Neville Bastawalla on Sony’s mega push for Hangzhou Asian Games

Ahead of the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou 2022, Sony Sports Network, the official broadcasters, has initiated the most extensive campaign ever witnessed in the history of the Asian Games within India. Their objective is to ensure that the message – “Iss Baar Sau Paar, Phir se, Hum Hongey Kamyab” – resonates throughout every corner of the country. Sony Sports Network has garnered substantial support from a notable line-up of influential and iconic individuals, including Union Minister of Sports Anurag Thakur, Chief of Defence Staff Lt Gen Anil Chauhan, as well as Chiefs of the tri-services Gen Manoj Pandey, Admiral Radhakrishnan Hari Kumar, and Air Chief Marshal Vivek Ram Chaudhari, all of whom are strongly backing the Indian athletes as they strive for top honours at this prestigious multi-sporting event.

Recognising the strength of collective ambition, this campaign shines a spotlight on the often-overlooked heroes of Indian sports – those individuals who have tirelessly devoted themselves to their respective fields and are on the verge of representing the nation at this esteemed multi-sport event. Prominent figures from across the country have joined Sony Sports Network’s mission and conveyed their messages of encouragement to the participating athletes, urging them to reach new heights in this edition of the quadrennial extravaganza. These notable influencers include Amitabh Bachchan, Sudha Murty, Aamir Khan, Hema Malini, Madhuri Dixit, Aditya Roy Kapoor, John Abraham, Abhishek Bachchan, Kapil Sharma, Mirabai Chanu, Zaheer Khan, Anju Bobby George, Raja Randhir Singh, and many others. Additionally, an all-star line-up of Indian sports journalists, representing publications such as Dainik Jagran, Dainik Bhaskar, Rajasthan Patrika, The Telegraph, Deccan Chronicle, Dinakaran, Lokmat, Eenadu, Gujarat Samachar, Sandesh, Asomya Pratidin, Sportskeeda, along with RJs from Radio City and Radio One, as well as representatives from leading news channels Aaj Tak and NDTV 24X7, have also joined Sony Sports Network in their endeavour.

In conversation with Adgully, Neville Bastawalla, Head Marketing & On-Air Promotions, Sony Sports Network, SPN, speaks about the new campaign, what new they have lined up for the Asian Games, and much more…

About the advertisers’ response Bastawalla shared, “Advertisers are extremely thrilled about this Asian Games, we are breaking all in. From the campaign itself, which is the grandest Asian Games campaign ever, to the grandest Asian Games sponsor support which we’ve got, it’s an unbelievable response which is happening on all accounts.”

He further said, “The campaign is the key driver for the Asian Games this year. This campaign is unheard of in the history of Asian Games, one will not have seen the individual armed forces, the chief of the army, chief of the Navy, chief of the Air Force and the overall Chief of the Defense staff of India, General Anil Chauhan coming on board. We are filming across helicopters, warships, submarines. The chief of the Air Force is doing a sortie for us so that we can film him giving his inspirational message for the athletes of our country for “Iss Baar Sau Paar”, take up the challenge and cross the 100-medal tally. This kind of a campaign is unheard of in history.”

“Apart from that, we’ve got other celebrities and influencers of our country like Aamir Khan coming on board and supporting our athletes, which is very inspirational. This is huge and the brands would like to associate with such a huge multi-sporting tent pole of the country and of Asia,” he added.

Sony has a studio show called ‘sports Extraaa’, where they have anchors Arpit Sharma and Suhail Chandok and we have expert panelists which are senior journalists and sports players and sportsmen, including Viren Rakhina, ex-captain of the Indian Hockey team; Somdev; Senior Sports journalist Ayaz Memon; Siddharth Pandey; Vijender Singh; Anju Bobby George. And we have cricket panellists – Nosheen, Tabakarim, Rohan Gavaskar and Akash Chopra.

Bastawalla informed, “This is the first time ever that we also have the Indian Men in Blue and the Women in Blue participating at the Asian Games. In all the past Asian Games, the Indian cricket team has never participated. This is the first time ever. This is also a big thing which is happening this time. This, itself, is going to take viewership to the next level.”