NEW EPISODE ON COLA WARS IN INDIA SET TO BEGIN

Last year saw Coca-Cola's long-time brand endorser, Aamir Khan 'Opening' happiness for the brand in India (Open Happiness being the global creative thought adopted by the brand a while ago). Khan, who has been endorsing Coca-Cola or Coke for over a decade, was seen as a messenger of optimism in the campaign, where a bottle of Coke brought people together in their joy. 

Anand Singh, director, marketing, colas, Coca-Cola India, tells, "As the new campaign targets teenagers, we were looking for a teenage heartthrob that the youth look up to. Imran fits that image perfectly." Singh adds that Imran's real-life relationship with Aamir Khan, of course, propelled the association further; in future campaigns, the duo may even be seen endorsing the brand together.

"Coca-Cola has been growing successfully and has established a strong connect with the youth. The global communication initiative is all about inviting people to welcome small moments of joy and happiness into their lives. The idea really is to pause, enjoy a bottle of Coca-Cola, and also enjoy life's simple pleasures," Singh elaborates.

The new communication takes the Open Happiness theme to the next level, by building spontaneous human connections and sharing joys even with strangers. A new punch line, 'Coke khule toh baat chale' (Coke opens up possibilities), was arrived at to further this thought. 

The commercial, titled 'Invisible Bottle', features Imran Khan and Kalki Koechlin of DevD fame. It shows Koechlin sitting in a crowded bus, trying to catch the attention of a hesitant standee, Imran Khan. The bolder of the two, she spots a hoarding of Coca-Cola, and once Khan looks her way, she pretends to grab the Coke bottle from the hoarding and attempts to take a sip. Then, she offers the invisible bottle to him. 

Our hesitant boy plays along and pretends to down the entire bottle, and is apologetic about it. However, he wins her over by taking out a real bottle of Coke from his bag, and offering it to her, real time. As the two exchange sweet glances, the film concludes on the thought, 'Coke khule toh baat chale'. "The latest communication is based on the spontaneous human connections between people, particularly those who are unlike each other," says Prasoon Joshi, executive chairperson (India) and regional executive creative director, McCann Erickson, Asia Pacific.

"Through the lovable device of the invisible bottle, brand Coca-Cola breaks the ice of social distance between a boy and a girl and brings them together." He also adds that the new campaign with Imran Khan is more youthful, playful and fun in nature. 

Taking the brand idea, Youngistaan, forward, Pepsico India has unveiled a new campaign with a refreshed tagline, ‘Youngistaan ka Wow’.”

Hari Krishnan, executive business director, JWT Delhi said, “The new campaign celebrates the spirit of Youngistaan – their audacious self belief. The confidence with which youth challenge convention and overcome obstacles in their way and get what they want. ‘Wow’ stands for two things: firstly, the 'Wow' refreshment and magic of Pepsi Cola, and the 'Wow' impact created by Youngistaan in the world around them.”

 The film is about Ranbir Kapoor and his Pepsi, which gets hijacked by the President's bodyguards. The storyline revolves around how Kapoor effortlessly outsmarts the security officials and gets his Pepsi in the end.

It is an unusual pairing, certainly evoking a curiosity element to it… Perhaps that's why international giant cola company, Pepsi has signed up Sanjay Dutt with Ranbir Kapoor for their latest campaign, which will hit television screens within a week.

"Although Ranbir recently shot a campaign with the brand in America inside a posh English mansion, they felt that another campaign needed to be brought in during the Indian Premier League, which attracts huge eyeballs. So Sanjay Dutt was brought in to bring a wow factor to the Pepsi campaign. The brand also felt that Sanjay Dutt brings to the table a certain male audience, which compliments Ranbir's Youngistaan audience for a global and family entertainment extravaganza like the Indian Premier League."

Looks like cola companies are all set to make full use of the ongoing Indian premier league which has been a super hit , Pepsi  has learnt their lesson and has not repeated the same mistake which they committed last year of sponsoring the league and teams participating where coke didn’t spend anything on such things but aired their ads with more slots and booking places like boundary boards and places in stadium which has more visibility than tiny logos on player’s jerseys.

Both the companies are eyeing youth to buy their products which is evident b their campaigns and brand ambassadors they have signed. Agencies who are working with these companies McCann Erickson for coke and JWT for Pepsi have put in their souls in conceptualizing these  wonderful works . Coke has scored on creativity as their ads have reflected out of the box thinking and fundamentally also they are absolutely correct in positioning and conveying their message to target people but I don’t know if Pepsi will be able to do same with Ranbir and Sanjay Dutt  as in quest of targeting both the youth and middle aged people they might fail to do so . as already Pepsi has reduced their expenditure on advertising and promotions which shows that they are looking to reduce their losses  this fiscal. 

CONTD : INCREDIBLE UTTAR PRADESH

 I’m here again writing on Uttar Pradesh as no one can ignore  this state which is always in news because of one thing or another .As It was a one woman show at the BSP rally marking the 76th birth anniversary of its founder Kanshi Ram on Monday with Chief Minister Mayawati being presented a garland made of hundreds of Rs 1000 notes while other leaders were literally relegated to the background.

Unlike previous occasions when the BSP supremo was greeted with bouquets, she was welcomed this time by a giant garland made of hundreds of Rs. 1000 notes by her ministers. The garland also attracted the attention of the crowd at Ramabai Ambedkar maidan as they could not make out from a distance that it was made of currency notes.

Overall Rs 200 crore were spend on this party on  several  things to woo the party president , almost Rs 5 crore were spent on building temporary toilets and 12000 state transport buses were used to move party cadres to the venue .This is not the first time Mayawati has doe anything like this but she’s been in the news for spending public money on such things lavishly as no one is there to ask her from where she has got so  much money to spend  and on her part there is no accountability as no one dares to ask her how is public money is used .

