Coca-Cola: A dose of freshness

To put a fresh dose of energy into Sprite, Coca-Cola India has unveiled a campaign around the theme ‘University of Freshology’ for its lemon-lime brand. This is a shift from the brand’s traditional positioning which pitched it as the “real thirst quencher”, with promises such as “Sprite Bujhaye Only Pyaas, Baki Sab Bakwaas” and “Seedhi Baat, No Bakwaas, Clear Hai?”.

The change is in line with a global decision to focus on the refreshing properties of the drink, claims Ajay Gahlaut, national creative director, Ogilvy & Mather, who has worked on the campaign. “In India, the earlier positioning was doing well, but the objective was to have a uniform positioning across the world,” says Gahlaut. So a new campaign, which positions Sprite as a drink that “refreshes the body and resets the mind”. The advertising will now showcase the product window more prominently, a sign that the Sprite brand is working harder. The same campaign will roll out in Pakistan.

Will the new creative route cannibalise sister brand Limca, a cloudy lemon drink that has traditionally used refreshment as its selling plank? “Every drink brand is about refreshment. For Limca, we have played on refreshing romance since the brand is targeted at a slightly older age group,” explains Gahlaut.

The new positioning will be supported by three teaser commercials and follow-up television commercials (TVC). Given that Sprite has a ‘youth’ focus, the brand will extensively leverage the digital media. A separate website Sprite.in has been set up for the brand where people can complete the story of the teaser campaign online. The best entries will be made into TVCs. A contest called Cric Wit will also go live on the website shortly.

The on-ground leg of the campaign is driven by the Sprite Gully Cricket programme, which will target youngsters in about 1,000 cities across India. The campaign will run till mid-April leading into the IPL (Indian Premier League) tournament. As part of the initiative, the company will also distribute more than 5,000 cricket balls to fans in these cities.

“The Sprite Gully cricket initiative was kicked off in eastern India last year with the Para (neighbourhood) Cricket programme. This year, the campaign will go pan-India targeting cities like Kolkata, Mumbai, Bangalore, Varanasi, Ranchi, Patna and Ahmedabad,” says Srinivas Murthy, director, marketing (flavours), Coca-Cola India. On-pack promotions, TV screens in malls besides radio, print and outdoor advertising will support the initiative.

Murthy claims that while the states of Andhra Pradesh, Orissa and West Bengal have historically driven Sprite sales, the brand is now finding wider acceptance. “In the last three to five years, we have taken the brand national, and are focusing on increasing consumption in rural markets. The urban to rural ratio of sales is 70:30,” says Murthy. In terms of packaging preference, RGB (returnable glass bottles) continue to be the backbone of the business, contributing to more than 50 per cent of sales. “However, the convenience factor is driving a shift towards PET bottles,” adds Murthy.

In the flavoured drinks segment, lemon-lime is the fastest growing and some experts would like to believe it might overtake colas in the years to come. Indeed, the pesticide-in-colas controversy some years ago gave impetus to the growth of this segment. According to a Euromonitor report, in 2010 the total off-trade (in-home consumption through retailers and distributors) carbonated beverage market in India stood at Rs 5,731 crore and Sprite led the pack with a market share of 15.5 per cent. PepsiCo’s lemon-lime brand 7UP has a 4.9 market share while Mountain Dew has a share of 5.4 per cent.