In India’s gaming communities, trash talk and friendly banter are as much a part of the culture as the games themselves. BGMI wanted to bring that same energy to its latest campaign, created in collaboration with Talented, director Anant Sharma and production house Calm Kaam.
With another battle royale game relaunching in India, Talented saw an opportunity to tap into a conversation that was already happening among core gamers. They had a name for the competing game: “Cartoon Waala Game”. The team decided to take this familiar sentiment and turn it into the starting point for BGMI’s latest campaign.
The challenge was to make the ad feel like it belonged in the gaming community. So, instead of relying on conventional product comparisons, the team took familiar gameplay differences, from aiming and shooting mechanics to graphics, and turned them into humour that the target audience would instantly recognise.
To make the idea land with the right audience, Talented and BGMI partnered with Anuj Gupta, an influencer whose understanding of today’s internet and its humour made him a natural fit for the campaign. His audience overlaps with the young, digitally native crowd BGMI wanted to reach, making the collaboration a natural extension of the campaign’s tone and intent.
The team knew the ad would be provocative. But the idea was to make something entertaining enough that people would want to share it, whether they agreed with the campaign, disagreed with it or simply enjoyed watching a brand have some fun at its competitor’s expense.
And then the internet got involved.
Since its release, the film has seen tremendous organic traction online. Gamers have shared, reacted and added their own takes to the conversation. What started as an ad aimed at a specific audience has now travelled well beyond it.
Nikhil Unni and Vaibhav Pachisia, Creatives at Talented, said: “We believe brands’ personalities have an opportunity to shine when they talk about their competition. Not every comparison needs a chart or a carefully worded statement. Make your point with humour, and trust your audience to get it.”
“Anuj is one of my favourite content creators and making a punchy and cheeky campaign with him was super fun as a Director. BGMI taking the competition head on, while staying true to his online persona and still delivering a strong memorable message is exactly the kind of ideation that Talented is known for. Bringing it to life of course gets a million times easier when you have Bushra’s ace producer skills going into it too. Proud of another headline worthy collab together!,” added Anant Sharma, film director.
