4 What happened to “Kricket Ka Karizma”?

Hero Honda probably missed the opportunity of a lifetime..

Does the phrase “Kricket Ka Karizma” sound familiar or ring any bells in your ears? Let me refresh..

Hero Honda was one of the Major sponsors of the recently concluded 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup. Now since Hero Honda was generous enough to spend crores of rupees on the mega event, it also got the opportunity to promote its products during the world cup.

As usual Hero Honda did spend a lot by capturing the usual TV ad spots during the overs changes & drink breaks.

Hero Honda also displayed its flagship model the “Karizma ZMR” in the flesh on a strategically chosen spot on the ground in every single cricket match in the 2011 World Cup.

Another promotional strategy of Hero Honda which revolved around it’s flagship “Karizma ZMR” model was the much promoted “Kricket Ka Karizma” campaign.

The idea behind the campaign was to promote the “Karizma ZMR”, the flagship Hero Honda model by launching an online “Kricket”.. opps sorry cricket game and pick 11 winners who scored the maximum points.

The winners were supposed to get the opportunity of a lifetime by being part of “Victory Lap” of the winning team (and according to me in all probability being escorted/led by a couple of Karizma ZMR bikes).

Ultimately on April 2’nd 2011, India won the 2011 Cricket World Cup..!!

The 1.2 billion cricket crazy Indians went as expected crazy.. Man of the tournament Yuvraj Singh and Harbhajan Singh shed tears of joy on the field.. the victorious Indian players then picked up the God of Cricket, Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar on their shoulders and went for a victory lap around the stadium.

These historic moments were captured in photographs and TV cameras and it goes without saying that these will be treasured, viewed and played millions of times on the net, publications and TV shows for many years to come..!!

But in these wonderful moments of joy everybody missed one small detail. Where was the sponsored “Kricket Ka Karizma” victory lap?

Probably the dramatic victory celebrations of the Indian cricket team happened so suddenly, that the organizers did not get the opportunity to accommodate the preplanned “Hero Honda” victory lap.

If that’s true, then Hero Honda has lost a very big opportunity. Imagine the photos/videos of the Indian Cricket team taking a victory lap in front of the home crowd, along with the Karizma ZMR (forget those 11 winners) in the same frame being captured for posterity.

Any marketer would give his arm and leg for such a opportunity to promote his product/brand in this emerging economy of ours with a diverse population in terms of race, language & religion but homogenous in terms of its passion for cricket.

Mr. Pawan Munjal (M.D Hero Honda) who attended the finals, must have been one of the rare Indians who probably wasn’t totally happy after the 2011 Cricket World Cup.

The "Kricket Ka Karizma TV Campaign

Winners of the Kricket Ka Karizma contest (Source: www.kricketkakarizma.com)

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