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Tag: Neeraj Chopra

  • “Digital marketers need to lean into multi-format”: YouTube India head of consumer marketing Mansha Tandon

    “Digital marketers need to lean into multi-format”: YouTube India head of consumer marketing Mansha Tandon

    Mumbai: At The Advertising Club’s third edition of D:CODE, YouTube India head of consumer marketing Mansha Tandon spoke about shaping creativity with culture and trends in the digital space. She added that leaning into multi-format is important, while offering tips and tricks for digital marketers. She mentioned, “Trends are born from creativity that is no longer restricted to one digital video format.”

    Tandon said that years ago, success on YouTube was about a viral video like ‘Charlie Bit My Finger.’ The video represented a monolithic pop culture moment, a one-to-many phenomenon. The video gained immense views in a very short period of time.

    Today, digital trends are continuous, interconnected, and cumulative. The latest trend, ‘Choti Bacchi Ho Kya,’ from the movie “Heropanti,” released back in 2014 starring Tiger Shroff, is now popular due to a mimicry artist on the platform. It became a remix song. It became a gaming video on YouTube Shorts. It became a promotional video for “Heropanti 2.”

    The monolithic pop culture has become personally relevant fragmented moments based on the user’s tastes and preferences. It is not about one viral video at present. It is about how those viral videos go into different formats.

    The second tip she shared is that digital marketers should capitalise on community creativity. Communities are groups of people united by the same interests and passions. What YouTube is seeing today is that one of the most powerful forms of this community is fandom. For instance, K-pop. Then there has been an increase in professional Marvel fans in India. The way they create content is through short-form videos, episode breakdowns, and deep dive podcasts. The fact is that it is not niche. Many of these channels have millions of subscribers. The lesson is that marketers should not only demographically and psychographically do digital campaigns. They should tap into the shared passions and sources of fandom of very young consumers.

    Her third and final point was that marketers should truly represent regional creativity in their digital work. Marketers should not underestimate the kind of creativity going on in areas across the country. Localising creativity in the language and culture is important. But there are other interesting ways in which this is happening. International trends with regional nuance are being followed. Apart from hyperlocal, global into local, there is something being seen that she called interlocal. It is about pan-India content. So something from the North finds a huge fan following in the South. When trends go national, regional creators find the inspiration to create magic. She gave the example of the Badshah’s Jugnu Challenge, seen last year. It spawned many versions across the country. An absolute evolution in entertainment and creativity is being seen.

    She further noted that without entrepreneurs, creators, and users, digital would not be where it is today. She gave the example of Olympic gold medallist Neeraj Chopra, who was on-boarded as a creator on YouTube. It was not enough to just make a film about his story. The aim was to connect the dots. Now he has 1,00,000 subscribers. A short challenge, ‘JavRun,’ was done for GenZ users. It was so successful that a question on the ‘JavRun’ challenge made it to KBC. This is an example of a digital campaign seeping through pop culture and bleeding into offline touchpoints.

    She also spoke about Nike. It was about NFT sneakers and other stuff that makes young people excited. She also gave an example of Alexa, which is Amazon’s voice assistance software. Alexa was inserted into a YouTube talk show among humans. It showed the human and conversational side of Alexa. It is a strong example of how brands and creators can collaborate.

  • Limca enters sports hydration category with a new variant; unveils #RukMat campaign with Neeraj Chopra

    Limca enters sports hydration category with a new variant; unveils #RukMat campaign with Neeraj Chopra

    Mumbai: Coca-Cola India has announced it is foraying its homegrown brand Limca into the hydrating sports drinks category with Limca Sportz. The innovation is in line with The Coca-Cola Company’s endeavour to provide a wide spectrum of beverage choices to consumers, with great taste as well as functional benefits.

    With this launch, Limca’s entrance into hydration-based sports beverages, the brand aims to bring alive the #RukMat campaign via an advert featuring reigning Olympic javelin champion Neeraj Chopra. 

    Conceptualised by Ogilvy, the campaign will revolve around a motivational theme, to encourage the audience to push their boundaries and have a “never say die” attitude. The brand has adopted a holistic marketing approach to boost the new campaign, consisting of digital as well as mass-media broadcasting to maximise media reach across channels.

    Speaking on the announcement of Limca Sportz, Coca-Cola India and Southwest Asia director-marketing, hydration, coffee and tea category Karthik Subramanian said, “Building on Limca’s ability to provide full-body rejuvenation so that consumers can be their most energetic, best selves in every situation, we are thrilled to announce our entrance into the sports hydration category with the launch of Limca Sportz. The beverage has been formulated through in-house innovation and extensive market testing.”

