Over the years, Indian Premier League (IPL) has gradually evolved into an advertising festival where Indian and global brands try to outdo each other to get millions of eyeballs at one go. 

Dream11, the homegrown fantasy sports platform and the official partner for IPL, has launched a series of brand films with actor Aamir Khan and cricketers Rohit Sharma, Hardik Pandya among others for the ongoing session of the league. The short videos, which are part of a 10-ads series ‘sab khelenge’, have garnered lakhs of views each on YouTube and Instagram within days of their launch. 

In another campaign, Aamir, who plays an overconfident bowler, challenges the opponent batter Rohit Sharma boasting that he would clean bowled him by hitting middle wicket. 

Sharma plays boundary over Aamir’s head showing the world who can play the sport better. Aamir, scared to the core with the flight of the ball, tries to put up a brave face and utters “All Izz Well”, a phrase that was part of Aamir’s film “3 idiots” and a number in the film.

In the third film, Aamir takes bat and after being clean bowled, calls for a “retake”. Hardik Pandya, who took Aamir’s wicket, mocked him for asking for a retake in cricket. Then comes R Madhavan who seeks to convince Pandya that actors can call for retake in sports.

In the fourth campaign, Aamir claims that he would be the man of the match. Pandya makes fun of Aamir by saying, “How does it matter? You don't collect awards anyway.” Aamir is known for never attending and accepting any film awards. 

 “The campaign films and TVCs have been directed by filmmaker Nitesh Tewari, conceptualized by Mumbai-based brand and communication consultancy TILT Brand Solutions and produced by Earth Sky Productions,” a company official said. The first film in the series, which was launched last week, involved Sharman Joshi and other co-actors of Aamir in “3 Idiots”. 

The Mumbai-based fantasy sports brand, founded back in 2008 by Harsh Jain and Bhavit Sheth, hopes that the campaigns will help it to widen its gamer base by leveraging the nationwide appeal of actors and cricketers. 

Dream11 is the first Indian gaming company to enter the unicorn club and currently has a user base of more than 100 million. 

Experts speak:

The advertising experts, who weigh these campaigns in terms of creativity, entertainment and impact, expressed mixed reactions. 

Veteran ad expert and MD of Rediffusion Dr Sandeep Goyal calls them ordinary. “Double star power that is used by both cricketers and bollywood is nice but its variations have been tried before. These ads will at best evince a chuckle,” Goyal opines.  

Titus Uputturu, founder of Titus Upputuru Company, echoes the sentiments. “Players and bollywood actors have played cricket matches for many decades. This was like a mini version of the same with the first film being an activation and then the nice follow-ups,” says Upputuru, who liked the use of ‘all is well’ in the ad as a spin off from one of Aamir’s most memorable film songs.”

Dream 11 ads have always used cricketers interestingly. This time as well, it was refreshing to watch the banter between team cricketers and team actors, says Subodh Chaubey, Creative Director at Infectious Advertising. "However, I feel it doesn't exactly land very sharply on the #SabKhelenge campaign line. The earlier campaigns made a much more compelling case to play the fantasy league,” he stated. 

But being a household name, they can afford it now. All in all, it's a nice break from nail-biting action and I'm glad they're having fun with the brand, Chaubey adds. 

Aalap Desai, CCO Dentsu Creative West and Dentsu Creative Experience India, has a different opinion though. Desai loved the series and gave it full marks on all measurables. 

“I feel that the series has managed to get the two things we love the most together (bollywood and cricket) in one entertaining package. The scripts are nicely written and directed and the short duration adds to the charm. Because they are snappy, they are more fun. On a scale of 1 to 5, where 5 is the best, I would rate it 5,” Desai smiles. 

Nisha Sampath, Brand Consultant, Managing Partner and Founder, Bright Angles Consulting, also lauded the series. “It is one of the best uses of film stars I have seen this year. It will really click with people who are so jaded by celeb endorsements. Aamir has a history of doing good ads. He did an amazing one for Innova and Coke also,” Sampath explained. 

https://www.instagram.com/p/CqccPjeJVu2/ 

The ad series is getting good feedback from the Instagram users, especially from actors. Kareina Kapoor, writes, “Toooo much fun to watch this banter @rohitsharma45, #Aamir ”

Javed Jaffery jokes, “Asli Rancho ki tarah, asli Hitman bhi bahar nikal ke aayega. Naam mein ‘hit’ hona kaafi nahi All will be well, you just watch @imRo45 #TeamActors.”

Vikrant Mudaliar, Chief Marketing Officer, Dream11 said in a statement earlier, “With Sab Khelenge, we wanted to shine a spotlight on the ubiquity of cricket and how it can be enjoyed by anybody, similar to Dream11. It is meant to inspire fans to evolve from being passive viewers to actively engage with the sport they love. We are celebrating India’s passion for both cricket and cinema this IPL, which is a tournament at the confluence of sports and entertainment in India.”

(With inputs from Tanzila Shaikh)