2012 Winners & Shortlists

The Campaign

More than 90% of the UAE’s 250,000 labourers are from India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. These men work long, hard hours in difficult conditions. They spend what little free time they have watching, playing and dreaming about cricket. When India made history winning the World Cup on home soil, many of the subcontinent’s biggest cricket fans were at work. As migrant laborers in the UAE, they were unable to revel in the excitement and glory enjoyed at home. Labourers from these countries are very familiar with our competitors products, as Pepsi is the market leader on the subcontinent. We saw a unique opportunity to introduce them to Sprite as a refreshing alternative, while providing them with welcome relief from their hard work and provide them with something they love – cricket. We created a cricket tournament, modeled on the World Cup, to turn humble construction workers into Cricket Stars. The series of trials, practices, group stages and playoffs would ultimately run over 6 months in 8 of the biggest labour camps in the UAE, and culminate in finals at the new $100 million Dubai International Cricket Stadium, home to the region's Test Matches and ODI's.

The Brief

To provide an unforgettable experience for a very deserving audience. This was labourers from the subcontinent who were generally more familiar with our competitor's products, as we are not the market leader in their homeland. Research confirmed that labourers spend most of their free time watching, playing or dreaming about cricket. And with the Cricket World Cup being played on the subcontinent and won by India, this gave us the perfect platform to provide a meaningful engagement.

Results

Sprite Cricket Stars represented a total of 153,300 labourers. This was the number of eligible players from the 8 participating camps. Of this, there were over 42,000 entrants into the tournament. More than 6,000 fans attended the finals. Each member of the winning team, Al Jaber camp from Abu Dhabi, won air tickets to visit their home courtesy of Sprite. We received 10 local press clippings with an Ad value of 35,740 AED, and PR value of 107,222 AED.

Execution

The campaign had to be adapted continually to accommodate for the unprecedented demand. Originally the trials were supposed to last less than 1 month, but entries were overwhelming and they ran for 3 months. We could not have anticipated the response. Such is the nature of the labourer's lives, and the hype of India's cricket World Cup win, that the scale of the campaign just grew and grew. Our Tournament Director and his staff worked around the clock at the labour camps to ensure as many people could attend trials as possible. Still, we pushed everything back. Then because of the scale and importance, the location of the Finals changed from the Sharjah Cricket Stadium to the superior Dubai International Cricket Stadium. Ultimately, what was supposed to be a 6 week event ran for 6 months.

The Situation

We saw a wonderful opportunity to provide some of the most deserving people in the world with a life-changing experience. We were able to actively promote a healthy, active lifestyle and reward labourers for their hard work. At the same time we could create a platform through which they were able to showcase their talents in front of an audience.

The Strategy

Planning was done in coordination with the UAE Ministry of Labour who threw all of their support behind the campaign and we determined the 8 labour camps that would take part in Sprite Cricket Stars. There was a team of administrators and planners to handle the logistics - not easy with the labourers' busy schedules. Each team would be provided with an experienced coach for the duration of the tournament. The 8 teams would then play each other in a round robin event to determine the Semi Finalists. The Semi Finals and Finals were scheduled to be played at the Sharjah Cricket stadium in a big final event, where entrance was free and we would provide Sprite for the duration.