    “At Limca, we unanimously agreed that there could be no better champion of Limca Sportz than Olympic gold medalist Neeraj Chopra, who is the pinnacle of athletic excellence and embodies the true spirit of our campaign messaging “#RukMat” (never stop),” he added.

    Indian athlete, reigning Olympic champion, and world championship silver medalist in javelin throw Neeraj Chopra said, “As an athlete, I understand the vital significance of optimum intake of carbohydrates and electrolytes. Limca Sportz enables faster rehydration for the drinker and helps balance higher endurance during exercise performance—making it the go-to beverage for people who believe in putting in the hard work to achieve their goals.”

    “It is the perfect drink for when the body gives up, but the mind says “go on…” I am exhilarated to be the face of the new Limca Sportz campaign. The film perfectly represents my ideals of never giving up and continuously pushing boundaries to get closer to my goals,” he concluded.

    Coca-Cola’s Limca has completed over five decades since its foundation in India and is ranked at #4 within Coca-Cola India’s sparkling portfolio. Limca is widely acclaimed for its unparalleled ability to instil a feeling of freshness in the minds and bodies of its consumers.

    Limca Sportz is a glucose + electrolyte-based beverage containing essential minerals for rapid fluid intake. The beverage is a no-fizz, water-based drink that helps with faster rehydration in individuals who are involved in physical activity in the form of sports, exercise, and high-intensity chores. It has refreshing real lemon juice to add to the taste and palatability.

    Ogilvy (North) chief creative officer Ritu Sharda said, “The most important thing for a sportsperson’s regimen or anyone who is exercising is to be able to do more and more and more without stopping. A few steps more, one more kilometre, one more throw, one more jump, that’s the relentlessness that helps you achieve your goals. Limca Sportz is all about replenishment and hydration, as well as the philosophy of “#RukMatt,” who encourages you to keep going. And who better to launch this than Neeraj Chopra, who we’ve all seen sweating it out with the toughest regimen possible but never stopping at one awesome throw, one medal, or one record. For all those of you who never stop and for Neeraj, we say “Tu #RukkMatt”!”

    The new variant will be available on shelves across Delhi NCR, Bangalore, Chennai, Bengal, Mumbai, Pune, and cities of Andhra Pradesh/Telangana starting the month of September, and will be available in packs of 250 millilitre and 500 millilitre.

  • Disney BYJU’s Early Learn app onboards Neeraj Chopra as brand ambassador

    Disney BYJU’s Early Learn app onboards Neeraj Chopra as brand ambassador

    Mumbai: Olympic gold medallist Neeraj Chopra, represented by JSW Sports, has been announced as the brand ambassador for Disney BYJU’s Early Learn app.

    As part of this two-year commitment, Chopra will inspire the young learners of BYJU’s to learn in a more creative and interactive way and most importantly, help them understand the importance of sports in their lives, said the brand in a statement.

    “While a lot has been written and said about Neeraj’s historic achievement in Tokyo, the story behind how he got there is one that is truly inspirational, making him a great role model for the youth,” stated JSW Sports CEO Mustafa Ghouse. “We have been working closely with Neeraj to identify meaningful brand associations, and this partnership made a lot of sense since he has always wanted to work with kids. We hope that the Disney BYJU’s early learners are inspired by Neeraj’s success and make the most of this learning platform.”

    “As a sportsperson, there is nothing more encouraging than seeing children learn from an early age while getting the chance to instill the right values in them,” said Neeraj Chopra. “In sport or life, learning and training go hand in hand and I hope I can work with these children to get them engaged and more involved with the learning process.”

    Since his gold medal-winning performance at the Tokyo2020 Olympic Games, Chopra has climbed up the rankings to become one of India’s most-followed sports celebrities on social media. Additionally, he has become one of India’s most sought-after brand endorsers this year, having signed long-term associations with 10+ major brands since the Olympics.

  • Neeraj Chopra dons new avatar in Cred’s latest ad

    Neeraj Chopra dons new avatar in Cred’s latest ad

    Mumbai: Credit card bill payment platform Cred has unveiled the first ad of its IPL 2021 campaign featuring India’s Olympic hero Neeraj Chopra. The latest edition of the sports extravaganza resumed on Sunday.

