Royal Challenge Sports Drink salutes the ‘Real Challengers’ of India ahead of the T20 season

Bangalore, 22 September 2020.

Ever since 2020 began, the nation has been patiently waiting with bated breath on the announcement of this year’s T20 tournament. With the schedule finally on track after months and teams geared up to battle it out on the field, one can’t help but stop to recognize the real heroes who have been making the impossible, possible and fighting the pandemic every step of the way.

This year, Royal Challenge Sports Drink in association with Royal Challengers Bangalore has come together to support the real heroes of the nation, who have been putting up a brave fight every day, working tirelessly. With identifying heartwarming stories of such Real Challengers across the country, the campaign aims to bring out individual stories that pay to these individuals who have gone above and beyond their call of duty to provide relief and aid to those in need.

In a surprising move today Virat Kohli, RCB Captain, changed his social media handle to a regular name from around us, Simranjeet Singh and had fans all over the world wondering as to the reason. It was later revealed that this was done to salute brave hearts of the country as part of the ongoing campaign “Real Challengers” by Royal Challenge Sports Drink.

Simranjeet Singh is one such Real Challenger from the city of Chandigarh, hearing impaired, but that did not stop him from serving his community and supporting the helpless to overcome the struggles of this pandemic by providing the needy with bare necessities and food to survive.

The campaign goes live with a TVC in which Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers and Yuzwendra Chahal proudly tell the stories of these heroes making their contribution during such unprecedented times. They celebrate their heroic act and ask India to remember their names as they crown them as ‘Real Heroes’ of this country.  The TVC also features some of these Real Challengers like Dr Sachin Nayak, who turned his car into a temporary home so he could save his family from the risk of infection because he was at the duty of treating COVID-19 patients. He has been living out of his car for many months now and Mr. Paritosh, who started ‘Project Feeding from Far’ with his friend Pooja. They feed nutritious meals to the poor twice a day since the time of the lockdown, and in 45 days of running the kitchen, they served close to 4.5 lakh meals and continue to do so even now.

Royal Challenge Sports Drink stands for challenging stereotypes and one of the biggest stereotypes that mankind has busted in the wake of the Covid pandemic is that “Defeats, defeat you”. Amid the worst crisis the world has faced in the past century, ordinary, everyday people stood up to overcome incredible challenges, and pull-off extraordinary feats showcasing the power of the indomitable human spirit. They made us rethink our heroes. The campaign pays an ode to this spirit and celebrates the challenger spirit of these Real Heroes.

The campaign activation will see leveraging engagement with influencers, electronic media and OTT platforms to spread the word and celebrate the real heroes. RCB players have been amplifying these stories to bring to light and with the intent to inspire millions of fans to embrace this spirit and be Real Challengers in their own context.

Expressing his views on the campaign Amarpreet Anand, EVP & Portfolio Head (Diageo India) & Board of Director (RCB) said, “These unprecedented times have seen warriors and heroes emerge across the country who have been doing their bit and spreading a glimpse of hope as we fight the war against COVID 19. As an effort to recognize their deeds and honor them, Royal Challenge Sports Drink will salute these heroes during the T2o season. Royal Challenge has always worked towards bringing a change, right from breaking stereotypes to standing up for our nation’s fighters, and we hope to continue to encourage many more to emerge in the future.”