Sony Pictures Sports Network signs 7 sponsors for upcoming Australia tour of England
The network has recently launched a campaign for the upcoming series to honour ‘real fans’
Sony Pictures Sports Network (SPSN) has launched a new campaign for the upcoming Australia tour of England, starting from 4 September, to honour the ‘Real Fans’ of cricket.
The network has launched two campaign films that feature Real Fans vs Fake Fans for the series to capture the passion and the sentiments of Indian cricket fans which transcends all geographical boundaries, SPSN revisits its tenet ‘Love for Cricket Knows No Boundaries’ to win the hearts of real cricket fans with its campaign “Asli Fans ke Liye”.
In 2019, SPS conceptualized and launched the ‘Love for Cricket knows no Boundaries’ campaign to tell the poignant, heartwarming story of one such fan of the sport. Taking the same thought forward, the network launched the ‘Asli Fans Ke Liye’ campaign.
In the recent two films, one which is animated ‘Real Fans Vs Fake Fans’ showcases Fake Fans following Jonny Bairstow’s cooking and David Warners’ foot tapping videos that are garnering maximum views on their social media platform while Real Fans are actually following their heroes especially when they are playing their innings and making history on the pitch. And in the second film which is a shoot-based film set in an office where a group of colleagues are watching a LIVE match in play. The film opens with a Fake Fan, giving his pseudo expert advice, which is factually incorrect and leads to his colleague, a Real Fan, correcting him on the match playing out on TV between England and Australia.
Speaking on the campaign idea, Neville Bastawalla, Head, Marketing & On-Air Promotions, Sports Channels, Sony Pictures Networks India shared that the campaign film is based on human insights and observations. “We were working on how to take our thought, love for cricket knows no boundaries, forward for a while now. We arrived at the concept ‘Asli Fans ke Liye’ from keen observation and human insights and showcases that real cricket fans know no boundaries and they will watch great cricket irrespective of which team the cricketer is playing for.”
He further explained that an India - Australia series probably sees an average of 50 million viewers and a non-India series would see an average of five million viewers which shows that only 10% of the cricket audience can be classified real cricket fans. “While India is the cricket loving country, the viewership of non-India cricket is 10%-15% of India cricket. Our campaign ‘Asli Fans ke Liye’ is very provocative and aims to provoke the emotions of our cricket loving audience with the message - if you are a real fan of cricket, you will not miss one of the fiercest rivalries in cricket with the upcoming Australia tour of England.”
Speaking of the sponsors on board for the series, Bastawalla informed that the network has already signed seven sponsors on board. He shared, “We have a great line-up of sponsors for the series. We have already signed 7 sponsors that includes My11circle, Skoda, Perfetti, HDFC Life, Dafanews, Maruti Suzuki, Indo Nissin and many more to come.” The network is also the first to broadcast Hindi commentary for a live non- India international cricket series.
The network is also launching a ‘Asli Cricket Fan Contest’ wherein they have shot some films which will be put on-air and social media and viewers have to spot the Asli Cricket Fan and they will get an exclusive Team England autographed cricket bat.
On the other marketing initiatives, the network has extensive digital plans for the series along with television. “We believe in the power of Digital and Television primarily and in the current scenario we will continue with this. We have a strong digital plan for the England- Australia series and the series will be marketed within the network’s channels on TV,” concluded Bastawalla.
