Context

MS Dhoni’s ability to adapt to diverse conditions in the game is one of his strengths. And he showed off another side of himself in a funny avatar for the forthcoming IPL 2022 advertisements. The veteran is known for his comedic witty quips and has never failed to excite the crowd, whether it’s on the field with his six-hitting prowess or in the promos with his acting skills.

This year, Mahi dons a conductor’s role, inspired by superstar Rajnikanth’s look in the 1989 comic caper Chaalbaaz.  

He also portrayed an Indian patriarch in another promo, with a catchy tagline, ‘Yeh Ab Normal Hai’. In 2022 promos, big names like Hardik Pandya and Rishabh Pant also make charming appearances.

Comparing this to last year’s Vivo IPL 2021, viewers saw adverts portraying MS Dhoni in remarkable avatars, sporting the garb of various emotions ranging from wrath to greed. The commercials drew a lot of attention on social media, spawning memes and discussions and leaving viewers wanting more.

The IPL ads grabbed the consumers’ attention, so we used our Emotion AI platform to decode exactly how the viewers felt while watching these ads across India. We at Entropik Tech deployed EmotionAI technologies – Facial Coding and Eye Tracking to dive deep into customers’ emotions and discover which ad emerges as the clear winner.

Star Sports promoted this season of the IPL with a ‘Dhamaakedar Scenes’ series. Here the cricketers extend some bomb diffusion advice saying “Yahaan kisiko halke mein mat lena, yahaan koi bhi fat sakta hai.”

Dhoni was the subject of the first installment of this series. Hardik Pandya then shone in the second one, imploring viewers not to dismiss the new squads. Gujarat Titans and Lucknow Super Giants will be two new clubs in the 2018 season (LSG). Pandya is the Titans’ captain.

The campaign’s initial phase was launched in the first week of March. It showed Dhoni in a brand-new character – a bus driver who has stopped the vehicle in the middle of an extremely busy road – to commemorate the IPL summer window.

Key Highlights

• In comparison to the benchmark, all the ads excelled in terms of attention and positive emotion due to the presence of sports stars like MS Dhoni, Hardik, and Pant.
• 69% of respondents stated that Dhoni as Bus Conductor as the most loved Avatar of MS Dhoni in the IPL Promo ad series followed by Dhoni as Bahanebaazt Grandfather.  
• 88% of respondents fondly selected Dhoni as their favourite character in the dhamaakedar series.
• The Dhamaakedar series lacks in terms of engagement due to the repetition of the same concept in all three videos.
• The most dominant emotion portrayed by the respondents was “Happy” due to the legendary cricketer MS Dhoni’s new avatar as an old man in the commercial sketch.

In a new TATA IPL 2022 campaign, Star Sports released a fascinating promo for the 15th edition of the game. From a Rockstar to a monk, this year’s promo stars Chennai Super Kings captain Thala Dhoni in a new avatar that is, MS Dhoni was seen in the look of an old man watching the IPL in a promo video released by IPL’s official Twitter handle and as usual, he had calmness surrounded with his gestures.

Here is the deep-dive Emotion Report by Entropik Tech for TATA IPL 2022.

TATA IPL Promo AD – DHONI BAHANEBAAZZ

The 50-sec promo starts with opening shot where MS Dhoni as an old man watching IPL match. He gets a call from someone. He was watching an IPL match at the time. In a humorous turn of events, he persuaded his daughter to make an excuse that he has passed away so that he could watch Mahi bat.  The promo ends as Dhoni quips, “Aisi Bahaanebaazi Ab Normal hai,” which reveals the concept of the same.

The intensity of positive emotions were higher than the intensity of positive emotions among the viewers as most of them emoted happiness while watching the promo which stemmed out of excitement while watching their favorite cricket star MS Dhoni on screen.  

The Attention level of the respondents while watching the Ad was 68.79 which is excellent and fares higher than most of the ads. Attention remains constant throughout the trailer, wherein engagement dips and rises throughout the video.

The engagement rises  whenever the audience were able to see MS Dhoni on screen and peaks when he says , “Aisi Bahaanebaazi Ab Normal hai”. The dominant emotions from the promo included surprise and happiness. The element ‘’Surprise’’ peaks when the viewers see MS Dhoni as grandfather and for his acting skills.

The ‘’Happiness’’ element peaks during the 41st second  when MS Dhoni reveals about the new tagline , “Aisi Bahaanebaazi Ab Normal hai,”.   The legendary Indian wicketkeeper-batsman, the Captain Cool – MS Dhoni garners higher noticeability and earned attention followed by the IPL logo and date.  

TATA IPL Promo AD – Dhamakeedar MS Dhoni

The ad campaign launched by Star Sports, the official broadcaster of TATA IPL 2022, narrates that IPL is an unpredictable sporting event. And with the debut of a series of advertisements featuring cricket stars like MS Dhoni, Hardik Pandya, and Rishab Pant, the 15th edition might be anyone’s season.

The trailer begins with a suspenseful scene in which a bomb team is attempting to disarm a bomb while the clock is ticking away. While one of the team members jokes that just blue and yellow cables are harmful, Dhoni appears on the screen and tells them to treat all wires carefully because the situation is uncertain.  The team is unconcerned and cuts the other cables, resulting in a tremendous explosion. “Yahaan kisiko halke mein mat lena, yahaan koi bhi fat sakta hai,” Dhoni says again. He stresses that the IPL is an unpredictable event.

