Tapping into football fever to set new goals for sport

GURUGRAM: With the start of the FIFA Under-17 World Cup just a day away, a new ad film seeks to use the occasion as a platform to inspire this generation to take Indian football to new heights, to forge a future that embraces football.

In its #HereToCreate campaign, Adidas shows how football has captured the imagination of India's young, the popularity of the sport growing with each Messi goal, with each live telecast of an EPL or La Liga match. This is, of course, the first time India has ever hosted a FIFA event, and the first time any Indian team has taken part in a FIFA tournament. So, as history is being made, the 45-second film urges the U-17 lads, and the many thousands who now play the game recreationally or professionally, to go ahead and create some more history.

Conceptualised by Cheil WW India, the film portrays kids, alone and in groups, kicking or dribbling balls. The backdrops are the streets of Old Delhi and of Mumbai, the beaches of Goa and the maidans of Kolkata. The actors are boys and girls, budding footballers trying to dodge challenges as effortlessly as an Iniesta or a Xavi sidesteps a tackle, as they seek to translate their dreams into reality.

"It their story, their sweat, to emerge as the best." That's Sean van Wyk - senior marketing director, adidas India - explaining the essence of the campaign. He believes India possesses the talent, desire and ambition to adopt the game as enthusiastically as, say, the Brazilians.

"The football creator is obsessed. His appetite to play and consume football across platforms is unrelenting. Our campaign aims to capture the emotion and intensity behind every young player and inspire them to take their rightful position on the world stage," shared van Wyk.

For Aneesh Jaisinghani - group creative director, Cheil WW India - the idea was to get the young to see football as a "prospective" future. "For this, we opted for a slow-paced execution that romanticised the rituals, the passion and the obsession of these young footballers, irrespective of what level of football they play, or where they play."

It's a short film that hints, excitingly, at the limitless possibilities for the sport in India. As a former FIFA president once said, India is world football's "sleeping giant". There really is no reason why India's kids cannot kickstart a football revolution.