The Coke Pepsi Rivalry

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The Rivalry on Various Fronts Contd...

II - ADVERTISING Contd... While Pepsi advertisements claimed, 'More football, More Pepsi,' Coke utilized the line, 'Eat football, Sleep football, Drink only Coca-Cola,' later replaced by 'Live football, dream football and drink only Coca-Cola.' Media reports termed Pepsi's promos as a 'me-too' effort to cash in on the World Cup craze, while Coke's activities were deemed to be in line with its commitment and long-term association with the game. Coke's first offering in the lemon segment (not counting the acquired market leader brand Limca) came in the form of Sprite launched in early 1999. From the very beginning, Sprite went on the offensive with its tongue-in-cheek advertisements. The line 'Baki Sab Bakwas' (All the rest is nonsense) was clearly targeted at Pepsi's claims in its ads. The advertisement made fun of almost all the Pepsi and Mirinda advertisements launched during 1998. Pepsi termed this as Coke's folly, claiming it was giving Sprite a 'wrong positioning,' and that it was a case of an ant trying to fight a tiger.

Sprite received an encouraging response in the market, aided by the high-decibel promotions and pop music concerts held across the country. But Pepsi was confident that 7 Up would hold its own and its ads featuring film stars would work wonders for Mirinda Lemon in the lemon segment.

When Pepsi launched an advertisement featuring Sachin Tendulkar with a modified Hindi movie song, 'Sachin Ala Re,' Coke responded with an advertisement with the song, 'Coke Ala Re.' Following this, Pepsi moved the Advertising Standards Council of India and the Advertising Agencies Association of India, alleging plagarisation of its 'Sachin Ala Re' creation by Coke's advertising agency, Chaitra Leo Burnett, in its 'Coke Ala Re' commercial. The rivals were always engaged in the race to sign the most popular Bollywood and cricket celebrities for their advertisements. More often than not, the companies pitched arch-rivals in their respective fields against each other in the cola wars as well. (Refer Table I)

Table I
Celebrity Endorsers *

* The list is not exhaustive.
**Aamir and Aishwarya had switched from Pepsi to Coke.

In October 2000, following Coke's 'Jo Chaaho Ho Jaaye' campaign, the brand's 'branded cut-through mark, ' reached an all-time high of 69.5% as against Pepsi's 26.2%. In terms of stochastic share, Coke had a 3% lead over Pepsi with a 25.5% share. Pepsi retaliated with a campaign making fun of Coke's advertisements. The advertisement had a mixed response amongst the masses with fans of both the celebrities defending their idols. In May 2000, Coke threatened to sue Pepsi over the advertisements that ridiculed its own commercials. Amidst wide media coverage, Pepsi eventually stopped airing the controversial advertisement. In February 2001, Coke went on the offensive with the 'Grow up to the Thums Up Challenge' campaign. Pepsi immediately issued a legal notice on Coke for using the 'Yeh Dil Maange More' phrase used in the commercial. Coke officials, however, declined to comment on the issue and the advertisement continued to be aired.

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