Taproot to be Pepsi's creative agency for IPL campaign

For Pepsi's Indian Premier League (IPL) campaign that begins next week, the ad agency is going to be Mumbai-headquartered Taproot, and not JWT which manages the account.

This is the second time in two years that Taproot, now part of the Dentsu India Group, has been given the opportunity to work on a crucial campaign for the cola brand, the previous being in 2011, when it executed the popular 'Change the Game' campaign during ICC Cricket World Cup. Pepsi was the the tournament's sponsor. JWT, on the other hand, executed Pepsi's high-profile 'Oh Yes! Abhi' campaign only a month ago.

Agnello Dias and Santosh Padhi, both co-founders of Taproot, were not immediately available for comments.

Taproot has also executed the 7Up commercials for the company, currently on air featuring a Kathakali dancer who breaks into an impromptu jig on the road to impress a girl and a Japanese girl in a kimono who dances to a Marathi tune after handing a bottle of 7Up to a guy in Mumbai.

Josy Paul, chairman & chief creative officer, BBDO India, said, the 7Up account continued to be with his agency. "The 'I Feel Up' thought line, conceptualised by BBDO last year, can be taken forward by anybody," he said. "It is a collaborative world."

At present, BBDO is working on Mirinda, though Paul declined to comment whether it was a digital or TV campaign for the brand. The Mirinda account is handled by JWT.