In a cricket-obsessed nation like India, every brand has capitalized on cricket, making it difficult to do something differentiated.

For the T20 Cricket World Cup, we chose to sidestep passive commercials and create a first-of-its-kind interactive experience for fans, using the data from the audiographs of a billion iconic fan cheers to generate a jersey design.

Every part of the jersey could be scanned to play different iconic cheers in cricket history, making it a valuable collectable and a disruptive intervention. We turned the cheers of a Billion Indian fans into a wearable with the Billion Cheers Jersey.

In 2021, the biggest cricketing spectacle, The Cricket World Cup was all set to be hosted in India. 1.3 billion Indians – the world’s most passionate cricket fans were bustling with excitement for the event. But the COVID 19 pandemic situation in India forced the World Cup to be shifted to the United Arab Emirates.

Which is when we were tasked to design the official jersey that the Indian team will don in the World Cup. The main objective for us was to design a jersey that united the playing 11 on the field with the billions beyond the field. And in the process get the fans all charged up to support the team when they take the field.

Jerseys are made for the sportsmen but immortalized by the fans

Indian cricket jerseys have only ever been made for the cricketer. But millions of them are worn and treasured off the field by Indian Cricket fans. Jerseys are made for the cricketers but cherished and celebrated by the fans. We realised that our intervention needs to embrace this philosophy to win a billion hearts. Paying tribute to the real unsung heroes of the sport – The Fans.

A monument of sound

The Billion Cheers Jersey is the first-ever cricket jersey to be designed using audio data. We spent months analysing fan cheers from 1000 games played over 4 decades, from 250 venues in 15 countries. We then identified unique, iconic cheers like, ‘India! India!’, ‘Sachin! Sachin!’, ‘Vandeee Maatram!’ We then converted all this data into a stunning design on the jersey that resonated loud with players and fans.

Jersey needed a Concept not a Design

Every Indian team jersey is a piece of history – yet only a few are iconic. We realised that just a cool design on a jersey is futile. We needed a concept that India can rally behind.

Chants, Cheers & Blessings – India’s World Cup Ritual

Indian cricket fans truly believe that their cheers help the team win on the field. From ‘India, India’ to ‘Chak de India’,every cheer is special. With India playing away from home ground, we wanted fan cheers to reach team India all the way in UAE.

We Reincarnated a Ritual into a Jersey

By converting iconic audio data with fan cheers, we created a wearable piece of cricket history. For the first time, fans were this close with their cricket icons on the field. And cricketers could carry fan support with them, even 2603kms away from home ground!

Creating Our Cheer Data Library

We began our data quest and went through 4 decades of audio data of fan cheers. That’s right, 4 decades of cricket, that like over 1000 matches across 250 locations and 15 countries. We had struck our audio data goldmine!

Converging the Worlds of Technology and Design in a Jersey

What we did next was genius – We used simple audio sound waves patterns to interpret each of the iconic cheers. This became the fulcrum of our design. Cheers Ranging from “India, India!” to “Chak De India!” to “Vande Matram” missing from the stadium resurrected on a jersey.

Our Brag Worthy Proposition

We knew we were speaking to fanatics, so we needed to make our jersey a collectable. So, we used AR technology to convert these wave patterns into audio consumables for fans to create, share and express their support for Team India.

The Billion Cheers Jersey did a phenomenal job of bringing the worlds of art and data together. With the introduction of this Jersey, fans didn't feel as left out of the world cup matches as they otherwise would have.

But the Billion Cheers Jersey didn't stop there, it had the internet to travel through. The media reports, the fan-made videos and the eruption of social conversations helped the Billion Cheers Jersey get to the top of both engagement and business metrics.

- #1 sports topic in Asia

- Over 8 billion impressions

- $50 million in earned media

- #BillionCheersJersey trended on Twitter

- 2 million jerseys sold out in 5 days (MPL SPORTS internal data)