The latest round of Pepsi-Coke war is going the Coca Cola way with cine artiste Madhuri Dixit all set to campaign for the company. She would be joining Karishma Kapoor who was signed up by Coke few months back.
With Coke adding Aamir Khan also to its arsenal of celebrity endorsees, the two leading Khans of Bollywood, Aamir and Shah Rukh, would be slugging it out on a different turf plugging Coke and Pepsi, respectively.
Industry sources say, both Aamir and Dixit are being signed on in an effort to neutralise Pepsi's growing influence and sales.
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"Aamir has been snapped up for a sum of about Rs 2 crore for a year," the sources said, adding, the formal signing of Madhuri Dixit is expected to take place shortly.
When contacted by Business Standard, Coca Cola India was non-committal on the two stars being signed.
"Have they been signed on?" shot back a senior Coke executive. Interestingly, Aamir Khan few years back, had featured for an ad campaign for Pepsi, but at a much lesser price, sources pointed out. Shah Rukh's contract, incidentally, with Pepsi runs through to 2000 AD.
Both Pepsi and Coke seem to have realised that when you cannot beat them, join them.
Coke, which worldwide does not depend much on individual celebrities, in India is doing just the opposite by roping in entertainment and sports stars.
Only last month Coke had signed cricketer Anil Kumble for the company's marketing initiatives and Pepsi followed it up by a deal with Ajit Agarkar recently.
Coke is now few cricketers less than those endorsing Pepsi which has contracts with Sachin Tendulkar, Azharuddin, Rahul Dravid, Ajay Jadeja and Sanath Jayasurya. Coke has notched up Saurav Ganguly, Srinath and Kumble, apart from few Bollywood stars.
Though Coke executives were tightlipped about the terms and conditions at which Kumble and Karishma have been signed through the International Marketing Group (IMG), industry sources pegged Kumble's contract at around Rs 30 lakh.
To cash in on Sachin Tendulkar, Pepsi has even decided to dub a commercial featuring the batting sensation into Tamil after its advertising agency, HTA, accused Coke and Chaitra Leo Burnett of plagiarising a concept for a campaign.
So, what is Pepsi's next move ? Industry sources say `Khandala' girl Rani Mukherjee may be sounded out by Pepsi which staunchly maintains there is nothing official about it.