Advertisements - Brands to have stayed connected in India - Coca-Cola

Advertisements - Brands to have stayed connected in India

Coca-Cola is a carbonated soft drink produced by The Coca-Cola Company, an American multinational beverage corporation, and is often referred to simply as Coke. It was first produced in 1890's and is now sold in more than 200 countries.

Coca-Cola was the leading soft drink brand in India until 1977 when it left rather than reveal its formula to the government and reduce its equity stake as required under the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act (FERA) which governed the operations of foreign companies in India. Post liberalization, after a 16-year absence, Coca-Cola returned to India in 1993, cementing its presence with a deal that gave Coca-Cola ownership of the nation's top soft-drink brands and bottling network.

The post-liberalization period in India saw the comeback of Coke but Pepsi had already beaten Coca-Cola to the punch. Pepsi’s head-start gave Coke a disadvantage in the mind of the consumer. Pepsi’s appeal focused on youth and when Coke entered India in 1993 and approached the market selling an American way of life, it failed to resonate as expected.

Coke’s acquisition of local popular Indian brands including Thums Up, Limca, Maaza, Citra and Gold Spot provided not only physical manufacturing, bottling, and distribution assets but also strong consumer preference. Recognizing that a single global strategy or single global campaign wouldn’t work, locally relevant executions became an increasingly important element of supporting Coke’s global brand strategy.

This led to numerous advertising campaigns targeted to broaden the brand positioning and development. In 1999, they launched the Jo chaho ho Jaye, CocaCola Enjoy campaign. Aamir Khan and Aishwarya Rai were the new brand ambassadors for Coke. In 2000, CocaCola cashed in on Hrithik Roshan's overnight stardom by signing him as one of the company's brand ambassador. All 3 had a huge fan following and were successful in creating a recall.

In 2001, after almost a decade of lagging rival Pepsi in the region, Coke India re-examined its approach in an attempt to gain leadership in the Indian market and capitalize on significant growth potential, particularly in rural markets. The foundation of the new strategy grounded brand positioning and marketing communications in consumer insights, acknowledging that urban versus rural India were two distinct markets on a variety of important dimensions. This launched the 2 India campaign -

Life ho to aisi (life as it should be) campaign targeted at the urban market


and Thanda Matlab Coca-Cola campaign targeted at the rural market.


In an effort to make the price point of Coke within reach of this high-potential market, Coca-Cola launched the Accessibility Campaign, introducing a new 200ml bottle, smaller than the traditional 300ml bottle found in urban markets, and concurrently cutting the price in half, to Rs. 5. This pricing strategy closed the gap between Coke and basic refreshments like lemonade and tea, making soft drinks truly accessible for the first time.
Literally translated to "Coke means refreshment", the phrase directly addressed both the primary need of this segment for cold refreshment while at the same time positioning Coke as a "Thanda" or generic cold beverage just like tea, lassi, or lemonade. As a result of the Thanda campaign, Coca-Cola won Advertiser of the Year and Campaign of the Year in 2003.

The allegations of higher pesticides content in Coke than the specified limits had hit the company hard after it had managed to successfully establish the brand in the country. With sales continuing to experience a precipitous drop, Coca-Cola tried hard to restore the positive image. The following advertisement was one of them under the Thanda Matlab Coca-Cola campaign.

In 2010, a new advertising campaign Open Happiness was launched following the Jashan Manale campaign with Hrithik. The brand was linked to happiness and there were a series of advertisements under it with Coke Khule to baat chale and Brrrrrr campaign. Imran Khan was the new face of CocaCola replacing Hrithik Roshan.

During the Diwali celebrations in India, CocaCola launched the Celebrate Diwali @ home with friends and family! campaign in 2010 and Do Diye campaign in 2011. The catchy jingle was an instant hit on both the occasions.



The current campaign Umeedon wali dhoop, sunshine wali aasha is a part of CocaCola's worldwide initiative to spread the message - There are reasons to believe in a better world. This continues to project Coke as a reason to spread happiness. Hope to see more such initiatives from them in the coming years.

