The telecom category is a mature space and it takes concerted efforts for any brand to change perception. Airtel 175* was the intervention that helped Airtel beat primary competitor Jio across 5G parameters.

For the first time, 5G technology was used to re-create a past event of such scale from human data available from the match. We not only recreated the biggest moment in the history of Indian cricket which the nation was deprived of but also made people experience the entire inning in a way they had never before.

Airtel, a brand that led the Indian telecom revolution for more than two decades had lost its leadership to Jio. Airtel was the first brand to test 5G network in India but Jio was leading in 5G mind-measures. The task in the category is to persuade consumers to switch from one operator to the other and the only way of doing that is by giving them a reason for superiority vs competition.

Airtel wanted to stake a claim for leadership in the 5G tech space. But 5G was still a technology of future. When you think about 5G technology, you think about remote surgeries, autonomous cars, and drone deliveries. But these things will affect people’s lives only in the distant future.

The challenge was to excite a nation today, about a technology which is only relevant in the future and claim leadership in the 5G space.

To excite the nation about the advent of 5G, we decided to give India a missing piece of its proud history back.

We used 5G technology to recreate Kapil Dev’s iconic 175* innings that the nation was deprived of due to the BBC’s strike. Since there was no documentation owing to the media black out, details were collated from hours of interviews with Kapil Dev, his teammates, spectators and more to start restructuring the match.

Our effort took 9 months to recreate the iconic innings by mapping the entire stadium and tracking every ball from memories of Kapil Dev and team mates with the help of advanced AI and VFX. We used 5G technology to create India’s first live wireless hologram and to make our audience experience the innings in real time with multi-angle viewing.

Every technology brand targets innovators and early adopters for a new technology launch. But Airtel, the brand that’s eyeing to reclaim the national leadership can’t limit its appeal to a small number of early adopters.

We had two set of audiences

a) People who are ‘technology positive’

India’s population is young and compared to past generations, they are very friendly with technology.

b) And people who are intimidated by cold, futuristic technology

But even the people who are intimidated by futuristic technology adopt it when it becomes warm and relevant.

Our Approach

We decided to reach out to the tech positive masses (mainly the youth) through the people they look up to when it comes to technology and other matters in life – The innovators and early adopters as influencers.

1. There was limited data available for Kapil Dev's innings. We had to reconstruct the match and the atmosphere with borrowed memories from Kapil Dev, his team mates and few others.

2. We roped in Double Negative, one of the world's leading visual effects to help us recreate the iconic innings.

3. We replicated the exact match atmosphere- the stadium and the people within it. Using AI, we de-aged Kapil Dev's face, made him look like he did in 1983 so that our audience could experience the moment as if they were there.

4. A personalised 4K video of key moments from the match was showcased to >50 top influencers on 5G enabled smartphones in a special event We also showcased India’s first 5G powered hologram.

Brand Metrics

1. Airtel attained #1 Spot with increase in Airtel’s 5G association, crossing JIO for the first time ever

2. Airtel over took Jio in 5G-readiness perception with an increase of 15%

3. Airtel overtook Jio in 5G-Testing perception with an increase of 26%

Business Metrics

1. Overall CTB for a mobile connection amongst the youth increased by 8%

Social Metrics

1. Exceed industry benchmarks for engagement in the telecom category by 20% --> 120 Mn

2. Exceeded Industry CPV benchmark by 40%--> Rs 0.60

India is a country of diverse local flavours & interests and there are few things that this country can collectively agree upon.

And the most prominent amongst them is the love we have for cricket. Cricket is the uniting force of our country, it binds us in this unbreakable bond that’s brewing and simmering with love - whether it’s people watching a match in the stadium, at home or through the glass door of a swanky restaurant, there’s always a common sense of belonging, brethren and just pure love for the game.

India has been dominant on the cricketing world map for the last 40 years. We have repeatedly been ranked No.1 in the world. When 11 play on the field, 1.4 billion Indians are with them in spirit. We have an entire league that's cricket's Superbowl.