Online Reporter
Mugove Chigada-Deputy Sports Editor
WHEN the Chevrons completed the group stage of the 2026 ICC T20 World Cup with a nail-biting six-wicket win over Sri Lanka on Thursday, everyone was buzzing.
Story of the underdog became the most trending.
Brian Bennet unbeaten innings, Sikandar Raza’s masterclass captaincy, Blessing Muzarabani’s superb Australia job, Brad Evans breaking into top five bowlers in T20 rankings and the six fans in the terraces.
Those were headlines hard to miss.
But amidst the frenzy, a Zimbabwean giant was also quietly flexing its muscles, reaching billions of viewers world-wide, but hiding in plain sight.
This may not have been by design, but years of investment in little things and supporting fans initiatives finally paying off.
The six fans in the terraces needed to belong somewhere, and what better home than their decade-long, Castle Corner.
You cannot rename it now!
“The mileage for the brand has been priceless,” says a senior writer at Zimpapers Sports Hub.
Priceless is perhaps an understatement.
Just this week, the Castle Corner was featured by tens of sports websites around the word, and that the Chevrons was one of the most trending cricket stories on digital platforms globally was a plus.
To think that the brand was ‘on the crease’, penetrating world markets ahead of other corporates that paid millions, is mind boggling.
According to reports on the 2024 and 2026 T20 World Cup editions, “advertising rates for high-visibility spots are significantly high, driven by massive viewership, particularly in the Indian market”.
For 10 seconds spots, advertisers paid anything between US$2,200 to US$42,000 depending on matches. For co-presenting sponsorship for the last edition, for 55 matches on TV, “companies paid approximately US$6.5 to Us$7.2 million”.
That the last edition was said to have had a total economic impact of USD1.66 billion on the host country, is proof of the ICC T20 World Cup value.
According to sports.ndtv.com, the India match against Pakistan in the group stages of the 2026 edition recorded an “unprecedented digital reach of 163 million, making it the highest match reach for any ICC event in the T20 format, even surpassing the viewership for the ICC Men’s T20
World Cup 2024 final between India and South Africa”.
Cumulatively, matches at this World Cup or any other, get views running into billions of people on different platforms.
And on Thursday, when Zimbabwe were beating Sri Lanka, the famous six got a fair share of the TV lenses for a global audience.
In the process, millions of people have come across the brand represented by the six in one way or the other. This is a group of supporters that have come to represent all that is passionate, all that is energetic and represented a whole nation with honour. They are difficult to ignore.
Although their stay at the World Cup has come to an end, as they had only budgeted and planned for the group stages, years from today, they will be remembered as a the famous six from Castle Corner that supported the Chevrons’ ‘fairy’ tale.
That we cannot undo.
But what will forever be difficult to explain is how a brand found its way into such world premium space.
If at all this was by design, it is perhaps an idea whose time had come and would have left David Ogilvy green with envy. Only the advertising purists will understand.
This, the consumer gladly consumed without suspicion.
One of the six fans, Godwin Mamhiyo, may have summarised it better, albeit indirectly.
“If you love something, you’ve got to fund it. I tell you, this is the most brilliant money I’ve spent… ,”Mamhiyo told Cricinfo.
He spoke from his heart, but may also have represented the silent partner.
Behind doors, experts will probably tell you about compounding brand awareness or viral marketing or exponential reach strategies. But truth is, many didn’t see the ‘maximum’ coming. And to borrow from the streets, competitors will think ‘it is AI’.
