Mumbai, Mar 19: The advertising industry has never been short of gumption. At times this borders on arrogance. Take for instance the latest "get your thunder" ad released by Thums Up, a brand owned by Coca-Cola India. The creative by Chaitra Leo Burnett smacks of bad taste and clearly shows signs of desperation.The "Don't be a bunder (read monkey), get your thunder" punchline is insulting to say the least. To make matters worse, the copy literally asks the consumer to stop monkeying around and go for a Thums Up. The creative brains behind this `monkey campaign' will surely have plenty to say in defence and there is surely some logic, but the overiding factor is that no brand has been able to endear itself to the consumer by abusing him. A fact hard to swallow but then reality is never easy, is it. The confounding part of the entire advertising exercise is that Thums Up advertising seems to be running into rough weather ever since Coca-Cola decided to give the brand a face lift after shoving it into thecold storage for a couple of years.
The damage was already done and considerable portion of of the brand equity (so carefully build by Trikaya Grey and Ambience) wasted to the delight of Pepsi. The recovery process after conceding leadership position is always painful and it is extremely difficult to work out the right marketing package, including the advertising platform. The bungee jumping ad and a new logo (reminiscent of Pepsi with the blue-white and red colours) were probably steps in the right direction, but unfortunately the ad backfired for unforeseen and tragic circumstances. The new ad is unlikely to make things better.
The quality of the ad apart, the soft drink business is providing a much needed fizz to the advertising industry crying for business. With cricket in the air Coke and Pepsi are ready to spend millions. Tennis is also beginning to show signs of rejuvenation with Seven Up hitting the air with India's golden doubles duo of Paes and Bhupati. But the centrestage has been grabbed byPepsi. This is one battle that Coke never seems to get right. Ever since it used the official drink platform, Pepsi has won the creative exchange.
Firstly the Pepsi stable boasts of a bunch of truly cool cricketers, Dravid, Azhar and Jadeja and secondly it is always able to make Coke look a little silly. Interestingly enough the retaliatory campaign from Pepsi runs concurrently with their established generation next campaign, which has done a lot to establish HTA's creative credentials.
According to a few pundits there are question marks about Pepsi's strategy. The general argument is that while in a number of global markets this strategy has worked because Pepsi is seen as the aggressor brand taking on the established market leader Coke, the Indian situation is different. Pepsi is the market leader. There is a very definite contra view to this. Despite being the market leader, Pepsi has managed to very clearly retain the flavour of younger and more vibrant brand in the Indian context. It clearly comesacross as a brand with greater freshness and makes Coke look at it times as a wannabe. The clear lead of Pepsi in the cola market as a single brand bears out the efficacy of this strategy.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
