Schweppes Thumbs Nose At Coke, Pepsi With Rs 6 Cola

If it's summer, there has to be a cola war. This time around, it is a fledgling brand called Sport Cola firing the first salvo. Being launched over the weekend in Mumbai, the cola drink from the Cadbury Schweppes stable, will cost only Rs 6 for a 300 ml bottle--a whopping 25 per cent lower than the offerings of giants Coke and Pepsi.

What's more, Sport Cola will cost only Rs 5 for a 300 ml bottle in Chennai, where the launch will coincide with the India-Pakistan match on May 21 for the Independence Cup--a Pepsi-sponsored tournament.

The company has also hit upon a rather radical way to grab attention: it plans to distribute 6,000 free Sportcolas in Mumbai every time an Indian batsman hits a six in Chennai on May 21. Twenty Schweppes trucks will be stationed all over the city to celebrate the sixes.Clearly, the drink has been totally pitched by Schweppes against Pepsi's high-profile Independence campaign. The launch campaign, for instance, uses lines which pun on Pepsi's advertising lines. So, while you have one that says "Azadi bill ki"--- a take-off on Pepsi's latest and most ambitious campaign called "Azadi dil ki"---another line reads, "Nothing expensive about it", a spoof on Pepsi's "Nothing official about it".

 

For Schweppes, the rationale is simple: Since it can't fight the image war of heavy duty advertising, it will fight the giants on price. Industry analysts point out that since Schweppes has much lower overhead costs, it could subsidise the drink.

For each bottle sold at Rs 8, between Rs 3 and Rs 3.50 go towards covering costs for celebrity endorsements, etc. Interestingly, the company would offer the same margins as Pepsi to retailers--around Rs 32 per crate.

Sport Cola is restricting its marketing to Press ads and hoardings, the total budget being in the vicinity of Rs 5 lakh only. They are clearly planning to sell the product on price. While bottlers would get better trade volumes due to the low price, retailers can now get the entire range of flavours from one truck.