MUMBAI: STAR India recently revamped the branding of the sports network and unveiled a new brand for Star Sports across six channels — Star Sports 1, 2, 3, 4, HD1 and HD2 and starsports.com.
To create the awareness and buzz for the new brand identity and to communicate the new brand philosophy – Believe, Star Sports partnered with DDB MudraMax OOH.
The campaign was rolled out when India tuned in to watch Sachin Tendulkar play the last series of his sports career. The massive OOH campaign was executed in Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkata as well as across major cities in Gujarat and UP. The campaign used multiple visuals of Mahendra Singh Dhoni as well as the brand logo as part of the campaign creative.
On the campaign, STAR India executive vice president marketing & communications Gayatri Yadav said, “The work done by DDB MudraMax OOH for the brand refresh campaign has been outstanding. The DNA and essence of the brand refresh was well understood and reflected in the manner in which the planning and media selection was done by the agency. Especially the Star Sports zone and roadblocks conceptualized and executed at Mumbai and Delhi airports are noteworthy and have created a great impact and buzz for the refresh. We are very impressed with the positive reviews received for the campaign. DDB MudraMax has delivered on our expectations yet again.”
Commenting on this, DDB MudraMax OOH retail and experiential president Mandeep Malhotra said, “Sport is very close to my heart and when the opportunity to associate with a brand standing tall to the passion came up, was really thrilled to create magic. The team did a wonderful job on picking up unusual formats of advertising. Various touch points were exploited and the new identity made it to top of mind recall with a smooth transition.”
DDB MudraMax OOH VP Spencer Noronha added, “Star Sports aimed at starting a revolution in sports broadcasting and the media strategy was to amplify this sports revolution through an occasion that is relevant to all and thus inspire every Indian sports fan. This soul of this campaign was “premium and classy” and hence it was crucial that the media selection had to be in line with that imagery. We selected the most impactful, most premium and the largest of available media vehicles in each of the target cities to create a statement in the OOH space. The quality of the selected media reflected class and helped the campaign to quickly get noticed and talked about. The eye catching creatives amplified the impact and recall manifold. It’s definitely one of the most memorable OOH campaigns in 2013”
DDB MudraMax OOH DGM Anurudha Pawar said, "OOH is a communication platform where the brand is racing against time to grab attention and communicate with the TG while he zooms past the media within a few seconds. This makes it all the more important for the brand to use the right media mix and deploy an optimized communication tailor made for the medium. We exactly did this for the refresh campaign. The media vehicles were meticulously handpicked to project class; and the creatives were kept ultra outdoor friendly to specifically communicate the grandeur of the brand. We took the innovative branding route by creating the Star Sports Zone, Stadium visibility corridors and airport roadblocks, to ensure each and every person exposed to the communication carried a positive image of the brand with him in this mind. I am sure we have succeeded doing that."
A multimedia approach was used for the campaign. Large format A+ grade billboards and Unipoles, Backlit Bus Shelters, Backlit Pole Kiosks, 4 Sided Backlit Pillars, Large Backlit Glow signs, Drape, Prominent Mall Facades, Digital Screens at airports and Gantries were meticulously selected at key touch points in each city. The creatives were optimized for each of the media formats used. DDB MudraMax also brought in a couple of significant planning and media innovations to help portray the grandeur of the brand refresh and garner high recall value for the campaign. Visual domination was the key.