    After the viral campaign with Rahul Dravid earlier this year, this new ad highlights Cred’s features and rewards system. In this new ad, the 23-year-old javelin gold medalist from Tokyo Olympics can be seen donning the hat of a reporter, a producer among others.

    The campaign was conceptualised by Tanmay Bhat, Devaiah Bopanna, Puneet Chadha, Deep Joshi, and Vishal Dayama and written by EarlyMan Film. Karan Malhotra lent his expertise to compose the music for the films. “With IPL coming back, we are excited to collaborate with India’s favorite heroes and make them do quirky things for Cred,” said EarlyMan Film director and co-founder Ayappa.

    “We are happy to continue our partnership with IPL as it returns this year,” said Cred founder and CEO Kunal Shah. “At Cred, our vision is to build a trustworthy community. In this campaign, we aim to solidify our message of financial literacy and educate the viewers on the benefits of practicing responsible financial behaviour,” he added.

    “I am very happy to be associated with Cred, which aims at building a community of disciplined, trustworthy, and creditworthy people,” said Chopra. “Playing the part in this ad-film was a totally different and entertaining  experience and I hope the audiences enjoy this side of me!”

  • Neeraj Chopra’s social media valuation reaches Rs 428 cr: JSW Sports

    Neeraj Chopra’s social media valuation reaches Rs 428 cr: JSW Sports

    Mumbai: More than a month after Olympic sensation Neeraj Chopra created history by bagging the sole gold medal for India in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, the athlete’s stock has been on a perpetual upward trajectory. The win has turned Chopra into a household name overnight across the country. His stellar on-field performance has now spilled over seamlessly onto the digital arena, catapulting the 23-year old javelin-thrower into the social media spotlight.

    According to a report by research consultancy firm YouGov Sport, Neeraj Chopra recorded over 2.9 million mentions from over 1.4 million authors, making him the ‘most mentioned’ athlete globally on Instagram during the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. These numbers also represent a whopping 1401 per cent and 2055 per cent increase in his mentions from separate authors online, respectively. As a result, Chopra’s reach on social and digital media has come to a staggering 412 million, spanning several geographies over the world. These numbers have combined to take the athlete’s social media valuation to a total of Rs 428 crore.

    “Neeraj has been a consistently outstanding performer in his discipline over the last five to six years, resulting in his phenomenal success at the Tokyo Olympics. He has now become a recognisable personality for the Indian masses on a scale that was hitherto unseen. This, in turn, has brought about a growing interest from brands and institutions looking at a long-term sustainable collaboration,” said JSW Sports head of sales and marketing Divyanshu Singh. 

    The agency which represents the javelin thrower and manages Chopra’s endorsements shared that the athlete has created inroads into mainstream commercial success as a result of his performances on the field, and his growing popularity off it. 

    According to the report by YouGov Sport, Chopra’s total interactions on social media since bagging the gold medal have risen to 12.79 million, at a rate of 86.3 per cent. A key factor in the increased engagement on the athlete’s profile has been the steady increase in his video views, which is recorded at 4.05 million, nearly thrice the average for an elite Indian athlete on social media. Naturally, the number of account followers for Neeraj Chopra has also seen a swift upswing, with his Instagram following now recorded at 4.4 million, representing a 2297 per cent increase in his followers.

    Chopra has presently eclipsed even established international cricketers like KL Rahul and Rishab Pant in terms of total interactions and overall reach on social media, as per JSW Sports.

    The Olympic gold medallist last week signed his first set of endorsement deals after the Tokyo Games, which include edtech firm Byju’s, Tata AIA Life Insurance, and a top pharma brand. Welcoming Chopra on board, Tata AIA Life Insurance executive vice president and chief distribution officer Venky Iyer said, “As a VSM awardee in the army and a national icon today, Neeraj symbolises incredible passion for excellence and a great commitment to serving the nation. For us at Tata AIA, his sports journey echoes greatly with our vision of enabling dreams and inspiring healthier and happier lives.”

    According to reports, JSW Sports is in advanced talks to finalise more deals with luxury auto and apparel brands in the coming weeks and a series of digital-only pacts, at fees ten times higher than what Chopra charged before the Games. 

    The fact that the 23-year-old can deliver value has been well established in the days since his remarkable success. This has opened a new opportunity with brands that can innovate with strategies built around the young sensation.

