A Royal Challenge to get rid of stereotypes in cricket

Royal Challenge Sports Drink has rolled out #ChallengeAccepted, a campaign that looks to challenge gender-based stereotypes in cricket, with a mixed gender cricket match.

Conceptualised by DDB Mudra, the film features cricketers Mithali Raj, Harmanpreet Kaur, Veda Krishnamurthy from the Indian women's cricket team and Virat Kohli from the men's team. The campaign's message is that ‘a day is coming where the world needs to become equal’.

The idea is to promote women's cricket and get it parity with the men's game in terms of opportunities, salaries, coverage and fan support. Royal Challenge is looking to organise a game featuring women cricketers and the current Royal Challengers Bangalore team.  

Amarpreet Anand, executive vice president and portfolio head, Diageo India, said, “With #ChallengeAccepted, the idea is to challenge stereotypes in life, because the bold are the ones who are fearless to do so. Our first point of view is to challenge gender stereotypes in cricket, where the game is being divided by gender and not skills and prowess. We believe that it’s a cause worthy of a conversation in culture and we are supporting the first mixed gender match with international cricketers. We are rolling out a full 360-degree activation plan supported by like-minded influencers and the RCB cricket team.”   

Vishnu Srivastav, creative head, DDB Mudra South, added, “Royal Challenge as a brand has always stood for forward thinking and boldness. It has stood for the spirit of challenging the ‘now’. So, when it came to this campaign, with the euphoria linked to the cricket season we wanted talk about what’s missing in all this excitement – Women Cricketers. We wanted to create a campaign that challenges the world to move towards a more progressive and inclusive space for women, in sports and life. And we’re just getting started.” 

CREDITS  

Client: Diageo (Royal Challenge Sports Drink)
Agency: DDB Mudra
Business management: Aditya Kanthy, Sujay Ghosh, Namrata Bohre, Vanaja Pillai, Vidhu Vinod, Arko Majumdar, Bilal Hasan
Creative team: Rahul Mathew, Vishnu Srivatsav, Vijay Joseph, Sukanya Subramaniyan, Jamuna Poovaiah, Sruthin Kc, Clare Joseph, Saloni Agarwal, Shrishti Dixit, Devika Dutt
Account planning: Amit Kekre, Maithili Nair, Sneha Kanukolanu, Ayush Roy
Media and collaborations: Karan Wohra