ESPN labels the India-Australia series as ‘Agneepath’

ESPN Star Sports, broadcasters of the upcoming cricket series between India and Australia, have created five new TVCs in the lead-up to what they label as the 'Agneepath' series.

In this promotional campaign ESPN-Star Sports has taken the route of 'celebrity endorsement and nostalgia', as they have brought in former cricketers and Bollywood actors to talk about their experience of watching and playing cricket in Australia through key moments of the clashes. These celebrities include Ravi Shastri, Saurav Ganguly, Steve Waugh, Vinay Pathak and Vijay Raaz.

New TVCs which feature the lead male cast of the movie ‘Agneepath’ will be released soon.
Commenting on the theme of the campaign, an ESPN Star Sports spokesperson, said, “The promotional campaign builds on the core theme of cricket in Australia as being of ‘unparalleled intensity’.  The focus of the campaign is to showcase that cricket in Australia is about intensity and it’s a strong challenge. In Australia, cricket is at its intense most. The on-field play, the off-field games, a lot goes into making India-Australia series one of the most awaited cricketing spectacles. The strong challenge lies in, India has never won a test series on Australian soil.

On the viewership expected for the series, the spokesperson said, “The Indian team has performed creditably in Australia in the recent past. The rivalry between the two teams, both vying for success, has made the India-Australia series one of the most watched cricket tours worldwide. We feel that the matches this time around will be exciting as well and will deliver strongly in terms of viewership/ratings estimations.”

The campaign has been created by the in-house team at ESPN Star Sports and a radio and print campaign will soon be released to support the TVCs.