India’s tour of Australia, with a twist

Australia, the host nation of the ICC T20 World Cup, has unveiled its latest India focussed tourism campaign. In the run up to the next major global event in cricket, Tourism Australia’s call to ‘Experience the game and beyond’ is targetted at passionate Indian cricket fans, offering them a combined experience of world-class cricket and an unparalleled holiday experience.

Conceptualised by Scarecrow M&C Saatchi, the core idea of the campaign is to draw synergies between India’s most loved sport and signature Australian experiences that define the legendary ‘Australian way of life’, which includes food and drink, nature and wildlife, and aquatic and coastal experiences.

A new television and digital commercial has been produced by Infinity Squared Pvt. Ltd. as part of the campaign that features voiceovers from renowned Indian cricket commentator and friend of the Australian ambassador, Harsha Bhogle; Indian singer, actress and anchor, Shibani Dandekar; and former Australian cricketer Brett Lee. The trio are commentating on what seems at first to be a cricket match but is in fact a beautiful showcase of Australia, with the footage taking the viewer on a journey to some of the country’s most iconic destinations.

Speaking about the campaign, Manish Bhatt, founder director, Scarecrow M&C Saatchi says, “We wanted to leverage and maximise the opportunity for the brand during the upcoming T20 World Cup. The central idea was to experience beyond the game, that legendary ‘Australian way of life’.”

He further says, "Commentary has always been an extremely popular connect between a cricket fan and the game since the radio match telecast days. There are three things common between India and Australia – cricket, cricket and cricket. So we decided to give this insight a creative twist by juxtaposing cricket commentary with Australian experiences.”

When asked about the challenges they faced to bring it together, and whether the script and visuals were prepared separately. Kapil Tammal, creative head and executive creative director, Scarecrow M&C Saatchi, replies, “No, it wasn't done in isolation. In fact the client's brief was to showcase destinations such as Bondi beach and experiences such as skydiving, hot air balloon rides, kangaroo spotting, etc. So, our idea was to first and foremost create a lingo around cricketing terms, dialogues that we have been hearing since so many years and then strategically fit into some of those terminologies. After bringing it together, we weaved an entire story that sounds like a match commentary from start to end and also showcases the Australian experiences that fit perfectly with that story.”

According to Nishant Kashikar, country head, Tourism Australia, the campaign will span three stages, namely, awareness, consideration and booking, with the intention to drive visitation to Australia during 2020. “In addition to the commercial, the campaign will also leverage multiple digital mediums to amplify communications. A mix of search, display, video, social, native, programmatic and content will be a part of the digital campaign. Content partnerships with broadcast and OTT platforms will also be leveraged as part of the campaign to showcase the destination through iconic cricketers from both countries — India’s Mithali Raj and Australia’s Brett Lee. The campaign will be amplified during the Australia tour of India in 2020 and the Australian Open 2020.”

We asked industry experts for their take on the ad,

KS Chakravarthy, also known as Chax, chief creative officer, Tidal7 Brand and Digital says, “Combining a major cricketing event such as the ICC T20 with a tourism drive is certainly a smart piece of thinking, given our rich cricketing history with that country. Unfortunately, the actual creative execution is extremely predictable, and the device of cutting footage to commentary lost its sheen a while ago. Perhaps wittier crafting could have salvaged it, perhaps not.”

"Having said that,” he continues, “if the idea is to mass-ify tourism to Australia, maybe it will still work, even if it will probably leave the ad community unimpressed.”

Anto Noval, executive creative director, Happy mcgarrybowen, has mixed feelings when he says, “I’m trying to figure out which part is being diluted (in “my” head) cricket or Australia. Hmm! While the T20 World Cup might be an exciting proposition, cricket commentary… not really my cup of tea.”

Noval goes on to question the execution, “Do I rather see Australia or hear Harsha Bogle? Clearly, see Australia and maybe some cricket highlights in between. On a more serious note, it’s a fair attempt. Having said that, in this execution Australia is clearly the hero and cricket is distracting me. Or is it annoying me? I might be biased. I play and watch football.”

“Maybe a different proposition would work, for instance — Come to Australia and you will miss the T20 world cup. That’s all,” he signs off with tongue firmly in cheek.