#MyTeamMyPride - A chant that built a follower base for @HDFCLife on Twitter

How do we make inroads as a brand and capture mindshare on a platform that is conversational and how can we leverage cricket to connect with the younger target group of HDFC Life and create some sticky moments? That was what kickstarted, what today probably become the only hashtag that has been trending for over a year, during every cricket match.

To tweet or to watch the match was the question most of the time, but when we started seeing fans use Twitter to ensure their voice echoes in the stadium as they supported Team India in the T20 World Cup 2016 – we know a connection had been made with #MyTeamMyPride.

This aptly captured the spirit of Indian cricket and its billions of fans during the Cricket World Cup 2016. The campaign sought to play on the emotion of pride that every Indian feels when their team performs well in the World Cup. We asked people to back their team and be proud of them through predictions, Bollywood songs spoofed, dubsmashes to cheer the team up and what a riot it was! We at HDFC Life enhanced the World Cup experience for its Twitter followers and other twitterati, the HDFCLife way.

There was no looking back for us, so we had to make sure, we kept the conversation going even in during odd hours that the matches took place in. Most importantly, we had to shatter the clutter. The T20 World Cup is a huge event and every single brand was going to be talking about it.

It all began even before the matches began. We knew we had to be a hit from the first ball. Therefore, we had to create buzz even before the match began. ‘Predict the toss results’ contest was introduced to get Indian Twitter users abuzz on the first game. We asked questions like, “What will the winning captain choose to do?” to get the country’s numerous cricket experts talking.

By this time, the #MyTeamMyPride Mexican Wave had begun. We kept building our innings with interesting contests to keep followers interested and pleading for more. Our contests were meant to drive conversations, with questions/competitions like:

• Name the Bollywood rivalry as big as #IndvsPak
• What would the cricketers alternate careers be?

Once they proved their mettle as cricket quizzers, we asked them to don the cap of cricket predictors. To add to the festivity, Festivals like Holi and Easter were during 2 of the match days and twitterati were asked to cheer for their team with a song that mentioned colour! And what better way to help them participate in an Easter Egg hunt where they looked for hidden easter eggs in camouflage pictures of cricketers.

The Hashtag trended organically during every India match. The series of #MyTeamMyPride activities during the Cricket World Cup T20 2016 garnered over 300,000 impressions on each of the match that was played by India. #INDvsNZ #MyTeamMyPride was amongst the top 10 trending hashtag on Twitter.

With over 300K impressions, a reach of 2Mn+ and an absolutely thrilled follower base, we managed to make an impact! India may not have won the T20 World Cup but HDFC Life’s #MyTeamMyPride surely won the heart of every Indian Cricket Fan!

The article was first published on Pulse by Sanjay Tripathy.