Nike and Coke. This week let's take a look at what brands are doing.

Haagen-Dazs makes you #LoseYourself

Haagen-Dazs is new to Wimbledon sponsorship. With strawberries and cream being a part of the Wimbledon culture, it's a surprise that an ice-cream brand was not a part of the championship. Haagen-Dazs seems to have made up for the lost time this year.

The brand partnered with a rock star Instagram photographer Adam Katz Sinding (better known by his Instagram alias, @le21eme, to click a series of pictures of people enjoying the matches. Wimbledon is also the time when people dress in their finest and the viewer gallery turns into a fashion show. Vogue.co.uk  created an online gallery showcasing the work from Adam every day.

#LoseYourself is a campaign that shows people getting lost in the emotional highs and lows of the game. The brand, instead of focusing on the players, as is often done, turned the camera to viewers and created a photostream of people losing themselves in the moment. The campaign created a special Strawberries and Cream ice-cream that is retailed from Selfridges, a special filter for Snapchat, and the hashtag allowed people to post their own moment of being lost in game across the social channels of Haagen-Daazs. There are digital films that play on the official site of the Championships. Watch what Adam has to say about the effort here  Or head to their Twitter or Insta feed to soak in the moments of the game.

Haagen-Dazs has created a campaign that will be talked about for some time.

Stella Artois and Never Heard of It

Stella is a long-standing sponsor of the Wimbledon championship and this year, to celebrate the association, it created a fun quirky campaign – Never heard of it.

The brand takes people back in time when a salesman is trying to sell tickets to Wimbledon and people respond by saying never heard of it. The group of people who haven't heard of Wimbledon includes even Sherlock Holmes. He lands in a bar where the barman gives him a new beer to try - Stella - and he responds, predictably by saying 'Never heard of it!' The brand ends up asking what do you want to be remembered for.

Like Haagen-Dazs who had an extensive campaign, Stella too tied up with a theatre troop to take audience back to Victorian London, to the start of the Legend of Wimbledon.

Sports is big business and brands pour in big money to leverage the association. The new age digital mediums are proof that the campaigns can become far more immersive than just placement of logos. Cricket is big in India; may by the time the next World Cup comes, we would see a brand breaking the mould and going beyond doing a theme based TVC.

Info@BestMediaInfo.com

Info@BestMediaInfo.com

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