Coca-Cola bowls marketing googly to PepsiCo

Taking the direct advertising wars and spoof brawls of the cola majors a step further, Coca Cola is deploying ambush marketing tactics during the Indian Premier League’s cricket season-II

Consider this. Both PepsiCo’s ‘Youngistaan’ brand ambassadors — Virender Sehwag, captain of Delhi Daredevils, and Ishant Sharma, member of Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) — have been formally present at various promotional activities for arch-rival Coca-Cola India, simply because Coca-Cola is the associate sponsor and the official pouring partner for both Delhi Daredevils and Kolkata Knight Riders.

Sehwag, for instance, attended a special send-off ceremony for Delhi Daredevils organised by Coca-Cola India. At the event, Sehwag, along with Coke brand ambassador Gautam Gambhir, unveiled a limited edition bottle of Coca-Cola for IPL. “The campaign will run till the end of the IPL season and will involve merchandising opportunities as well,” said Srinivas Murthy, general manager, marketing, (flavors), Coca-Cola India.

A PepsiCo spokesperson declined comment.

Coca-Cola is also making the most of its sponsorship by associating Shah Rukh Khan and team KKR with its clear lime brand, Sprite. A TV campaign for Sprite featuring three KKR players — Sourav Ganguly, Ajit Agarkar and Murli Karthik — besides Shah Rukh, has also been launched. “The creative utilisation of Shah Rukh has been good in terms of the Sprite and KKR association,” said Harish Bijoor, brand-domain specialist and CEO, Harish Bijoor Consults Inc.

Further, Ishaant Sharma (another Pepsico ‘Youngistaan’ brand ambassador) from KKR will now be spotted on Sprite’s limited edition bottles and hoardings, along with Saurav Ganguly and Shah Rukh Khan (both, incidentally, are ex-Pepsi brand ambassadors). ‘Sprite Kolkata Knight Riders’ limited edition bottles will have the insignia of key players of the KKR team, featuring Saurav Ganguly, Ishant Sharma and David Hussey or Saurav Ganguly, Brendon McCullum and Murli Kartik.

Ambush marketing, a term coined by marketing guru Jerry Welsh, refers to means by which companies not officially associated with an event ride on its popularity and get themselves subtly associated with it. The ambushers often gain as much mileage as the event’s official sponsors. One of the most popular examples of ambush marketing was the 1996 Cricket World Cup. Coca-Cola was the official sponsor and paid around Rs 40 crore for the privilege, but PepsiCo cheekily stole all the limelight with its ‘Nothing official about it’ campaign.

In India, there is almost no protection against indirect ambush marketing. However, for direct ambush marketing, there are several laws like The Trade Practices Act, the Trade Marks Act, The Copyright Act, The Counterfeit Goods Act and the Merchandise Marks Act.

Has the move benefitted Coca-Cola? “The big disadvantage is that IPL had to move out of India and a lot more could have been achieved if the event had been on Indian soil,” said Bijoor, adding: “Further, cola wars have reached a certain degree of fatigue and may not catch as many eyeballs as they once did.”