A land which is so vibrant and full of culture is being maneuvered  by this  government , with  almost no doubt over the states  ability to perform and become an example for the whole  of the country if it gets what is needed to outperform . with industrial places like Hapur , Modi nagar , Ghaziabad , lucknow and Allahabad .Industries who were there in Uttar Pradesh have migrated to Uttaranchal or Madhya Pradesh  because of improper facilities and policies of the state government.

If Uttar Pradesh ahs to rise again it has to look after its core strengths like agriculture , sugar industry and other industries who had strong foothold in UP earlier , they need to back themselves  and believe they can do it with government on there side .

Wishing U.P  luck and hoping  they will prove everybody else what they are made up of and as one of my friend said there are positive things happening in U.P  and rightly said they have the potential which corporate can use in future.

INCREDIBLE UTTAR PRADESH

The brand Uttar Pradesh which has been known for its rich culture heritage history and  incidents which took place in different eras on this soil has a special place in the hearts of people whether they are from India or not because of places like Agra, Banaras ,Mathura ,Allahabad and many more ,every city has its story and something to tell to its visitors .but in the recent times the scenario has changed once famous for its cultural and heritage sites is now in the news for terrorism corruption  violence and several things which ruining the image of this wonderful state.

Azamgarh or lucknow everywhere you can see similar violent acts being committed as they say its on top of the charts when it comes to crime rate along with Bihar which also faces similar problems because of poor administration and incompetent people running the state. Few days back  there was a stampede in a temple  near lucknow and around 63 people lost their lives , but that doesn’t matter to chief minister of the state Kumari Mayawati who refused to pay compensation to family of deceased quoting that state doesn’t have sufficient funds to pay but they have funds for beautification of state capital by huge statues of her own , kansi ram and her party logo i.e. Elephant , one such statue cost the state around 2.5crore which according to her is justified.

Now there’s one more story to this incompetent and bureaucratic government , a week back 4 students who are studying in XII standard were  arrested because they ripped off her electoral posters from the walls of the city , for which they were arrested and sent to juvenile home for weeks and the station head officer (SHO) of Lucknow police station  who to sycophant the chief minister of the state kept them in custody and charges of damaging public property and a case had been lodged against them under the Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act while they didn’t bother about their higher secondary examinations for which they have to appear.

School sources alleged that the “SHO Sarojini Nagar was settling scores as his request for admission of a child in mid-session was turned down by the authorities.”

This would only showcase the kind of administration and governance is going on in Uttar Pradesh and will only spoil the image of the state at a broader canvas . building statues doesn’t add to the image of the city but its people and state administration .what matters is do  people feel safe in the state and the quality of work life they are getting.

Hope politicians ,administrators and local people will understand this and help themselves in building a better state which will lead the way for others who are facing similar problems .

"The art of politics consists in knowing precisely when it is necessary to hit an opponent slightly below the belt”

HUL's latest television commercial for Rin, which makes a direct dig at P&G's Tide detergent, has raised many eyebrow .The TVC makes a no-holds barred comparison between Rin and Tide Naturals, going on to claim that the latter is incompetent of fighting stains and providing whiteness like Rin.

HUL has been under pressure since quite some time due to the launch of similar products backed by aggressive advertisement by its competitors.  The latest conflict appears to have started when P&G introduced its brand Tide washing powder , which ate into the sales of HUL's Rin washing powder.

Observers say HUL tried restructuring its brand portfolio and reduced prices so as to attract middle-class consumers.

In order to retain its market share, a couple of months ago P&G introduced a low-cost detergent, Tide Natural, claiming in its ads that it provided "whiteness with special fragrance".  The product was positioned against HUL's Rin and Wheel.

HUL retaliated with an aggressive two-pronged strategy. 

• First, it challenged Tide's claim of whiteness with special fragrance in the Chennai High Court, which passed an order on 25 February 2010 , directing P&G to modify the advertisement since it was not really able to substantiate the claim of "whiteness with special fragrance". The court has granted an injunction and directed P&G to respond within three weeks. 

Three days later on 28 February, HUL launched an aggressive TV campaign aired during prime time, showing two mothers waiting at a bus stop for their children returning from the school. 

While waiting together they glance at each other's shopping baskets.
One woman's basket has a packet of Rin detergent powder, while the other has a packet of Tide Naturals.

The Tide lady boasts confidently about Tide's khushboo aur safedi bhi (fragrance combined with whiteness) the theme on which the Tide Naturals campaign was based. The Rin lady does not show any reaction but has a beam on her face. Thereafter, the school bus stops and drops off the two children.

The child of the woman carrying Tide is wearing a visibly dull shirt, while behind him a boy comes out wearing a spotless white  shirt, who runs across the shocked Tide lady towards the mother carrying the Rin packet.

Making the advertisement more aggressive, the boy asks his mother, "Aunty chaunk kyun gayi?" ("chaunk" or startle has been used  in P&G's earlier punch line) as the ad concludes with a voice-over that Rin is 'behtar' than  Tide, when it comes to whiteness and at a  chaukanewala price of Rs25.

"HUL could not arrest the decline of the shares of some key brands to the competitors like P&G , Godrej and ITC. This desperation has clearly manifested in the latest ad for Rin. What on earth do (sic) a brand like Rin get into a direct comparative spat with its competitor...Rin chose a wrong way of telling its superiority to the consumer."

The ball is now in ASCI's (Advertising Standards Council of India) court. Replying to a query from Campaign India, Alan Collaco, secretary general, ASCI said, "A complaint has been registered against the Rin ad. The ASCI's Consumer Complaints Council will meet on 23rd March to discuss the matter."

That will gain give some time to HUL to air this ad and target  his competitor for almost a month .