Pepsi’s IPL Sponsorship : No More DLF Maximums

With a bid of Rs 396.8 crores, PepsiCo pipped Telecom giant Airtel, to win the title sponsorship of the Indian Premier League for the next five seasons. DLF after a successful five year stint decided not to participate in the bid as they had completed their objective of increasing the brand’s awareness among masses. The upcoming season of IPL would be telecasted in over 192 countries, thereby presenting a great opportunity for advertisers and marketers to grab consumer eyeballs and participate in the cricket cum advertising extravaganza. Pepsi would be hoping to leverage this opportunity to the maximum and increase their presence in the global market, while further strengthening their foothold in India. Right from Youngistaan to the last year’s Change the Game and the current Tameez se kyun dekhe campaign, Pepsi has positioned itself brilliantly in the young Indian’s psyche as a youth drink. They would be looking forward to cash in on the campaign and increase the market share of its other brands as well.

The Indian Market 

While PepsiCo’s flagship brand has done well in the market, and is the largest selling soft drink in India, its other brands – Mirinda, 7-up and Mountain Dew still trail in market share as compared to rival Coca Cola India Pvt Ltd. offerings of Thums Up, Sprite, Coca-Cola, Fanta and Limca. The pie charts give a break up of both on and off trade sales in soft drinks Indian market.

The high popularity of Coca Cola India’s drinks were vindicated in a recent survey on Most Trusted Brands by ET, where Thums Up, Sprite, Coca-Cola, Limca and Fanta were better rated in Top 50 brands as compared to PepsiCo’s Mirinda and 7-up. IPL does give PepsiCo a plethora of opportunities to expand not only in aerated drinks, but also increase its share in non-aerated drinks market. Pepsi’s Tropicana and NourishCo, a ready to drink tea (RTD) in collaboration with Tata, would love to lead in their respective segments over the rival’s Minute Maid, Dabur’s Real juice and Coca Cola’s NesTea respectively.

Stage Set for Ambush Marketing

The year was 1996 when the shoe was on the other foot. To rival Coca-Cola’s sponsorship of the world cup cricket series, Pepsi kicked off Nothing official about it campaign when they decided to play spoilsports in Coca-Cola’s effort to claw back in the Indian market after an absence of nearly 16 years. The campaign was the first of its kind in India where both the big guns competed to score over the other in the first major sporting event post liberalization. Stage is set for another round of cola wars as Coca-Cola is in talks with nine IPL teams to give them exclusive pouring rights which include rights to serve its beverages in the team’s home stadiums. Although Sundar Raman, the IPL-CEO, has reiterated strict ambush marketing clauses in their contract with Pepsi, it would be an interesting new chapter in both IPL’s and Pepsi’s journey to connect with their loyalists.