In 2020, Neeraj Chopra won India the Gold Medal for Javelin Throw in the Tokyo Olympics and became India’s blue-eyed boy. However in a country where cricket is a religion, India understood the Olympic Gold, what they didn’t was what Neeraj Chopra actually does.

As a late entrant into the Short Form Video platform category, YouTube Shorts wanted to increase adoption of the platform through increased creations on the platform. Since short form video platforms thrive on challenge culture, leading up to the 2022 World Championship and Asian Games, we saw Neeraj Chopra as the perfect partner to launch a challenge unlike any other.

The brief was simple: create a challenge that’s intrinsically Neeraj Chopra, easy for everyone to do and make it fun for Gen Z, but we took on an added brief from Neeraj of using this challenge to increase the relevance and relatability of Javelin Throw.

To create a challenge which was unmistakingly Neeraj, we started by watching his 2020 Olympic performance over a 100 times and got our AHA moment when we noticed his run up just before the throw.

This run up is unique to Javelin Throw; it's a sideways run that allows his hand to extend, fuels his power and adds momentum to the throw. Stemming from this insight, we created the #JavRun Challenge.

A challenge where the main action is this sideways run but the context adds all the fun. We created a video with Neeraj Chopra doing the #JavRun in everyday context like grocery runs with household items in place of a Javelin.

Using influencers we added more every day use cases like running away from responsibilities, running late for a meeting and even running to the loo! Adding the fun to every run with the #JavRun Challenge.

Short Form Video platforms are dominated with dance and fitness challenges. To make our mark and set YouTube shorts apart from its competitors, we decided to challenge the current #challenge culture by cracking an action rooted in Javelin Throw that’s easy to do, despite being new to Indian masses that have predominantly been imitating moves seen in cricket.

We launched the challenge in April 2022 when buzz around the World Championship and Asian Games had India’s hopes set on Neeraj Chopra.

We tapped into YouTube’s creator community and used influencers to add more relatable use cases for the #JavRun Challenge while keeping their authenticity intact. This helped build buzz for the #JavRun Challenge by building a culture and sense that the activity is for everybody no matter where they are and what they have around them.

We launched the challenge just as the buzz around the 2022 Asian Games and World Championship was gaining momentum and ran the campaign for 6 weeks.

We started with teasers to seed the word #JavRun, then launched the challenge with a film featuring Neeraj Chopra doing the #JavRun Challenge in various context with various objects in place of a Javelin.

The campaign was launched in 5 Indian languages covering the major language belts across the country and positioned it as fun and easy for the existing YouTube creator community encouraging them to adopt the platform's new offering - YouTube Shorts.

To increase adoption, leveraged influencers like The Great Khali, created ‘How To #JavRun’ videos with Neeraj Chopra, that also upped the fun factor of the challenge.

Fans were incentivized with a chance to meet their hero - Neeraj Chopra for the best and most unique context of the #JavRun.

Numbers Impact:

100K+ unique creations with participation from the official Olympics channel.

136K Social Mentions, 117Mn+ Reach with 80% Recall amongst GenZs and 1.2Bn+ Impressions. The #JavRun was trending at #4 on Twitter in India.

Cultural Impact:

YouTube Shorts’ #JavRun Challenge featured as a question on India’s Who Wants to be a Millionaire? - Kaun Banega Crorepati ORGANICALLY.

The question was: Which Indian Athlete launched the #JavRunChallenge on YouTube Shorts?

With Bollywood’s biggest star - Amitabh Bachchan presenting it as ₹10,000 question. Needless to say, the contestant got the answer correct.

The show is known to keep the easiest questions, answers of which are known to the masses as the ₹1000 - ₹10,000 questions. For #JavRun to feature in this segment of the game show and for the contestant to get it right is a testament to the penetration of the campaign into common parlance and culture.