Sync Watch: UMPG & Harts get the ICC T20 cricket world cup dancing

Melbourne guitar hero Harts’ version of the ‘70s hit ‘You Gotta Get Up and Dance’ is the theme song for cricket’s ICC T20 World Cup.

The campaign, which went live this month, is based around the theme Welcome to the Big Dance.

When the series returns to Australia in 2020, the Women’s and Men’s tournaments will take place as two standalone events at the Melbourne Cricket Grounds for the first time.

The Women’s final is held on International Women’s Day, with the aim to break the world record for attendance at a women’s sporting fixture – almost 92,000 people to fill the G.

Harts’ track was licensed through Universal Music Publishing Group Australia (UMPGA). The music supervisor who helped with facilitating the music usage licence was Bruce Tweedie at Music Mill.

UMPGA actually scored a coup with the track.

When they sent it over to producer Robert ‘Mutt’ Lange in Europe for approval – Lange wrote and produced the original Supercharge version – he offered to remix it exclusively, with his engineer Olle Romo.

The Big Dance campaign, from Cummins&Partners, refers to the pinnacle of any major sporting event. But in this case, it further captures the movement, energy and excitement that participating countries will bring to the tournaments.

ICC T20 World Cup 2020 local organising committee CEO, Nick Hockley, believes the campaign will appeal to a host of different audiences.

“Dance is the universal language through which cultures celebrate,” he points out.

“The Big Dance references not only the ultimate prize in T20 cricket, but also the festival atmosphere that will get fans out of their seats and enjoying themselves with family and friends at T20 World Cup matches across Australia.”

Adds Chris Jeffares, CEO Australia, Cummins&Partners: “We were thrilled to work with a globally renowned organisation like the ICC. T20 cricket doesn’t get any bigger than this.

“It truly is ‘The Big Dance’, so we can’t wait to see our platform come to life. Most sporting events measure success by bums on seats, but we’ll also be measuring success by bums off seats.”

Watch the official ICC T20 cricket world cup TVC

The creative features a number of international cricketing heroes; showcasing them within animated cricketing silhouettes, along with fans, dancing, and entertainment.

Supercharge were an R&B band who enjoyed a live audience through the colleges of the UK and Europe. But their original version of ‘You Gotta Get Up and Dance’ had its biggest success in Australia, reaching #3 in 1977.

Band member, guitarist Les Karski, was an Australian who produced early records by Midnight Oil and V. Spy V. Spy among others.

This week Harts, real name Darren Harts, announced that he is extending his Harts Plays Hendrix to a national run. He premiered his sell-out tribute show to guitar wizard Jimi Hendrix at the Melbourne Recital Centre in May.

Reviewers of the show urged him to take it nationwide. He’s since taken their advice and plays 12 shows, kicking off in Adelaide on March 6 and winding up on June 20 in Geelong.