Brief Explanation

One of India’s 821 TV news channels, ZeeNews wanted to be perceived as the news channel with a distinct point of view. The India-Pakistan cricket match on 15/02/2015, was slated to be the most watched TV event – history of wars between the countries coming to a climax on the cricket field. We created a live scoreboard on a billboard. As people watched, the wicket count (max of 10 in cricket) dropped to over 500,000 for both countries. Post match, the copy became: WHEN LIVES ARE LOST, NO ONE WINS. ZeeNews made a powerful statement - the futility of war!

Results and Effectiveness

While all other news channels harped on the Indian win, Zee news was the only channel that reminded that nobody wins in a war. Newspapers and social media took to the thought. #TheMisunderstoodScoreboard trended the day post the match with 223,321 views and 33,000 Facebook shares from Youtube and immeasurable unique shares. PR coverage by the Huffington Post , exchange4media, reddit, afaqs, crevity, bestadsontv, scoopwhoop, allaboutoutdoor, scooppick,adeevee, advertlog, kulzy, trending50, gossipmedia, khurafaati, scoopwow, madovermarketing, glamsocial, defence,pk, dnaindia, idealindian and mincraftbuzz to name a few. Earned media worth INR 3 million made ZeeNews the most talked about news channel in India.

Creative Execution

Billboards were transformed into live scoreboards across India and Pakistan. What started off as accurate scoreboards, were soon declared faulty by the onlookers as the wickets column moved briskly well past the limit of 10. The final score read: India 0 for the loss of 547290 Pakistan 0 for the loss of 546228 It finally struck people that the billboards were talking about lives lost. The Misunderstood Scoreboard reminded people in both countries that no one wins in a war. After the Indian win, candle lit marches replaced the usual celebration, in the memory of the fallen.

Insights, Strategy and the Idea

Piggybacking on cricket isn’t a new tactic. It’s one of the obvious things Indian brands have been doing for over a decade. While news channels typically feed constant match updates to the cricket- frenzied crowd, people on the move are constantly looking for sources to get updated. We put up live scoreboards at strategic locations across the country to ensure attention and used cricket as a medium to focus on the more important issues that the nations faced. A timely knock planned to spark conversations and make ZeeNews come across as a channel with a distinct point of view