Neither does one have to be educated nor reminded that the World Cup is the mother of all cricketing battles.
It isn’t just the ultimate cricket contest; it is THE contest you want to win over an above anything you’ve ever won as on date.
Quite frankly, you can afford to lose several significant series’ that exist in this great sport of ours, but winning the Cricket World Cup can actually alter your perception as a cricketer, as a unit; that entire collective.
It’s that important.
The World Cup is to the great game of cricket what the Academy Awards is to the realm of Hollywood, the Olympics to the world of athletes or a moon landing operation for a space agency.
Which is why it’s needless to say- and perhaps in some sense, even self explanatory- that the message being communicated about the World Cup, especially in a country where billions love cricket must carry some essence.
And that essence has to be of cricket, which means the thrill; the tensions; the glorious taste of victory; the nail biting moments, the drama, and of course, the euphoria the game stands for.
The reason why this messaging must bring out the essence of Cricket is because even today at a time where gladly so many hitherto undersung sports are growing in popularity- take Hockey, Kabaddi, Basketball (among others)- cricket still remains India’s #1 sport.
Having said that, it ought to be debated whether the revered and mighty ICC’s official World Cup anthem Dil Jashn Bole brings out what cricket stands for?
For sure, we are in an age where criticism is seldom constructive and what follows in the wake of giving just a view, however concrete, is often a harsh takedown of a piece of creativity.
It doesn’t help that social media has only given a place for toxicity and trolling to aid this very process.
Which is why at Caught At Point, we aren’t implying anything even bordering on needless or pointless criticism of the official anthem Dil Jashn Bole, which as of September 26, garnered some 163,000 views on the Star Sports YouTube channel.
What we do respect- and so must everyone- is that a piece of creativity, unless produced under the influence of drugs or in some sadistic mental state, results from painstaking effort.
The Dil Jashn Bole official anthem too would’ve involved a lot of effort besides huge spending and the usual intricacies involved in any advertising and marketing piece.
That also means the cost spent at decking one of the most promising and popular actors of his generation in clothing that thought comes naturally to him, maybe also appeals to the sensibilities for a certain audience type.
Yet, a big question emerges that since the Dil Jashn Bole anthem hit our screens has gone unaddressed.
Was the idea behind this campaign to simply get hits to the video and clock in the user time spent on it irrespective of messaging?
Or was the purpose behind ICC’s Dil Jashn Bole anthem to remind us that in an age siding with entertainment overload and junk journalism, real messaging doesn’t really value that much, even if comes down to cricket that isn’t just a sport but an emotion for us all.
By junk journalism the reference to context is to us prevailing in an age where Pandya buying a car becomes sports journalism, so does Ishan Kishan sporting a new hairstyle or any other utterly inconsequential update from a cricketer’s personal life that has nothing to do with CRICKET CONTENT.
So far, in the social media world, the Dil Jashn Bole campaign has seemingly received mixed reviews.
It could be that either we’ve got it entirely wrong, or that it hasn’t been a colossal hit like some piece of commentary that a tournament of the stature of the ODI World Cup deserves.
Caught At Point caught up with Suvajit Mustafi, a widely published cricket writer and simply asked him what his views were and here’s what the soft-speaking and erudite man had to say:
“I find it incredibly difficult to express disappointment with the recent Star Sports promotion and the Jashn Anthem. I don’t have a superlative adjective to define my cricketing fandom, but I couldn’t connect with those promos one bit. Frankly, I might even end up judging someone if they did.
I can’t even use the word backpedalled since our history with ads/promotions was once exceptional.
In simpler times, with less clutter and noise, I eagerly awaited promotions and campaigns.
Growing up in an era of iconic Cadbury ads, the unity of Mile Sur Mera Tumhara, and the brilliance of Coke’s Dum Mast Qalandar during the 1996 World Cup, it’s natural for a generation to expect creativity and innovation in advertising and promotions, which not only showcased products/events but also became cultural touchpoints, reflecting the changing aspirations of a growing nation, also taking cues from the aspirations of the other participants.
image taken from CricTips
Times may have changed, but the power of storytelling and connecting through music remains as strong as ever. I admired what the ICC did with the promotions for the 2014 Bangladesh T20 World Cup and the 2015 Australia/New Zealand World Cup.
Even ‘Wavin Flag’ from the 2010 Fifa World Cup was exceptional. Cricket’s importance to India transcends beyond just being a popular sport. You expect a World Cup promotion to capture the essence of the nation’s aspiration that resonates deeply with the audience.
Isn’t cricket the binding factor of a diverse and plural land like India? In today’s age, with the aid of AI, high-tech, and digital advancements, we have every reason to expect more.
It’s not that creativity or imagination is lacking; instead, it feels like everyone is playing it safe and settling for shallowness if need be, fearing backlash if they accidentally touch the brittle borders of low tolerance these days, like Tanishq faced in 2020.
A hashtag trend can erupt in seconds, threatening to tarnish your legacy. My apologies for digressing. Returning to the topic of the 2023 World Cup, everything seems disappointingly shallow.
The ticketing experience was dismal, and even international visitors were left in limbo due to the late release of fixtures, ticket uncertainties, and, then again changes in fixtures.
It’s disheartening that all these issues together cast India, a nation on the rise and a cricketing powerhouse, in such a negative light.”
Disclaimer: In no way is Caught At Point trying to mock the efforts that have gone behind the ICC Official One Day World Cup anthem nor does it mean to devalue anything cricket-related!
The publication very humbly submits that it attempts to bring you pure cricket journalism and that’s about it!
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