MUMBAI: Not long back team India’s victory in a cricket match was celebrated with chants like Vande Maataram, Chak De India or Jai Hind. That seems to have changed in the 2015 edition of World Cup. The moment India wins a match, an unusual scenario develops in India and it can be called Mauka Mania.
The Hindi word Mauka, which implies to opportunity in English has been used in such a way by Star Sports (the official broadcaster of ICC World Cup 2015 in India) that it has turned that innocuous word to an anthem - An anthem dedicated to both winners and losers of the match.
When queried on how the Mauka campaign started, Star India spokesperson said, “The India Pakistan match is the biggest unifying factor in the country regardless of age, gender or whether you're a sports fan or not. We wanted a campaign, which will get the attention of the nation and would have a life of its own, but still be a part of the larger umbrella campaign #wontgiveitback.”
India’s undisputed victories over Pakistan in the World Cups were taken as a concept to create the campaign. It is quite natural to get invisible in the flurry of ads during an Indo –Pak bout and hence it was extremely important to be different from others and Mauka was indeed different. On the conceptualisation of the campaign the official asserted, “The brief was clear, we haven’t lost to them ever in a World Cup and we should not give this record up. After we had the idea in place we knew it was a disruptive thought that people would talk about and share. The proposition for the Mauka campaign was way beyond cricket and so needed to be the campaign. It used fan’s passion in a unique way. The idea was at a human level, it was true, funny and ignited a sense of pride without being nasty to the opponents.”
The initial response videos came from Pakistan, where they planned and launched a new video to counter it creatively. That set the stage perfectly for a creative battle. Appreciating sportsman spirit of the counterpart the spokesperson said, “They accepted the film in great spirit and rebutted without any hate message or dirty war of words. The film that intended to unite India brought fans from both sides of the border together like never before - and that truly reflected the 'power of cricket' as a unifier especially in our part of the world.”
The success of the first video ignited the zest to go for the second one. While a series of advertisements were launched, the Mauka video managed to be the stand out amongst the lot. The video went viral and was trending in social media platforms. “The morning after the online release, we knew we had gone viral and had to do the second film for India- South Africa match, taking the Mauka thought forward. With the positive reactions coming in, we knew we had to relook at the entire World Cup through an India Pakistan lens,” the spokesperson added.
On the challenge to be spontaneous and match the level of expectation created by previous versions the spokesperson said, “Our routine for the group games is to watch the game, script for both outcomes of the next game. As we are nearing release, being in touch with the audience online helps make minor tweaks depending on fan sentiment closer to the next game.”
He also added, “Having an internal team work on this creative was a boon as the team knows the working of the channel well and is able to get things done quickly. We got real time feedback and reactions to the campaign instantly to drive it forward.”
Credits for all Mauka campaigns
Star Sports Team: Rohit Khanna, Venkataraman Mandalam, Juju Basu, Mustafa Rangwala, Prathamesh Sapte, Vikas Dubey, Atulya Parashar, Ajeet Mestry, Dayanand Bhoite.
Production House: Bubblewrap Films
Directors: Suresh Triveni & Ninad Chavan (UAE film)
Producer: Ketaki Guhagarkar
Music: Rohan & Vinayak
Lyrics: Vikas Dubey
India is yet to face a defeat in the tournament, while no Indian will want to see Team India facing a defeat the curious mind will always want to know Mauka’s strategy to depict India's defeat.
