Immersive media experiences in cricket: how IIC Lab’s creative tech brought fans closer to their heroes

Immersive Tech

Pranay Bhandare

4 Min

Nov 15, 2025

The professional sports landscape is defined by moments of high emotion and collective viewership, yet the method of delivering that experience often struggles to keep pace with the audience's expectation for immersion. For broadcast leaders and brand decision-makers operating at the pinnacle of sports entertainment, the challenge is not merely to transmit a game but to amplify the emotional stakes, transforming passive viewing into an active, celebrated event.

This was the strategic mandate facing Star Sports during the World Cup: to revolutionize the presentation format and reinforce their position as the authoritative voice in cricket broadcasting. The traditional approach—static, two-dimensional graphical overlays and cutouts—had reached its functional and emotional limit. It was a visual language that felt perfunctory rather than celebratory. Star Sports required a partner capable of executing a massive technical and creative undertaking: replacing the flat digital world with dynamic, photorealistic, three-dimensional content that would literally elevate their heroes.

The solution came through a pioneering collaboration with INK IN CAPS, a specialized MarTech agency focused on crafting immersive content experiences. The resultant 3D CGI campaign was not just an aesthetic upgrade; it was a high-stakes business strategy designed to deepen fan affinity and redefine the standard for integrating virtual assets into live broadcast. It proved that when technical precision meets creative audacity, the result is an unparalleled viewing experience—one that delivers genuine commercial impact.

The Strategic Imperative: Beyond the 2D Standoff

For brand custodians and CEOs, every second of a high-visibility broadcast—especially during a major global tournament—represents a colossal investment in brand equity. Relying on dated, flat graphics, which viewers increasingly filter out as "visual noise," is a missed opportunity. The key strategic shift that Star Sports identified was the need to transcend information delivery and move into the realm of emotional presence.

Cricket fans globally share a near-mythological connection with their sporting heroes. The traditional 2D cutout, however, reduces the athlete to a mere placeholder. Star Sports’ vision, enabled by the technical expertise of INK IN CAPS, was to create larger-than-life avatars that possessed the kinetic energy and physical signature of the actual players. This move was a deliberate attempt to combat audience fatigue and reinforce brand messaging with segments that were visually stunning, culturally resonant, and technically seamless.

The objective was clear: the content needed to offer viewers a refreshing, dynamic perspective that was immediately shareable and memorable. This strategic pivot from static assets to dynamic, short-form CGI segments, complete with quirky messaging, served a deeper purpose: to maintain an active, celebratory dialogue with the audience throughout the tournament, effectively keeping the Star Sports brand at the center of the cultural conversation.

This decision was grounded in the understanding that, in the modern media ecosystem, immersion is the currency of attention. By investing in hyper-realistic 3D CGI, Star Sports was investing in the depth of their viewer's experience, demonstrating an uncompromising commitment to innovation and quality—qualities that resonate deeply with a premium, expert-level audience.

The Technical Architecture: Translating Human Performance to the Virtual Realm

The execution of this vision presented a formidable technical and logistical challenge, one that required INK IN CAPS to deploy an integrated pipeline of advanced visual technologies under extreme time constraints. Creating five photorealistic, detailed 3D models of prominent Indian cricket stars, from initial capture to final render, needed to be accomplished within a tight window of just three days per player. This is where the agency's technical mastery became the strategic advantage.

1. Data-Driven Modeling and Photogrammetry

The foundation of believable immersion is authenticity. These were not generic character models; they needed to be precise, recognizable digital doubles. INK IN CAPS employed a process leveraging data and photogrammetry-driven photoshoots. This involved capturing hundreds of high-resolution images of the players from every conceivable angle, which were then computationally stitched together to create a geometrically accurate, textured, and highly detailed 3D model.

This process is critical because it removes artistic interpretation from the creation of likeness. For a project where millions of eyes will instantly judge the avatar’s accuracy, reliance on data ensures the fidelity required to maintain credibility.

2. The Motion Capture Engine: Precision at 240FPS

A static 3D model, no matter how detailed, remains lifeless without authentic movement. The crucial step was capturing the players’ signature moves—the distinct bowling action, the celebratory stance, the unique rhythm of a pre-game ritual.

To achieve this, INK IN CAPS employed motion capture technology operating at an impressive 240 frames per second (FPS). This high capture rate is non-negotiable for translating elite athletic performance. It allows the technical team to capture the minute, high-velocity nuances of human motion that standard 60FPS or 120FPS would blur or miss. The subtle twist of the wrist on a delivery, the exact moment of impact in a jump, the unique kinetic chain of a celebrity athlete—these details are the intellectual property of the player's performance. Capturing them at 240FPS ensured that the resulting 3D CGI segments were not just animated, but truly recreated performances.

This level of precision underscores the agency's commitment to quality. For a brand manager, this signifies an investment that respects the audience's expertise and attention to detail.

