How Kakkar got into cockpit for Sachin

As the Cup overflowed, some advertisements clicked, some flopped and the others went totally unnoticed.

One of the winning strokes this season has been the Nokia advertisement for MMS featuring well-known stage personality Boman Irani. ‘‘I’m a cricket fan, but not like the nutcase in this one,’’ says Irani referring to the television commercial created by the Delhi wing of Bates India and directed by Abhijeet Chaudhary of Black Magic.

The advertisement shows a cricket crazy family where the son is padded up in cricket gear, daughter plays scorekeeper and the late grandfather’s portrait doubles up as the third umpire who finally approves of the groom-to-be because of his cricket replay MMSes.

Incidentally, Irani shot the self-portrait which will soon be used in the print ads. ‘‘We’re familiar with Nokia ads showing phirangs, but this one with a cricket obsessed family is peculiar to India and we thought it’s timely to build a little story around cricket empowerment, highlighting the phenomena of MMS at the same time,’’ says Radharani Mitra, Executive Creative Director, Bates India, Delhi.

The Cricket ke shikari Pepsi advertisement complete with a roaring lion, pushed the acting abilities of our cricketers beyond the boundary. ‘‘I had to make them act around a lion that didn’t exist,’’ says Prahlad Kakkar, who shot the ad. The lion was shot separately in South Africa, while our boys did their show in India.

‘‘It’s easier to shoot them all together, there’s a lot of bonding and they help each other in their performances,’’ he says. Culling out these performances is no easy task, reveals the ad film maker ‘‘You have to tell them little stories and crack jokes to inspire reactions.’’

The other Pepsi advertisement where Kakkar makes it into the cockpit also brought on those wolf-whistles when Warne gleefully says, ‘‘Iski to gayee’’ in a thick Aussie accent. Of course, the advertisement wouldn’t have been complete without the master blaster who knocks himself out only to deceive Warne and Hooper before he packs them on a flight to Honolulu piloted by Kakkar.

‘‘I got into the ad by accident because we needed a sardar in the last minute and my team decided that I was the ideal lost-at-birth and found-himself-again character,’’ explains Kakkar.

Another advertisement which definetely went down well featured the Frito-Lay’s No one can eat just one winning bet that Saif Ali Khan places against the rest of the audience. In return for the munchies, Saif convinces the audience to cheer for India and don the team’s T-shirt.

For more team spirit, there was the L G Cricket First series with Captains of the 14 teams and former cricketer Ravi Shastri infusing the spirit of the World Cup into something as basic as electronic goods.

Of course, the ICC advertisement that has Nelson Mandela ‘drumming up’ the cricket euphoria is a remarkable example of how world personalities can be drawn into this spectrum, which is cluttered with oft seen faces of cricketers and Bollywood stars.

The stinkers included the Hutch advertisement that featured an expressionless Rahul Dravid peddling MMS cricket replays and the India First Samsung ads with weak storyboards, ultimately serving at taking potshots at a rival brand.

But these are not a patch on the Reliance Mobile advertisement created by Mudra Communications featuring Sehwaag and ‘‘the sms from Sehwaag ki maa.’’ The emotion was definitely misplaced.

Here’s a parting shot from an ad guru: ‘‘All ads that show cricketers as heroes should be banned. They don’t need this kind of pressure. The ad should reflect the spirit of the game.’’ All said and done, the agencies will always believe in making brand values while the pitch shines.