The Hundred
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The England Cricket Board (ECB) is gearing up for the first match in its controversial new competition, The Hundred. Hoping to attract a new audience to the game, it released a punchy spot as part of a new campaign that will run into the summer.
The new version of the game – a 100-ball cricket competition aiming to match sporting prowess with big game entertainment – has not been off to a smooth start. Since it was first announced in 2018, sceptics have criticised everything from the bold format to the multi-million budget spent on trying to market it. And in the midst of appease critics, it was forced to postpone the original 2020 launch as a result of the pandemic.
However, with less than 100 days until the first Hundred game, the ECB is going all out with a bold, bright, Tik-Tok inspired ad campaign it hopes will attract a new cohort of fans.
Created by ad agency Engine, it mimics the fast-paced nature of the promised game with a spot that erratically bounces from shots of swinging cricket bats and flying balls to mad chickens and smashed watermelons.
It may not delight die-hard fans of the classic game. But the unapologetically bolshy ad might just make youngsters more inclined to buy a ticket ahead of the first match on 21 June.