In India, Cricket is not a sport, but a religion. With the 2015 Cricket World Cup happening in Australia, a billion fans in India were looking for a way to feel closer to their team.

adidas was not an official World Cup sponsor. But we knew we would have a far greater impact than any sponsor, if adidas could make all that support from home, felt on foreign soil.

The act of touching the ground is a gesture used by millions at places of worship in India. During the World Cup, we applied that gesture to India’s other religion - cricket. And used it to help fans send their support directly to the Indian team.

adidas teamed up with India’s most popular cricketer, Virat Kohli. We asked fans to touch the ground where they play cricket, take a photo and show their support using #SacredGround.

The message struck a chord with Kohli’s massive social following. Fans, celebrities and influencers sent in their support. #SacredGround trended on Twitter and we gained 131 million social impressions.

Then, something amazing happened - Indian players joined the Sacred Ground campaign, touching the ground during live World Cup matches witnessed by millions of viewers.

This became a ritual they performed at every single match, including India vs Pakistan, where the Sacred Ground gesture was seen by one billion viewers.

Without any official World Cup sponsorship and without a single rupee spent on media, adidas gained widespread media coverage and connected with Indian fans in a meaningful way.

Adidas teamed up with India’s most popular cricketer, Virat Kohli. We asked fans to touch the ground where they play cricket, take a photo and show their support using #SacredGround.

Our message struck a chord with Kohli’s massive social following on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Along with fans, celebrities and sports stars joined in to send their support through #SacredGround. But then something amazing happened- Indian players joined the Sacred Ground campaign by touching the ground during live broadcasts witnessed by millions. And as they made the Sacred Ground gesture at each game, the support grew even further.

With one simple gesture, adidas connected one team to one billion fans. During India’s World Cup matches, #SacredGround trended on Twitter, and the fans’ social involvement led to over 131 million social impressions. As the support grew, something amazing happened; players in the Indian team joined the Sacred Ground campaign by touching the ground during live broadcasts, witnessed by millions of viewers. This became a ritual they performed at every single match, including; India vs Bangladesh, 98 million viewers; India vs South Africa, 257 million viewers; India vs West Indies, 262 million viewers. And then, in the most watched sporting event in history, India vs Pakistan, Indian players made the Sacred Ground gesture in front of over one billion viewers. All this happened without any official World Cup sponsorship and without a single rupee spent on media.