Third Umpire takes a front foot in Hitachi Air-Conditioners's new campaign

Hitachi Cooling & Heating India has released of its Coolest Third Umpire campaign. 

As cricket is not just a game but also an emotion in India, the brand endeavour’s to connect widely with the internet-savvy and cricket-loving generation through this quirky campaign. Establishing a strong connection with millennial consumers, the company has made a strategic marketing shift with a focus on new sports branding and emerging digital media avenues. Betting big on the cricket season, the company is driving cutting-edge digital marketing strategies to take the social media world by storm. 

The third umpire gives the ultimate decision in cricket, but nobody knows how he looks like. What he does in free time? Is he cool or is he serious? Driving netizen’s curiosity for the Third Umpire, Hitachi’s quirky campaign aims to reveal the identity of the Third Umpire and establish a humorous cross connection, a cross-over of the world of cricket, and the new exciting features of Hitachi air conditioners that never fail to amaze its customers. With this campaign, Actor Kiku Sharda is returning in its new Coolest Third Umpire avatar to entertain and engage people in this season of cricket and heat. With a fun teaser the campaign which will have 5 very entertaining episodes will be taking on all major social platforms – Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter. In addition to Hindi, the video will also be available in Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam.

Talking about the new campaign Nilesh Shah, senior VP, business planning and Marketing, Johnson Controls-Hitachi Air Conditioning India Ltd. said, “We are committed to revolutionising the way consumer’s perceive and connect with Air Conditioning products in India. After the huge success of “Nothing Dirty” social media song & “Who is Suraj” social media content AV which crossed 30 Crore video views on Youtube alone, the company was motivated to create another fun-filled, humour-packed, and highly entertaining video campaign.Catering to a wide audience, we have put the spotlight now on cricket season with our ‘Coolest Third Umpire’ Campaign. As every cricket season causes frenzy among fans and Actor Kiku Sharda is a household name so there would be no better time and person to present our ‘Coolest Third Umpire’ campaign. We are optimistic to cross more than millions of organic views with this cutting-edge campaign.”

Actor-Comic Mr. Kiku Sharda talking about his association with the brand shared, “I personally am a huge fan of Cricket. While watching matches I often used to picture funny scenarios about the mysterious Third Umpire. What he would look like or dress like or maybe snoring through the match when he is not needed. I was excited to work on this concept and I hope people will enjoy watching it as much as I enjoyed working in it. Hitachi is a great brand and I am delighted that I got to embody their Coolest Third Umpire.”

Cricket is the most watched sport in India and in cricket there is only one umpire who sits in AC room i.e. The Third Umpire. The brand is riding high on this campaign by providing a perspective of the third umpire and giving it a face in a very humorous and exciting way. The campaign attempts to connect the audience with the untouched and unnoticed life of a third umpire. 

The campaign also captures company’s latest ‘New Air’ brand communication in an interesting manner. Redefining the cool, clean, cost-saving, and comfort aspects of air conditioning, the company has recently launched its next-generation airHome series of air conditioners. Riding on the Duality Design philosophy and its origin in Japan, the airHome series of air conditioners aims to create a signature statement for both interiors and cooling performance. The duality design concept is inspired by the superior craftsmanship of the world’s best sword – the Japanese katana. Setting the highest standards of design in air conditioning for living spaces, the airHome series adds opulence and comfort with its dual panel look, dual surface finish, dual platinum and dual gold colour tone, longer lasting Star white colour, accentuate curve design, iconic wave design and more.