THE FINANCIAL EXPRESS

TUESDAY | JUNE 14, 2011

FIRST STOP FOR MARKETING, ADVERTISING AND MEDIA

brandwagon@expressindia.com

Bad ads happen to all of us, says Network Advertisings ECD Nilesh Vaidya
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A H M E D A B A D B A N G A L O R E C H A N D I G A R H

Its yesterday once more with MG Parameswarans new book on advertising, says Charulata Ravi Kumar
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C H E N N A I H Y D E R A B A D K O C H I K O L K A T A

Sanjeev Kapoor on why food is always a hot topic on television

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L U C K N O W M U M B A I N E W D E L H I P U N E

First Among Equals

The cola war is on but in the advertising arena, Pepsi is edging past arch rival Coca-Cola with its consistent communication and youth focus. Coke, on the other hand, seems to be sending confusing signals about its brand persona
Payal Khandelwal

HE American novelist Chuck Palahniuk once said, The way you can go to Paris or Beijing and everywhere theres a McDonalds hamburger, this is the ecological equivalent of franchised life-forms. Every place is the same place. Kudzu. Zebra Mussels. Water Hyacinths. Starlings. Burger Kings. The local natives, anything unique gets squeezed out. The only biodiversity were going to have left is Coke versus Pepsi. Were landscaping the whole world one stupid mistake at a time. Yes, the cola war is still on. In India, however, Pepsi seems to be winning the battle in ad land. Coca-Cola and Pepsi have been in India for

around two decades, and the two arch rivals have all along been locked in a game of one upmanship with their advertising campaigns taking potshots at each other. But lately Pepsi ad campaigns are overshadowing Cokes attempts to build a connect with the Indian audience. Take, for example, Pepsis recent Change the Game campaign around the ICC World Cup. Within a short time, phrases such as MS Dhonis helicopter shot or Virender Sehwags upper cut which the ads talked about, have become part of popular lexi-

con. Men in Blue, a term coined by Pepsi during the 2003 India-New Zealand one-day cricket match series, today is officialese for the Indian cricket team. All along, its consistent communication based on Youngistaan, a proposition it created in 2008, and today a term syn, onomous with a young and confident India, has helped the brand identify with young consumers,its target audience. Coke, on the other hand, seems to be sending confusing signals about its brand identity earlier it tried to .If target families with its Indian adaptation of its global Open Happinesscampaign,the brand is now trying to target the youth but sans any memorable campaigns. Says Ramanujam Sridhar, CEO,Brand-Comm,The cola advertising wars are not new and Coke and Pepsi have been having a go at each other for as long as I can remember, not only in India but globally But . where Pepsi has stolen a march over its arch rival, is in the brands

values that it espouses,he points out. Before the Youngistaan umbrella, Pepsis slogans included Nothing official about it, Yahi hai right choice baby (this is the right choice, baby), Yeh dil maange more (the heart wants more). In 2008, it launched the tagline Yeh hai Youngistaan meri jaan (This is Youngistaan) with the brand philosophy of Chaho to sab kuch hai asaan (Everything is easy if you dare) featuring its long-time brand ambassador Shahrukh Khan along with the young and upcoming film actors Ranbir Kapoor and Deepika Padukone. Under the Youngistaan campaign, there were campaigns that included My Can, Pyaas badi ya connection (Thirst to succeed or connection - which one is more powerful?) featuring cricketers, First ball ka captainwhich was launched during the ICC World Cup Twenty20 in 2009 and My Pepsi, My Way. In 2010, the brand positioning was changed to Youngistaan ka wow (Youngistaans wow). Even before the Youngistaan theme was created, Pepsis target audience has clearly been the youth. And Pepsi has admirably maintained its young and irreverent image through the years. Pepsi has always been young, cheeky and irreverent in its execution

and tone of voice. It has overtly said that the Coke drinker is older and more mature (read fuddy duddy). Those who have followed the global advertising campaigns of these giants on TV would recall the MC Hammer commercial, where the rapper starts to sing like a sixties crooner when his Pepsi is replaced by Coke. The same strategy has been extended to India with several campaigns including the ad where Shah Rukh Khan features as an old man and Ranbir Kapoor is the protagonist," says Sridhar. The Nothing official about it campaign of Pepsi during the 1996 cricket World Cup tournament perhaps said it all. Though Coca-Cola was the official sponsor of the tournament, Pepsi hogged the limelight with its tongue-in-cheek tagline, taking ambush marketing to a new high.

MS Dhoni (left) in Pepsis Change the Game campaign and Cokes Brrr ad

Coke, meanwhile, seems to have taken various different routes to appeal to everyone. Says Sridhar, "Coke has moved across diverse platforms in an attempt to compete with Pepsi. Kiran Khalap, co-founder, Chlorophyll Brand and Communications Consultancy is of the same view. There is a cruel phrase I was introduced in 1980 when a senior person used it to describe a task I was doing: "embroidery on a tattered cloth." Thats what I feel the Coke advertising is doing in India: the very fabric of the brand is unclear, and yet, very intricate and sometimes, very entertaining advertising is used to adorn the brand.Pepsi on the other hand,is the challenger,the unofficial, the youth-focused brand, that wants to convert the younger Coke drinkers to itself. Simple, easy , and it shows in the market share, he says. It isnt as if Coke has not had its share of brilliant ad campaigns.Its Thanda Matlab Coca-Cola (Cold drink means Coca-Cola) campaign of 2002, featuring Bollywood actor Aamir Khan essaying six different characters,was an iconic campaign, and got it a Gold Lion at Cannes in 2004. More importantly it pushed , the brand ahead of its rival even as it expanded the carbonated beverage market. That campaign was a milestone for Coca Cola India as it launched a new category (Rs 5 bottle) with an extremely powerful communication to outshine its rival Pepsi.
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