Advertisements - Brands to have stayed connected in India - The Times Of India

Advertisements - Brands to have stayed connected in India

The Times of India (TOI) is an Indian English-language daily newspaper which is owned and published by Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. According to the Indian Readership Survey (IRS) 2011, the Times of India is the most widely read English newspaper in India.

The Times Of India was founded in Nov 1838, during the British Raj as The Bombay Times and Journal of Commerce in Mumbai. Later in 1861, it was renamed to The Times of India. For almost 2 centuries, TOI has stood strong as one of the top brands in print media.

Its easier to sell a high-involvement product where the prospective customer spends enough time learning about it in general, than a low-involvement product like newspapers. The news are pretty much the same in any of them. So the question that arises is how has The Times of India been able to successfully get the prospective customer to pick up their brand of newspaper over the others? This requires a very good understanding of marketing and especially consumer behaviour and TOI has mastered the same.

Research has shown us that 85% of purchases are made at the point of sale. With such a significant statistic to support and this number will probably be higher for low-involvement products, creating a recall is the best proven solution to direct consumer to the product or brand.

This is what Times of India has done all these years through the advertising campaigns. In the past couple of years they have been able to initiate some wonderful campaigns to connect with the society and create a positive brand for themselves.
The oldest ad from TOI that I could remember was a parody of Sachin Tendulkar in the 90's.

In 2006, TOI initiated A Day in the Life of India campaign to try and showcase the pieces of a vast multi-cultural mosaic called India. The purpose was to connect on a common platform with the people of the county and spread the brand awareness. How can one forget the famous "Rs. 100 note ad"?

In Dec 2007, TOI launched the famous Lead India campaign. This was a sequel to the newspaper's earlier India Poised initiative launched in January 2007. While India Poised celebrated India's recent successes and its growing importance on the global radar, it also conducted a critical assessment of sectors where India failed to deliver. Public governance was on top of this list.


Lead India, therefore, addressed that concern by offering the most deserving a shot at active politics while cutting short the regular long-winded, and often extremely frustrating, path up the political ladder. To spread the message to a wider audience, the campaign showcased some wonderful ads and roped in a couple of celebrities too like Shahrukh Khan, Ranbir Kapoor, Shahid Kapoor etc. and Abhishek Bachchan as the brand ambassador.



Lead India was a hunt to identify new leaders for a new India, men and women with the vision and ability to empower India with the kind of political leadership that is so conspicuous by its absence.

In 2008, TOI launched the Teach India campaign to to teach spoken English to the youth belonging to the underprivileged sections of the urban society. The aim was to empower the youth for a better livelihood. As with the Lead India campaign, the message was to be spread to the entire nation and hence needed a brand ambassador to campaign for them. Aamir Khan was choosen for the same.

In 2010, The Times of India in collaboration with the Jang Group had initiated a campaign Aman ki Asha - A desire for peace. They have come together to energize the process of peace between the two countries - India and Pakistan and feel that the media which speaks directly to the hearts and minds of the people can help in writing a final chapter, adding a happy twist to a story that seemed headed for tragedy.

Last year, TOI re-initiated A Day in the Life of India - Celebrating a circus called India campaign but with a different motive as compared to earlier. The campaign sought to invite every Indian to capture A Day in the Life of India in their inimitable style - Shoot a photo or video, draw a cartoon or just tell a joke, on anything which they feel makes India, India. The best entries won attractive prizes. It went on to become one of the country’s largest ever programme in collective story-telling. The following website developed for the same contains all the contents.
http://adayinlife.timesofindia.com/index.html

Even after almost 2 centuries of being in the business, Times of India is doing every bit to maintain the already established positive brand through its social campaigns. These campaigns are interesting, fun to watch and spread an important message to the nation and in its own way helps to awaken the society and bring the people together for a noble cause. I hope to see more such initiatives from them in the coming years.