The Campaign

adidas was not an official sponsor of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015. The International Cricket Council (ICC) had a dedicated legal team specifically to monitor and combat unlawful association with their tournament. We weren’t even allowed to say the words ‘World Cup’ or ‘Indian Cricket Team’.

Results

adidas was not an official sponsor of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015. But we still wanted to gain an unfair share of the conversation in the world’s biggest cricket market- India. In India, Cricket is not a sport, but a religion. With the Cricket World Cup happening in Australia, there was a need to make all that support in India, felt on foreign soil. The act of touching the ground is a gesture used at places of worship by millions of Indians every day. During the Cricket World Cup, we applied that gesture India’s other religion- cricket. And used it to help fans send their support directly to the Indian team. adidas teamed up with India’s most popular cricketer, Virat Kohli. We asked fans to touch the ground where they play cricket, take a photo and show their support using #SacredGround. The message struck a chord with Kohli’s massive social following. Along with fans, sports stars and celebrities also sent their support to through the hashtag. We made that support felt during the India’s World Cup games by hijacking the live broadcast, getting Indian players to touch the ground as they walked out to bat. Indian players had never performed this gesture during a game before. Millions watched as the players touched the ground during live broadcasts, symbolically receiving the support coming from #SacredGround. As the players touched the ground at each World Cup game, the support grew bigger and bigger.

In a nation that worships their cricket team, using a religious gesture as a means of sending support resonated strongly with our audience. Our message was well received and widely shared by Virat Kohli’s social following. Along with fans, celebrities and a host of influencers lent their support. And the support grew bigger when adidas hijacked live broadcasts of India’s World Cup games to show that support being received by the players, by getting players to touch the ground as they walked out to bat.

With one simple gesture, adidas connected one team to one billion fans. During the World Cup, #SacredGround trended on Twitter, gaining over 131 million social impressions. Indian players performed the Sacred Ground gesture at every single match, during live broadcasts viewed by millions. Including: India vs Bangladesh, 98 million viewers; India vs West Indies, 262 million viewers; India vs South Africa, 257 million viewers. And at the most watched sporting event in history- India vs Pakistan, the gesture was seen by over one billion viewers. adidas achieved this without World Cup sponsoring and without spending a single rupee media.

adidas was not an official sponsor of the 2015 Cricket World Cup. Despite this, we hijacked live broadcasts of World Cup matches to help a billion Indian cricket fans feel a direct connection with their team. With #SacredGround, adidas enabled fans in India to send their support directly to the Indian players, who received it during live World Cup matches, by touching the ground as they walked out to bat. The Indian players performed the Sacred Ground gesture at every World Cup game in front of massive worldwide audiences. Along with fans, sports stars and celebrities got behind the adidas initiative, and our hashtag trended during live broadcasts of India’s World Cup games.