Version two of the mango drink for all seasons

Actors Imran Khan and Parineeti Chopra will take the promise of Har Mausam Aam forward for Maaza in a new set of adverts that will hit TV screens tomorrow

A beautiful girl pines for mangoes and is satiated with a bottle of Maaza. The Har Mausam Aam campaign for the largest juice drink in the country created quite a stir last year with ads showing how people (and even gods) could be appeased by it. Owner Coca-Cola drove home the point that with a Maaza, a mango lover’s desire for the fruit, can be fulfilled at any time of the year in whatever circumstance.

This year, Coca-Cola has taken this promise to the next level with the introduction of familiar faces to the story.

Actors Imran Khan and Parineeti Chopra come in as two ordinary people in the new set of adverts that will hit the small screen on Saturday. Chopra loves mangoes and has a quirky way of identifying the man of her life: The one who can fulfill her desire to consume mangoes. In walks Khan, who presents her with...you guessed it....Maaza. The two are happy ever after.

In the second commercial, Khan is already Chopra’s man and desires to spend some time with her by asking her out for a date on a Saturday. But Chopra appears to have other plans it being the peak of the mango season. She says, “Saturdays will come and go, but once the mango season passes, there’s no chance of laying hands on the fruit.” Khan simply tells her, “There is no season for love as well as mangoes.”

The commercial ends with the all-season drink Maaza in full view.

Ajay Bathija, general manager, consumer marketing and commercial leadership, juice business, Coca-Cola India, says that it was increasingly becoming important for the company to do away with the seasonality aspect attached to mango drinks. “A few years ago, we would promote Maaza as a drink for the summer. But with beverage consumption having evolved in India, it was necessary for us to address this in some way,” he says.

According to industry estimates, the 100 per cent juice and juice drinks market (the latter is used to describe those products that include added preservatives besides fruit pulp) in India has been growing at about 16 per cent per annum. It is pegged at Rs 6,000 crore according to industry estimates. While this is still lower than the carbonated drinks market, pegged at Rs 10,000 crore, experts say that the juice segment is a category for the future.

Bathija says that the need to reduce seasonality was also necessitated because the company has been growing its portfolio of products under Maaza. Besides the returnable glass bottles, Maaza today is available in 400 ml, 600 ml, 1.2 litre and 1.5 litre PET bottles as well as in 200 ml tetrapaks.