Encapsulating a nation's sporting religion into an anthem
Breaking Down the Brief
As sound counsels to the brand, we had to nail down the Yahoo! Cricket brand to its very core elements. The brand was headed for a make-over, looking to stand out in a crowd of mobile and internet platforms that offered news and opinion on cricket.
Where was their point of differentiation?
A mobile app that would get you the fastest news and updates, have a user-friendly interface and target the young millennial fans. We found that there was a unique position they could occupy in this segment - speak the language of the fans and not the experts. From there came the core idea that germinated into the anthem.
The Next Step
Fixing the musical landscape, tonality and language
Overarching Theme - 'the sport of our soil'
- Earthy tones
- Language agnostic
- Gibberish phrases signifying local fan lingo
Mood Inclusions
- Fun
- Celebration
- Collective pride & passion
- Energetic
Indian Pop
We developed the anthem within the Indian pop genre but by incorporating musical elements from 3 great cricketing nations - India, England and The Caribbean.
Core Sound Identity
Signature hook ‘Ye Baloomba Lala, Ya-ya-ya-hoo’
A memorable gibberish phrase that incorporates the brand name
Rest of the anthem intersperses the signature hook with a stanza in vernacular rap. A mix of ethnic Indian instruments such as the dhol, kanjira, and others such as drums, trumpet and guitars, were used, keeping in mind that all these sounds and instruments have celebratory associations.
Gibberish phrases feature in the rap elements and other alliterative expressions such as, Dhad Dhad Dhad-Dhada-Dhad for run taking, Sar Sar Sar Sar Sar Sarpat, and Le Le Le Le, were specifically coined with an intention to enter popular lingo over time and establish collective pride.
Fingerprinting the sound across platforms
The master vocal version was accompanied by an all instrumental version, in order to integrate the sound identity into other platforms. The brand aims to incorporate this on its website.
Carefully crafted 'notification' alerts were developed for several activation points on the mobile app. These were chosen from the sound bank created out of the signature anthem.
Sunoh was able to take the idea of an anthem beyond its use as a song and turn it into a sound identity for the brand. The brand is now empowered to use the anthem and its many variants in platforms and mediums for years to come. It also allows for flexibility. By retaining the signature hook, the brand can create and co-create (through social exercises) newer phrases and become a pioneer in an alternate language of cricket.
It has also helped the brand emerge and stand out from its counterparts as the one that speaks the language of cricketing fans. It's the fans who drive the sport and we wanted the brand to show that it speaks their language.
Client Speak
"Yahoo Cricket App is focussed on Cricket Fans in the 15 to 35 yrs age group. We wanted a high energy song that Cricket Fans in every part of the World could relate to. A song that is language agnostic and can go on to become the Cricket Anthem of the World.
Team Sunoh with their expertise as sound counsels allowed us to amplify Yahoo branding to its full potential through the sound assets they created along with the core signature anthem, which gave us a definite edge over other players.
It was a great experience working with Team Sunoh. Wishing them all the success."
Gurmit Singh
Former VP & Managing Director of Yahoo + AOL
Credits:
Created with images by Lenaeriksson - "camp nou fair audience football match people" • Marcus Wallis - "Sunset Ashes" • relexahotels - "iphone have a look mobile" • PublicDomainPictures - "drum hands music sound drums musical instrument" • Alessandro Bogliari - "Red cricket ball on the grass" • TheDigitalArtist - "yahoo search internet" • schmitzduisburg - "nature landscape mountain"