VIDEO: Watch O&M's Abhijit Avasthi and his creative team on their 2011 ICC World Cup campaign

Ogilvy & Mather has come up with its campaign for the 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup titled Tightrope. Shot in Jaipur across five days, the commercial looks at capturing the excitement leading up to the World Cup.

To be held across India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, the ICC CWC 2011 will have 14 nations battle each other. The main theme campaign, directed by Bob of Good Morning Films, features tightrope walkers representing each of the teams making their way through what looks like a tightrope leading up to the World Cup trophy, cheered on by their respective fans on the street.

In addition, a second campaign featuring iconic players from India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka talking about what it would mean to them to bring the cup home for their country. So there is Sachin Tendulkar for India, Muralitharan for Sri Lanka and Shakib Ul Hasan from Bangladesh featuring in these spots directed by Piyush Raghani from Old School Films. In the pipeline, is a music video of the world cup theme song ‘De Ghuma ke’, sung by Shankar, Ehsaan and Loy. A surround campaign involving TV, Print, Outdoor, PR, digital and activation has been created for India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

Talking about the theme campaign, Abhijit Avasthi, national creative director, O&M said, “Every country, every player and every fan has only one wish - to win the race to the cup. But this is no ordinary race. Full of obstacles and surprises, to win this race, each player would need to literally walk on a tightrope. Keeping this in mind we decided to use a metaphor and depicted a tightrope race to the cup that counts”.

Navin Talreja, Managing Partner, Ogilvy & Mather said on the campaign, "About 1000 matches were played between the last ICC Cricket World Cup and this one. Many tournaments, many cups but a World Cup in any sport has  been and will continue to be the pinnacle of achievement. The postioning line  ‘The Cup That Counts’ serves as a reminder to all cricket fans of this very simple fact.” 

Watch Abhijit Avasthi, national creative director, O&M hold forth on the brief, the creative challenge and the massive five-day shoot in Jaipur. 

Watch the 3 minute version of the TVC