Sports
KKR rolls out pan-India OOH and multilingual branding for IPL 2026
Franchise blends local languages and large-scale outdoor to deepen fan connect
KOLKATA: Kolkata Knight Riders have kicked off an expansive branding campaign for the Indian Premier League 2026 season, combining large-scale outdoor advertising with multilingual outreach to connect with fans across the country.
In their home base, the franchise has turned the city into a sea of purple and gold with a high-visibility outdoor push spanning over 75,000 square feet. The campaign includes 65 billboards across key locations, along with branded pillars, pole kiosks, LED boards and metro integrations, amplifying the team’s presence across Kolkata.
A standout element is a hand-painted mural on a four-storey building at Rashbehari Avenue near Bijan Setu. Inspired by ‘Prothom Bhalobasha KKR’, the artwork celebrates the idea of “first love” in Bengali and features Varun Chakravarthy, Ajinkya Rahane and Rinku Singh alongside the team’s rallying cry, “Korbo, Lorbo, Jeetbo”. The mural has quickly become a fan hotspot, drawing both footfall and social media buzz.
Taking the campaign beyond Kolkata, KKR has also introduced specially branded team buses in every away city. Each bus carries the franchise slogan translated into the local language of the host city, adding a regional touch to its national presence.
The initiative began in Mumbai ahead of KKR’s first away fixture, with the slogan adapted into Marathi. Over the season, the campaign will travel across seven cities and languages, including Tamil, Gujarati, Hindi, Telugu and Chhattisgarhi, aiming to strike a more personal chord with local audiences.
“This season, we wanted to go beyond visibility and create moments of genuine cultural connection for our fans,” said Knight Riders Sports chief marketing officer Binda Dey. She added that seeing the team’s slogan in regional languages is meant to feel like recognition rather than just advertising.
The campaign is part of a broader push by KKR to deepen fan engagement, alongside initiatives such as Knights Unplugged 3.0 and fan meet-ups across cities.
As the IPL caravan moves from city to city, KKR’s message is travelling with it, speaking not just in one voice, but in many.
