With the World Cup in full swing, the marketers are grabbing the opportunity to sign cricketers. So here’s what is happening in the field of advertising.
After the India-South Africa cliffhanger, Pepsi has promptly signed a dream candidate in Ashish Nehra. True to their tag, Nehra successfully ‘changed the game’ with his uncanny and never-witnessed-before ‘slow left arm swing’ bowling. For the same match, Vodafone signed Dale Steyn to symbolize him the ‘faster, smarter, better’ human zoozoo. The match was a turning point for Yusuf Pathan too. For his ‘who-cares- I-will-swing-my-bat-gallantly‘ attitude, ESPNStar signed him up for their Tournament title song ‘Tej Ghuma Le’. Both ESPNStar and Pathan didn’t hesitate a bit on their parts. The various Municipal Corporations in India are tinkering with the idea of making South African team their brand ambassador to promote their lasting victory over choke-ups in various city plumbing projects.
International offers continue to shower on Indian cricketers, with Piyush Chawla being signed by Dubai Real Estate companies for consistently breaking his own records of constructing higher and higher towers for every over he bowls.
Since S. Sreesanth aptly supports PSPO fan’s tagline of ‘Kone Kone mein jyada’, Sreesanth will be seen being rewarded for playing his natural game of bowling consistent wides and no-balls, thus beautifully aligning with PSPO’s slogan. The strategy might do wonders as he will be bowling in the hot summer during IPL 4.
Virender Sehwag, in such superb form, has got offer from BMW. BMW will promote their 0-to-120 KMPH acceleration capability by showcasing Sehwag’s herioics of hitting the first balls of every single innings to the boundary.
R. Ashwin must be the dream bench-strength for any captain. The Luminous Inverters have capitalized on this by bagging Ashwin as he symbolizes their slogan of ‘40% extra backup’. Thus, even if he is made to sit on bench for every match so far, he is said to have very high mental strength – must be 40% extra compared to others!
Following Kevin O’Brien’s heroics against England, Airtel, to promote their message of ‘Dil jo chahe paas laye’ have signed O’Brien. He will be replacing Shah Rukh Khan in their promo, with talking with his girlfriend on mobile in one hand and simultaneously hitting huge six with another hand. Airtel is looking forward to phasing out aging Shah Rukh Khan and introducing gen-next romantic cult.
Munaf Patel, now a regular third ‘pace’ bowler, will be seen in advertisement of a leading tooth brush. Just as Munaf Patel’s bowl goes in every far corners of the ground, the tooth brush will be shown going to every far corners of the mouth.
Sports have so much in common. During this tight-scheduled tournament, football too has made inroads. Arsenal Football Club, with their low budget and draining Cups tally, has signed Kamran Akmal as specialist goalkeeper. Arsene Wenger, the innovating coach of Arsenal, has an idea that Akmal is capable of consistently missing catches – be it cricket ball or soccer ball – and will be keeping goal during Arsenal’s practice sessions in order to give much needed confidence boost to their strikers. Kamran Akmal has not yet proved Wenger wrong in this tournament.
One major International carrier has signed up players of all Associate countries. These players will be seen sitting on its airplane to promote the slogan ‘You don’t need any reason to travel’. Since ICC has faced lot of criticism for including these countries in the tournament, they are demanding royalty from the carrier.
The last so far and the best offer has landed to MS Dhoni. The Central Banks world over are competing to sign Dhoni for his ability to make timely public comments such as ‘We should not play for the crowd’, ‘He will come good during crunch moment’, ‘We should think realistically on what we can get’,’ We can only marginally improve (!)’, etc. Central Banks relish the cool demeanor Dhoni brings to the table especially in the moments of heat.
This is just a beginning. There are still more rounds to be played in this tournament, and prospects for all players, especially Indians look very bright.
