MUMBAI – Cricket in India isn’t just a game, it’s a bona fide religion. With the Cricket World Cup taking grip, Grey Group India has launched a video that salutes all Indian cricket lovers and their passion and support towards Indian cricket and cricketers.
To stir the emotions of these dedicated fans, the video features Brand Ambassador Rahul Dravid saluting the spirit of the Indian cricket fans who have made cricket what it is today.
Rajeev Sathyesh, Country Marketing Manager of Gillette India said, “Gillette, globally has been associated with sports for many years now. As part of Gillette’s endeavor to salute the spirit of all Indian cricket fans, we have launched SPECIAL EDITION INDIA razors. The new razors have the word INDIA engraved on the handle and proudly displays the country’s name and colours.”
Malvika Mehra, National Creative Director & Executive Vice President of Grey Group India, said, “They say fans make the game. No fans, no game. This short film is Gillette’s salute to the passion of every cricket loving Indian fan.
Told through a story of a blind fan whose spirit and love of the game clearly overtakes his disability. In today’s overly crowded (and yet ironically isolated) social ecosystem, any sensible brand needs to have larger conversations with its consumers, they need to evoke ‘real feelings’. The age of mere transactional communication is over. We are lucky to have a client like Gillette, who sees that. With this film we hope to touch a much richer space of a ‘real connection’ with the consumer. Leading to a far more satisfying pay off for a brand in the long run”
Yashaswini Samat, Executive Vice President, P&G, Grey Group APAC said, “Gillette has historically leveraged sports and sports celebrities, globally. The focus here has been on the common man, the fans and their unequivocal passion for the sport.”
Vishnu Srivatsav, Senior Executive Creative Director of Grey Mumbai said ”There are two kinds of fans, the fair-weather fans, who wear the jersey more to belong than to support and the true believers who have almost absorbed the ethos of the Indian colours. They are the ones who live and breathe cricket.”
“A razor isn’t something you carry everywhere. So buying one that comes in the colours of our cricket team, definitely isn’t for show offs, but true believers. We wanted to tell the story of a true believer, someone who has never seen the jersey, someone who hasn’t seen an entire era of Indian
cricket, but has still followed the game with genuine passion. This is Gillette’s ode to the Indian fan, much like the razor,” he continued.
The three minute video tells the story of Mangesh Ganpatrao Kadam, a passionate Indian cricket lover, a man who has followed the ups and downs of Indian cricket for the last 35 years or so, a man who has borne witness to some of the most significant moments of Indian Cricket. After being hit by a ball on his head during a cricket match, when he was young, Kadam suffered nerve damage and lost his vision. But despite losing his vision in a cricket game, Kadam was never bitter.
He followed the game with the same passion as he always had by seeing the game through the eyes of his son – Suresh. The game brings father and son together, and their relationship brings the game alive, once again for Kadam. In his monologue, he talks about watching every single moment in Indian cricket history. He talks about watching the country win its first world cup. He talks about the generations of great cricketers that he has never actually seen, but he knows all about.
He knows individual nuances of each player (somebody’s wrists, someone else’s wry smile), things that set them apart. Those moments in time, that a nation can never forget (six sixes in an over, and so on). His particular affinity is towards the jersey that he wears with pride, even though he has never seen it. He’s particularly proud that India wears the colours of the sky when they play, and that’s how he identifies the colours. He then talks about his son, getting married and going away. He says he’s thinking about retiring from watching the game, because now he’s too old. But he’s too proud to admit that watching the game without his son’s company is not the same at all. That’s when Gillette’s brand ambassador, Rahul Dravid, steps in to surprise him.
Dravid, a bona fide Indian cricketing legend, starts describing the game the way his son used, and asks Mr. Kadam, if he can watch the World cup with him, which he happily agrees to. As Mr. Kadam, again, pulls his beloved jersey out of storage, his love for the game reaffirmed. The film ends with a message, “The colours of Indian pride, now in a razor. Gillette salutes the fan in you.”
CREDITS
Client: (Gillette, P&G) – Rajeev Sathyesh, Pratik Mukherjee, Karthik Srivatsan
Agency: Grey Group India
Creative Team: Malvika Mehra, Vishnu Srivatsav, Bhavesh Kosambia, Bhakti Ingulkar, Deep Chabria, George Sebastian
Servicing Team (P&G): Samta Datta, Kamia Wahi
Planning: Shahvez Afridi
Films: Samir Chadha, Mitalee Prabhu
Production House: Razor Blade
Director: Rahul Sengupta
Producer: Christopher Wagner