  • Neeraj Chopra signs first brand endorsement with Tata AIA post Tokyo win

    Neeraj Chopra signs first brand endorsement with Tata AIA post Tokyo win

    Mumbai: Tata AIA Life Insurance has announced the signing of a multi-year brand partnership with Indian athlete and Olympic gold medallist Neeraj Chopra as its brand ambassador on Wednesday. This association marks the very first brand partnership to be signed with the champion javelin thrower post his historic Olympic win.

    Chopra closely embodies Tata AIA’s vision of enabling dreams and inspiring healthier and happier lives and its core value of passion for excellence, said the company in a statement. Over the next few years, he will support Tata AIA’s efforts in offering life protection and health & wellness solutions to its consumers across the country, it added.

    The ongoing Covid-19 pandemic has also underlined the need for life and health insurance, more emphatically than ever. With a premium-to-GDP penetration of less than 3.5 per cent in India (as per Swiss Re Sigma report on World Insurance, 2021), there is a clear and urgent need to fast-track the insurance journey in the country.

    Chopra’s association with Tata AIA stems from his own experience and understanding of the need for adequate life and health cover and timely planning for one’s key life milestones, stated the brand. 

    Welcoming Chopra on board, Tata AIA Life Insurance, executive vice president and chief distribution officer, Venky Iyer said, “As a VSM awardee in the Army and a National icon today, Neeraj symbolises incredible passion for excellence and a great commitment to serving the nation. For us at Tata AIA, his sports journey echoes greatly with our vision of enabling dreams and inspiring healthier and happier lives. And quite like we observe in Neeraj’s journey, passion for excellence, and an obsession to do the best for our consumers, the people of India, are among the core values at Tata AIA.”

    Speaking on the association, Chopra said, “Joining the Tata AIA family was a logical step for me. I firmly believe that there is a need to educate Indians, especially the youth, about the need for life insurance and to help them plan for their financial goals, at the right time. Further, the pandemic has made us realize the key need to pursue physical and emotional wellbeing in our day-to-day life.”

  • India leads the spot in highest engagement on Facebook during Tokyo Olympics

    India leads the spot in highest engagement on Facebook during Tokyo Olympics

    Mumbai: Scripting its best-ever Olympic performance, India won seven medals – one gold, two silver, and four bronze – at Tokyo 2020. If there were, however, a ‘loudest country engaging in Olympic-related banter on Facebook’ category, ranked by the number of people talking about it, the country would have won another gold!

    According to data shared by Facebook reflecting trends on Facebook and Instagram between July 23 and August 8, India outshone countries like the United States and Brazil, emerging as the loudest country in the world to engage about the Games on the two websites. 

    Neeraj Chopra – the first track and field athlete to win an Olympic gold medal for India in the ‘Men’s Javelin Throw’ category – was the second-most mentioned athlete on Facebook and led the same spot on Instagram, globally. Interestingly, track and field was also the most mentioned sport over the course of the Games globally. Maximum conversations around the Games happened on 7 August when Chopra and Team USA won gold in the ‘Men’s Javelin Throw’ and ‘Men’s Basketball’ categories.

    On Instagram, Neeraj Chopra (+2870814), PV Sindhu (+702778), and MC Mary Kom (+270104) were the biggest winners gaining the maximum number of followers since the start of the Olympics this year. Registering maximum increase in following by 1900 per cent on a global level, Chopra became the second most followed athlete over the course of the Games. His Instagram following stands at 2.6 million currently.

    Other Interesting Global Trend

    Tai Tzu Ying’s Facebook post thanking everyone for their support generated maximum interactions (1.3 million) during the course of the Games. 

    On Instagram, Brazil’s skateboarding athlete Rayssa Leal drove maximum interactions at 18.44 million. With 11 million views, the video depicting her skateboarding journey became the most-viewed video.

    Overall, athletes gained more than 75 million followers on Instagram, driving over 410 million interactions and posting over 3000,000 stories, globally.

  • BYJU’S announces Rs 2 crore for Olympic Gold winner Neeraj Chopra

    BYJU’S announces Rs 2 crore for Olympic Gold winner Neeraj Chopra

    New Delhi : The ed-tech brand BYJU’S on Sunday announced Rs 2 crore for the Olympic Gold winner Neeraj Chopra.

    Chopra achieved a historic feat on the penultimate day of the Tokyo Olympics 2020, after he won the first athletics Gold medal for India. He came out victorious in the Javelin throw competition.

    With a total of seven medals, Team India gave it’s best ever Olympics performance at the Tokyo 2020 event.

