The archive · Marketing & Growth · Marketing decision · 2023–2024
Airtel beams fans' 3D avatars into live cricket TV; campaign wins Abby 2024 Grand Prix
During IPL 2023, Airtel 5G Plus beamed fans' photo-real 3D avatars into Star Sports' live studio; 'Look Maa! I am on TV' won the Abby 2024 Media Grand Prix.
Bharti Airtel · Star Sports · EssenceMediacom
What it had to solve
Airtel had just launched 5G Plus and needed Indians to feel what 5G could do. Speed claims are abstract; cricket is India's biggest stage and IPL 2023 was on air.
How it works
When Airtel launched 5G Plus, the problem was not coverage but comprehension — speed claims are abstract, and most people could not tell what the network actually changed. Star Sports offered the biggest stage in India: the Tata IPL, broadcast to tens of millions.
Instead of running a 5G ad, the three partners built 'Airtel 5G Plus Ultimate Fan' into the Cricket Live studio show. Fans anywhere in the country were captured in real time and rendered as photo-real 3D avatars that sat in the studio and talked with cricket legends — a first for Indian television.
The stunt did double duty: the smooth, low-latency avatar stream was itself the proof of 5G, and the 'Look Maa! I am on TV' moment turned a network feature into an emotional experience for fans.
The campaign won the sole Media Grand Prix at the Abby Awards 2024 (powered by One Show) in the branded-content-integration category, out of 3,506 entries, and became a reference case for telecom marketing in India.
Why it lands
- It demonstrated the product through the experience itself — the live avatar interaction could only work on a fast network.
- Cricket gave the idea a mass audience that already cared emotionally about being on screen.
- The studio integration meant the technology was shown live, not claimed in an ad.
- It made telecom marketing human: a fan's face on TV, not a speed-test screenshot.
What it did
Called a never-seen-before activation and a first for Indian TV; won the only Media Grand Prix at the Abby Awards 2024 (powered by One Show) out of 3,506 entries, in branded content integration, plus a gold for the same campaign.
What you can take
A technology nobody feels is better demonstrated than advertised: put the product inside a moment people already love, and let the audience itself become the proof.
Since then
The activation ran during IPL 2023 and won the only Media Grand Prix at the Abby Awards 2024, with 3,506 entries across Creative and Media ABBYs. Industry coverage held it up as proof that branded content can carry a technology launch, and the same campaign also earned a gold for Airtel 5G Plus in the awards.
Sources
- Star Sports associates with Airtel 5G Plus for Tata IPL 2023 to beam virtual avatars of ultimate fans live to the studios
- Media ABBY Awards: Wavemaker India is Media Agency; Grand Prix for Essence Media
- Airtel 5G Plus: Ultimate fans – look maa! I am on TV (Emvies case study)
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