Pepsi, in collaboration with the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), has partnered to advertise ladies’ cricket by a brand new initiative aimed toward bettering entry to important sporting tools and inspiring higher feminine participation within the sport.
Throughout South Asia and the Gulf, curiosity amongst aspiring feminine cricketers has been steadily rising. Nonetheless, participation usually stays casual reasonably than skilled as a result of restricted entry to primary cricket kits, together with bats, balls, stumps, bails, and important protecting gear corresponding to helmets, pads, and gloves.
In Pakistan, the journey of many feminine cricketers is steadily marked by borrowing tools from male relations. As most cricket gear is designed for males, it’s usually heavier and awkward for ladies to make use of. This mismatch can result in discomfort, decreased confidence, hesitation, and finally weaker efficiency on the sector.
An identical problem exists within the UAE, the place an increase in feminine participation has been supported by academic establishments providing night cricket initiatives at shared group grounds. Regardless of this progress, entry to acceptable tools has remained a key impediment to sustained growth.
To deal with this hole, Pepsi, in collaboration with the Pakistan Cricket Board, launched its flagship marketing campaign “Ab Hai Tumhari Bari” (It’s Your Flip Now). As a part of the initiative, conventional billboards had been remodeled into Pepsi Playboards, stocked with all of the requisite cricketing gear designed particularly for ladies.
The initiative was piloted in Pakistan, with Playboards put in at faculties and cricket grounds, permitting ladies to entry tools freely. The gear is out there for gratis, doesn’t require pre-registration, and might be returned after use so others can profit.
This method of repurposing promoting areas has helped strengthen ladies’ involvement in cricket whereas fostering inclusivity and group participation. The initiative has been extensively recognised for introducing an modern mannequin that rethinks how sports-related campaigns can drive significant impression.
“Cricket is a part of on a regular basis life right here, however entry has not all the time stored tempo with curiosity,” mentioned Hakima Mirza, senior director advertising at PepsiCo Pakistan. “This initiative is about serving to younger girls play now, not at some later stage.”
Along with the Playboards, the programme, launched in collaboration with the Pakistan Cricket Board, additionally supplies customized cricket kits to rising girls’s groups, supporting coaching and growth from the entry degree onward.
“When the tools suits, ladies practice longer and play with extra confidence,” mentioned Rafia Haider, head of ladies’s cricket at PCB. “Entry is the place growth actually begins.”
As discussions round girls’s participation in sport proceed throughout international locations, together with the UAE, initiatives centered on early and sensible entry spotlight what number of cricket journeys start not in stadiums, however on shared group grounds, with the precise instruments inside attain.
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