The Most Adaptable Brand this IPL
How Whirlpool grew brand awareness & consideration through cricket integrations in partnership with Dentsu Webchutney
Ah, the IPL. No matter who wins the match, the IPL has made itself a winning partner to brand managers over 13 editions. Whether brands choose to outright sponsor the IPL, work with specific channels, or buy the rights to a team, there are bajillion permutations and combinations to make a mark at the marquee sports event.
What makes the cricketing event so gripping is that a marketer can really get the most out of their dollars, no matter where they speak, simply by association. And that’s what’s exciting to us. India finally has its Super Bowl moment.
As long-term brand builders for Whirlpool, we bridged the gap between our right & left brain as we so often get to do. We brought creative and media planning together to deliver an impactful campaign which further suggests the value of integrated communications from one agency.
You see, the secret most media agencies will not tell you is that it’s not always about reach. What any creative agency will tell you is that it’s always about thinking blue sky. When you bring both together, you can build a plan that achieves the right objectives.
Considerations of the Campaign:
- Create a full-funnel solution
- Establish technology superiority for the newly launched Bottom Mount Refrigerator
- We cannot sponsor the event outright — what’s the best audience fitment for us?
- 55 days of scope
Awesome. Now, with clear ambitions of what we had to achieve through a multi-crore campaign, we butted heads (on Microsoft Teams) to derive a natural extension to the product itself.
With the Microprocessors and IntelliSensors, the advanced AI technology, senses, adapts and controls the cooling as per usage patterns. Just like cricketers.
Putting two and two together, we hit 5.
Introducing Adaptable Player of The Day on ESPN Cricinfo, presented by Whirlpool, the best place for cricket analyses on the internet. A show that exemplifies the Adaptability of the players in this game while integrating the product narrative seamlessly.
A new segment with ESPN Cricinfo:
T20 Timeouts in the segment (Go Tewatia!):
ESPN Cricinfo placements:
ESPN Cricinfo placements:
Innovations with other publishers:
While we haven’t really showcased the breadth of everything we managed to pull off, and will pull off for Whirlpool, we’re pleased about this partnership which has shattered benchmarks.
A bold client with a clear brief and deep integration of media and creative, can deliver creative effectiveness. By picking the right partners in ESPNCricinfo, we were able to reach the right audience, in a moment that matters to them, with a message the brand can use for quarters to come. For now, we’ll raise one to our client partners.