    Highlighting that BYJU’S is an ardent supporter of sports in the country, the brand said its making further strides into encouraging players across sports disciplines. It has also announced Rs 1 crore each for individual Olympic winners including Mirabai Chanu, Ravi Kumar Dahiya, Lovlina Borgohain, PV Sindhu and Bajrang Punia. 

    The accomplishments and the stellar achievement of India’s sports heroes at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics have been nothing but inspirational, despite the challenges posed by COVID-19 lockdown in 2020-2021. Not only has each one of them made the country proud but has also ignited hope and aspiration that our country can create many more Olympic champions in the future. 

    BYJU’S founder and CEO Byju Raveendran said- “Sports has a critical role to play in nation building and it’s time that we celebrate our olympic heroes, not just once in four years, but every single day.  They deserve all the adoration they get, and after this historic achievement at Tokyo 2020 we are rewarding the players for their efforts, sacrifices and achievements.”

    He added, “We hope that this small gesture will help them in their journey going forward to win more laurels for the country and also encourage many more youngsters to dream big. India has a huge potential to produce many more sporting champions and it is important to celebrate successes like this and make them heroes so that we transform ourselves from a Sport loving nation to a sport playing nation.”

  • Gatorade India appoints Hima Das as brand ambassador

    Gatorade India appoints Hima Das as brand ambassador

    MUMBAI: Gatorade India today announced that it has signed on champion athlete Hima Das as its brand ambassador. She joins athletes PV Sindhu and Neeraj Chopra as the brand’s ambassador in India.

    The brand will be paying tribute to the sprint runner by giving a new twist to its ‘Nothing Beats Gatorade’ philosophy. ‘Nothing Beats Hima. Nothing Beats Gatorade’ builds on the brand’s belief that sports performance is driven from within.

    Gatorade India will also work with Hima Das during the period of partnership to understand her training and race-day nutrition better. Gatorade’s scientific formula has the right amount of fluids, electrolytes and carbohydrates that can help an athlete rehydrate, replenish and refuel while playing any sport. For over 30 years, Gatorade has been studying ways to help athletes improve performance by delivering proper hydration and nutrition.

    Announcing the partnership pepsiCo India director-marketing, hydration and cola Tarun Bhagat said, “We are delighted to welcome Hima Das into Gatorade’s family of athletes. As the world’s no.1 sports drink brand, Gatorade has always aimed to identify athletes it believes in, early on in their careers and push them to power their performance by enabling them to achieve more with the right balance of nutrients including fluids, electrolytes and carbohydrates. Hima personifies the spirit of the brand through her persevering attitude and unwavering spirit to win. We believe that Gatorade is the perfect fuel to partner with Hima Das as she sets out to achieve new accolades for the country.”

    Speaking about the partnership, Hima Das said, “Winning comes with long hours of practice, persistence and perspiration. Each day leading up to a race throws a new challenge and one must be equipped to take it head-on. Gatorade helps athletes like me do just that. I am honoured to join the Gatorade family which consists of sporting legends across the world. I am looking forward to working with them to understand my hydration requirements and using the insights to better my athletic performance.”

    The appointment of Hima Das as a brand ambassador is a reiteration of Gatorade’s efforts to drive authenticity and partner with relevant sources of authority. The brand brought on board ace shuttler PV Sindhu in 2017, followed by javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra a year later.

  • Gatorade releases TVC for CWG 2018

    Gatorade releases TVC for CWG 2018

    MUMBAI: As the Commonwealth Games (CWG) 2018 opening ceremony commences in Australia (Gold Coast), sports drink brand, Gatorade has released a new TVC bringing alive the truth of sweat replenishment.

    Scheduled to air during CWG on digital and TV, the new TVC is a reflection of Gatorade enabling athletes to win from within by providing the right balance of fluids, carbohydrates and electrolytes.

    As the world’s leading sports drink brand, Gatorade has been powering the Indian brand ambassadors badminton player PV Sindhu and javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra to push their limits and fight for gold at CWG this year. Ever since coming on board, both Sindhu and Chopra have been able to extensively understand and work on their hydration, training and match-day nutrition needs.

    The film features a runner at two different stages of his training connected by a Gatorade bottle that has been metaphorically placed as a baton between the sweating and the replenished athlete. Therefore, the film reflects Gatorade refuelling athletes, pushing them to train harder and perform better.

    In line with Gatorade’s core belief to ‘Win from Within’, the new TVC cuts across all barriers of countries and language to resonate with every athlete participating in the CWG, pushing their own limits to strive until the finish line.