Effie 2011: Taproot walks away with Grand Effie

The young agency won the prized award of the evening for its 'Change the Game' campaign for PepsiCo aired during the ICC World Cup

Neha Saraiya | Delhi | December 15, 2011

Last night at Effie 2011, Taproot India may have won a total of three metals but it was also the show stealer as it walked away with the prized 'Grand Effie' for its 'Change the Game' campaign for PepsiCo. For the young, creative hot shop led by Agnello Dias and Santosh Padhi, this was another feather in the cap riding on the awards at Cannes and elsewhere. In fact, Dias brought home India's first ever Cannes Grand Prix in 2008 for masterminding The Times of India 'Lead India' campaign. He was then National Creative Director at JWT.

The campaign that took off during the ICC Cricket World Cup earlier this year included a series of ad films, highlighting unorthodoxical situations centering round cricket. The campaign brilliantly synchronised a cricketer's style of playing with routine situations in life. Whether it was Virender Sehwag's 'Upper cut', Mahendra Singh Dhoni's 'Helicopter shot', Harbhajan Singh's 'Doosra', Tillakaratne Dilshan's 'Dilscoop', Kevin Pietersen's 'Switch hit' or Virat Kohli and Suresh Raina's aggressive on-field spirit, the campaign highlighted the unplugged, organic face of contemporary cricket, reflective of everything that the youth of today live by.

Supporting the on-air initiatives through numerous ads was the eye-catching off-air campaign with cricketers in never-seen-before painted body look. In fact, the team at Taproot designed the look of every player in a manner that reflected their energetic and unique on-field persona. Thus, each design and the choice of colour palette had a story behind it that mirrored the athlete's character.

The campaign took off at various mediums and channels to including thematic ATL and outdoor, consumer engagement programmes, special edition packaging, in-stadia amplification and digital engagement programmes.

Through the campaign Pepsi not only celebrated the new and popular face of modern cricket but also clearly stood out of the clutter of various World Cup communications. It also effectively leveraged the imagination of the cricket-loving population in India.

Delighted at having bagged the big Effie, Santosh Padhi, Co-founder, Taproot India, said, “Winning is always good for any creative person, especially for an agency of our size. We compete with giant agencies with a staff of 30 against their 300-odd. It's special for the industry, too, because we have set an example for clients that it's the idea that matters and not the size of the agency.”

He added, “Much thanks to the client for believing in us. The day they called us for this business, it was a game-changing movement for us. For this campaign we reached out to the basics.”

Besides a grand Effie, the agency has also registered a Gold and Silver medal in F&B and Integrated Advertising categories.

Pepsi Change the Game campaign TVCs:

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