Nike World Cup Cricket Ad filmed in India

Nike’s first cricket-related television advertising campaign pays tribute to the gutsy street-level fervour behind India’s cricket team. The two minute TV ad opens with a chicken on the roof of a Mumbai bus, disturbed by the appearance of a young cricketer climbing through the sky light. The young man, part of a team of cricketers stuck in a traffic jam, joins another player for a few shots of ‘Gali’ cricket. His shots go all over the street, one hitting a billboard, another landing in an old man’s teacup. A young man on a balcony grabs the ball and jumps down to join the action as a bowler.

The rest of the cricket team jumps out to field the ball, joining a crowd of competitors and an elephant. Out in the crowd we see Indian cricket players Zaheer Khan and Sreesanth, somewhat bemused by the game. The game’s only referee is a Parsi statue of a man with his finger raised. Finally the traffic begins to clear. The team prepares to return to the bus but is stirred into alertness by the final bowl of a young man leaping into the air. The young bowler’s action is frozen mid-air and supplemented with the Nike logo and super, “Just do it”. Click on the image below to play the video.

Credits

The Nike World Cup Cricket advertising campaign was developed at JWT India, Bangalore, by senior vice president, executive creative director/copywriter Agnello Dias, creative directors Dhunji Wadia and Rajesh Gangwani, and art director Nitin Desai.

“We wanted to show how cricket is played on the streets in India. These players are as tough, mean and hard (as international cricketers). On our streets in India, cricket is played in the toughest, meanest and best way. It also shows a microcosm of India,” says Agnello Dias.

“For all of us who have played cricket on the streets, we know we have to play a quick game – to bowl or strike the ball – before the next car comes by,” says Dias. “The game in the ad is being played in a traffic jam and captures the chaos and disorder of an everyday cricket field in India, where there could be 21 matches being played at the same time!”

“We wanted to show that cricket is not a game that is just played by gentlemen in white in elite clubs but it is also played by tough, macho men on the streets in the largest democracy in the world.”

“If one truly wants to witness the spirit and passion of coarse Indian cricket, then it is not in plush stadiums,” says Dias. “It is in the heartlands of India.” In this cricket-crazy nation, one will find kids and young boys playing cricket on rooftops, terraces, ‘galis’ (small lanes), virtually anywhere. According to JWT executives, these young kids are not dissuaded by any obstacles and play cricket the way they want to.

Filming was directed by Abhinay Deo via RDP, (Ramesh Deo Productions), Mumbai, on a set created by art director Desai in Karjat, Maharashtra.

The lyrics for the Konkani music were written by Agnello Dias, based on an old Goan song.

Media distribution was the responsibility of Mindshare, Bangalore.