3. Seamless Integration: The Broadcast Challenge

The final technical hurdle was integrating these high-fidelity, pre-rendered 3D CGI segments seamlessly into a live, fluid broadcast environment. This involved meticulous planning and collaboration with the internal Starlab teams. The segments had to feel indigenous to the broadcast, not simply dropped in.

The technical solution relied on advanced techniques, including object tracking and prop mechanisms, which served to ground the virtual avatars in the perceived reality of the broadcast studio or venue. This mastery of real-time pipeline management and post-production integration ensured that the dynamic 3D segments delivered the intended visual punch without disrupting the professional flow of the World Cup coverage. The resulting execution cemented Star Sports' reputation for technical sophistication and broadcast innovation.

From Screen to Street: The Multi-Sensory Experience

The genius of the INK IN CAPS campaign extended beyond the television screen. It was a comprehensive, multi-channel strategy designed to create a holistic, multi-sensory brand experience that leveraged the virtual assets for physical-world impact.

The creative vision centered on a multi-city avatar tour, where the larger-than-life CGI avatars were integrated into recognizable, high-traffic real-world locations. This experiential component transformed the broadcast concept into a physical brand moment, amplifying its shareability and cultural footprint.

1. Strategic Placement for Maximum Resonance

The selection of cities—Mumbai, Lucknow, Ahmedabad, Dharamshala, and Bangalore—was a strategic decision tied to the home cities or significant cultural hubs of the featured players. The placement was deliberate: integrating the virtual hero into iconic, high-impact locations such as the Gateway of India in Mumbai or the colossal Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.

This localization was a highly effective marketing mechanism. It brought the national celebration down to a regional, personal level, creating a powerful sense of pride and connection among local fans. By placing the virtual player within a hyper-local, recognizable context, INK IN CAPS executed a high-impact guerrilla marketing strategy using virtual content, driving organic conversation both on the ground and across digital channels.

2. The Power of Multilingual Resonance

Operating in a market with the world's highest concurrent viewership, Star Sports understood that true immersion requires linguistic accessibility. The campaign was not simply translated; the dynamic 3D CGI segments were produced in five different languages.

This was a critical business decision that underscored a deep commitment to regional market penetration. It ensured that the messaging, the quirkiness, and the emotional connection were delivered in the viewer’s native tongue, vastly increasing the campaign's immersion quotient. For a massive broadcast brand, this multilingual approach is a non-negotiable strategy for achieving universal affinity and cementing long-term dominance. It proves that technology, in the hands of a capable partner like INK IN CAPS, can be leveraged not just for spectacle, but for genuine, nuanced audience personalization.

The Commercial Impact and Future Trajectory

The final metric of any enterprise-level creative technology deployment is the result it yields for the brand. The Star Sports 3D CGI campaign achieved unparalleled success, establishing a new benchmark for sports entertainment. It moved the needle not just on visual quality, but on viewer engagement and brand perception.

The seamless execution of a complex technical mandate—the fast-turnaround modeling, the 240FPS motion capture, the multi-lingual versions, and the multi-city experiential component—demonstrated that INK IN CAPS possesses the rare ability to marry high-end creative vision with industrial-strength technical reliability. They successfully navigated the complexities of integrating virtual assets into a high-stakes live broadcast environment, delivering a solution that was innovative, precise, and entirely successful in achieving its goal of audience transformation.

This campaign signals a clear trajectory for the future of brand storytelling, particularly in industries where emotional connection is paramount. Brand managers and CEOs now recognize that passive content consumption is being replaced by a demand for technology-led engagement. The capacity to create and deploy immersive, photorealistic content—from 3D content and CGI to AR/VR environments—is no longer a creative flourish, but a commercial necessity.

The success of this collaboration proves that the fusion of advanced visual technologies and strategic marketing delivers tangible commercial uplift. It empowers brands to move beyond traditional advertising and into the realm of custom-built, interactive experiences. INK IN CAPS executed a campaign that was not only a revolutionary step in enhancing the World Cup viewing experience but also a powerful, real-world case study in how to leverage creative technology to build deep, lasting affinity with a mass audience.

The future of brand leadership will be defined by those who are prepared to make the leap from two-dimensional communication to three-dimensional immersion. For decision-makers seeking to differentiate their brand and transform their consumer touchpoints, the choice of a technology partner must be one that blends artistic storytelling with engineering precision. If your enterprise is prepared to define the next generation of brand experiences—whether through full-scale Experience Centres, high-impact installations, or world-leading broadcast activations—you require a partner whose track record of precision, creativity, and reliability is unimpeachable. The next level of audience engagement is not a concept; it is an integrated, technically complex, and brilliantly executed reality.

To explore how the expertise of INK IN CAPS in advanced visual technologies like AR/VR, projection mapping, CGI, and anamorphic content can transform your brand's presence into a high-impact, immersive engagement, let us initiate a strategic discussion.

About the Author

Pranay Bhandare
SEO Executive