Even though only the Mumbai Indians (MI) and Chennai Super Kings (CSK) have won the famous title in the last five years, any one of the teams this year can pose a threat and should not be underestimated.  Attention remains constant throughout the promo, wherein engagement dips during the initial segments. The engagement rises when MS Dhoni appears on the screen and peaks while he says “Yahaan kisiko halke mein mat lena, yahaan koi bhi fat sakta hai”.  

Happiness peaks during 36th second as the viewers were elated to look into the details of the match such as date, time, teams, and telecasting medium.  The element ‘’Happiness’’ peaked during the latter half of the video as the viewers were elated to see MS Dhoni on screen and IPL dates and logos of different IPL teams creating excitement to watch the match.  Overall, the ad performs better in terms of attention and positive emotions and manages to engage the audience by appealing star cast and humor.  

TATA IPL 2022 Promo Ad – Dhamakedar Series Ft. Hardik Pandya

Hardik Pandya, an all-rounder and the captain of the Gujarat Titans in the Indian Premier League (IPL), has issued a warning to the other franchises in the competitive league not to take the new clubs for granted in the forthcoming competition.

The dominant emotion in the promo found to be happiness and surprise as the audience were excited to watch the new team led by Hardik playing this year. The engagement peaks at 26th – 27th sec when Hardik says, “Naya jab bhi katega, 100 taka fategaa” in the video.

The promo manages to acquire Attention score of 68 and remains constant throughout the video because of the explosive detection scene based out of humour and cricket star Hardik Pandya on screen.

The closing segment performs better in terms of engagement and positive emotions as the viewers were excited to welcome the new team and eagerly waiting to witness the battle between new and old teams on the ground.

TATA IPL 2022 Promo Ad – Dhamakedar Series Ft. Rishabh Pant

Star Sports, the official broadcaster of the TATA IPL 2022, released a new promo film with Rishabh Pant, following films with MS Dhoni and Hardik Pandya. “Jo kabhi nahi fata, Wo bhi fat sakta hai is saal,” the promo, a part of the #YehAbNormalHai series, advises us not to underestimate the Delhi Capitals.

The film begins with a stressful scene in which a bomb squad is attempting to disarm a bomb while the clock is ticking. One of the bomb squad’s members mocks that the last 14 years all the blue wires have been ineffective.  Pant then instructs them to go at their own peril, which activates the blast, resulting in a spike in engagement. “Hamare blue pe kabhi mat uthana sawaal,” Pant concludes. “Is saal, Jo kabhi nahi fata, Wo bhi fat sakta hai,” he adds. In this IPL #YehAbNormalHain!”

The ad manages to garner Attention score of 68.3 and remains constant throughout the video. Both positive emotion and engagement scores peak from 22nd to 25th second where the viewers were elated to see the Delhi Capitals Skipper Rishab Pant boasting about his team and new IPL 2022.

We can see that the closing segment of Ad performs better in terms of engagement and positive emotion as later in the trailer, we get to see the emerging star player Rishab Pant warns to Never raise questions on their Delhi team and boasts that, What never broke, it can win this year.  

Overall Dhamaakedar Ad Series

Viewers enjoyed watching the ‘Dhamaakedar Scenes’ series, featuring three cricket stars like MS Dhoni, Hardik Pandya and Rishab Pant offering some bomb diffusion advice saying “Yahaan kisiko halke mein mat lena, yahaan koi bhi fat sakta hai”.  

The star cricketers were noticed faster when compared with the other characters and elements aiding in more positive emotions. After the cricket stars IPL logo and the tagline Yeh ab Noraml Hai were the fast noticed elements by the audience.  

TATA IPL 2022 Promo Ad – Dhamakedar Series Ft. Dhoni in Rajnikant Avatar

The campaign’s ad featured MS Dhoni, in a new role as a bus driver who had pulled over in the middle of traffic. When a traffic cop arrives on the scene and inquires about Dhoni’s behaviour, the latter says that they are watching the’super over’ of a furious IPL game. The police officer dismisses this as a common incident during the IPL and drives away, reiterating that this type of enthusiasm is common during IPL matches.  

The engagement faces a dip during 19th second when the passengers were clueless about what’s happening and rises again at 20th sec during Dhoni’s appearance on screen.

The tailing segment performs better in terms of engagement where the traffic police treat this as a normal occurrence during IPL and the tagline appears. Then the engagement of the viewers deviates during the chaos in the middle segment.  

To sum up, the ad able to acquire a decent attention score of 68 due to the star cast and remains constant throughout the video due to the presence of legendary cricketer MS Dhoni on screen.

Conclusion

As can be seen, the star power in the commercials kept attention and engagement levels throughout the ads. Both commercials capitalize on Dhoni’s popularity among IPL fans, particularly CSK fans. The advert promos capture the emotional resonance Dhoni has. Besides, celebrity presence and humorous elements have sparked interest from viewers.  

Similar to how IPL aired promos last year, in 2022, the commercials have surely struck a chord with fans, not only the man himself but also the IPL admirers. What happens when you combine excellent storytelling with a star celebrity presence?

Well, brands will engage more viewers and usher in sales. Brands can read viewers’ emotions with a couple of clicks using Emotion AI solutions like Entropik’s AffectLab.

For interpreting reactions, facial expressions, and consumers’ subconscious responses, AffectLab uses eye tracking and facial coding to derive real-time emotion insights. Watch this space for deep– dive ad analysis of in-between match commercials. Till then, stay tuned!

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