Pepsi and Coca Cola are fighting
for the same market through the same media. Such a stark contrast in its
communication. Coca Cola’s TVC is a continuation of its Open Happiness message.
A melodious and hummable sound track about all the crazy things we do. A good blend
of young and old characters can be seen in the ad. Pepsi’s TVC, on the other
hand, has a peppy tune. It uses its three brand ambassadors, Priyanka Chopra,
Ranbir Kapoor and Mahendra Singh Dhoni. Clearly they are targeting the young
audience. Coca Cola’s ad though is sans any brand ambassador. Over a last
couple of years, Coca Cola seems to have moved away from using any brand
ambassadors.
Pepsi’s ad is more a reflection
of the current thought-process of the young Indian. They want to live in the
present, enjoy in the present without much future planning. It may seem
reckless on the face of it but it shows a couple of things – one, they are
confident about the money flow in their future i.e. with respect to their
careers and two, confidence in the Indian economy to outgrow any downturn and
churn out high paying jobs. Coca Cola is the more sedate of the brands and its
communication mirrors that.
Pepsi has a slight upper hand in
the coming summer due to its title sponsorship of the IPL and it will go all
out to leverage this. Plus having MS Dhoni as its brand ambassador, arguably
IPL’s Most Valuable Player over the last 5 IPLs, will catapult it over Coca
Cola in the short run at least.
