NEW DELHI, INDIA – Bharti Airtel (‘Airtel’), India’s premier communications solutions provider, showcased the exciting future of sports and entertainment viewing at an exclusive event, where Kapil Dev’s hologram, powered by Airtel 5G, appeared on the stage and interacted with the audience. At the event, the brand unveiled a powerful film where, using immersive technology they recreated Kapil dev’s unrecorded legendary 175 run not out innings from the 1983 world cup. The film has been conceptualised and created by Leo Burnett India and produced by Prodigious India.
Kapil Dev’s famous 175 not out vs Zimbabwe, during the 1983 Cricket World Cup never made it to the screens due to a strike by the broadcasters that day. This inning has gone down in history as one of the best one day innings ever and unfortunately it was a match that was never telecasted. Through this film we wanted to recreate those iconic moments and use technology to transport the audiences back in time to the Tunbridge wells when the match was being played. This idea was brought to life using deepfake technology giving viewers an immersive and futuristic content viewing experience.
The video was then showcased at an exclusive viewing, through a highly personalized 4K video experience of the match on 5G smartphones, with real-time access to multiple camera angles, 360-degree in-stadia view, shot analysis and stats was viewed. This was followed by a virtual interaction with Mr. Kapil Dev using a hologram.
Speaking about the campaign Rajdeepak Das, CEO & Chief Creative Officer – South Asia, Leo Burnett said “To truly bring the power of technology to life we decided to give the audiences a never seen before experience – quite literally. We recreated the 1983 world cup match where Kapil Dev scored a 175 not out. Working closely with Mr. Kapil Dev to capture every little detail from his memory and doing our due diligence, using cutting edge technology we recreated a digital version of the iconic moments of the match from his memories to the screen.”
Adding further Vikram Pandey (Spiky), National Creative Director, Leo Burnett said “I have grown up listening to stories about this innings, but the fact it was never recorded came as surprise. Re-creating that 175, young Kapil and Tunbridge Wells was an amazing experience.”
CREDITS
Agency: Leo Burnett
CEO & CCO – South Asia, Leo Burnett: Rajdeepak Das
CEO & CSO – South Asia, Leo Burnett: Dheeraj Sinha
National Creative Directors: Vikram Pandey, Sachin Kamble
Associate Executive Creative Directors: Sudhir Das
Creative Team: Geo Joseph, Kiran Talegaonkar, Rohan Madav, Kunal Khade
Creative Director: Piyush Gupta (Ex LB)
Branch Head: Samir Gangahar
Executive Vice President: Jaikrit Singh
Brand Services Directors: Aliasger Tonkwala
Sr. Brand Associate: Hitesh Poddar
Production House: Prodigious India
Director: Harsha Prabhakar
