Culture Round-Up: Lata Mangeshkar, Farhan Akhtar's wedding kept netizens hooked in Feb

The second month of 2022 saw a lot of buzz in the sporting and celebrity world that kept the netizens talking on digital platforms throughout the month. Right from ‘Writing With Fire’ getting an Oscar nomination to the first metaverse wedding, to the passing away of legendary icons Bappi Lahiri and Lata Mangeshkar, here’s what kept the internet buzzing in February 2022 as highlighted in the monthly Starcom Culture Round-Up. 

Sports hook the interest

Cricket remained the most popular sport with Kabaddi being a close second. The participation from India in the Winter Olympics can be attributed to a lesser interest in the events. Additionally, India won the Under-19 Cricket World Cup, creating a lot of buzzes. 

India's 16-year-old chess Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa defeated world number one, Magnus Carlsen, in the eighth round of the Airthings Masters. Popular in football was La Liga, Premier League and Europa League playoffs. IPL 2022 auctions were also highly discussed on the web. 

Celebrities getting attention

Two icons of the Indian music industry- Lata Mangeshkar and Bappi Lahiri passed away this previous month creating a lot of conversations. A lot of celebrities tied the knot, including Vikrant Massey with Sheetal Thakur and Farhan Akhtar with Shibani Dandekar, amongst others. Indian film 'Writing with Fire' received an Oscar nomination. India also witnessed its first Metaverse wedding. 

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A post shared by Farhan Akhtar (@faroutakhtar)

Popular Brand Campaigns

Amongst popular brand campaigns most were built for Valentine’s week – from Cadbury’s “How far will you go to make them blush?” to “#CelerioDrivesMyLoveInStyle: Through an AR experience woven with love to celebrate Valentine’s Day.” Cadbury 5Star’s “Attending Cousin’s wedding” as a perfect excuse this Valentine’s day was also popular.

Other campaigns were - GoodDot's campaign for promoting the spirit of doing good featuring Neeraj Chopra with the brand's mascot- a goat 'GoodDo'; ThumsUp’s “Soft Drink Nahin Toofan” featuring Shah Rukh Khan; Coca Cola’s “Khud Ko Jagaa, Ek Thanda Lagaa” starring actors Janhvi Kapoor and Ishaan Khatter. 

Gujarat Titans (the IPL team) launched their logo in an interactive event in the metaverse, and This International Women’s Day, Hershey’s endeavours to celebrate Sheroes in our society by illustrating their powerful stories, that deserve to be told.