Background

Kabaddi is an ancient Indian game. The Pro Kabaddi League is a new age, competitive version of this childhood sport on prime time television. The brief was to get new audiences familiarized with the world of Kabaddi, while creating a stronger resonance with existing traditional audiences. Our objective was to give Kabaddi a facelift and portray it as a modern, formidable sport that has now evolved with time. The Pro-Kabaddi League on an average receives more than 190 million impressions and our aim was to create a multi-city campaign, but with a minimum budget spend.

Describe the creative idea (40% of vote)

The Pro-Kabaddi League has revolutionized a backyard Indian game, the target audience for which cuts across urban-rural barriers, gender, age and class backgrounds. The sixth season's campaign had the dual creative objective of giving Kabaddi a new-age facelift and also invoke a sense of childhood nostalgia. We launched the campaign 'Bachpan Ka Khel Hai, Bacchon Ka Nahin' (It's a childhood game, but it’s not child's play). The idea of a childhood game that has now come of age. The Kabaddi Classroom Project was a series of illustrations to reintroduce people to Kabaddi in its new avatar - the rules, updated terminology, the moves - everything you need to know to start following the league. These were executed as posters at event venues, direct mailers and social media posts.

Describe the execution (40% of vote)

The Kabaddi Classroom Project explored the highly relatable Indian school charts as the main design inspiration. The depictions and fonts helped establish an instant aesthetic connect in terms of nostalgia. The colour palette helped add a layer of modernity and vibrancy. The design was kept easy to comprehend, and the use of 'Khand' font appeal to Indian sensibilities. The first step was to craft Kabaddi jargon into a linear A-Z of the sport. Next, we imagined the terminology as illustrations and brought the idea to life in a classroom chart format. A3 sized posters were printed and used across various touch points like stadiums and screening venues across the country.

List the results (20% of vote)

The campaign and visual language helped Kabaddi stand out from other glossier, high-budget sports like cricket and hockey. Star Sports was perceived as a new-age brand with traditional values. In terms of audiences, first-time watchers could easily get updated with all things Kabaddi and existing viewers brushed up their knowledge about the sport. Pro Kabaddi League's viewership was recorded at an impressive 237.2 million even before the knockout stages. User interest saw a considerable spur and fan engagement reached an all-time high. The campaign invoked a sense of childhood nostalgia, yet gave Kabaddi a fresh, modern sheen. The sport got an image makeover and resonated with both old and new audiences across our target group.