THIS could be the classiest pair ever in Indian advertising: Sachin Tendulkar and Shah Rukh Khan. The brand: Pepsi. The budget for the ad film: nearly double the Rs 45 lakh package the soft drinks giant splurged eight years ago on its launch ad starring Remo Fernandes and Juhi Chawla. Who says Indian advertising is stymied due to the lack of big bucks?
In early May, the duo will play to the concept tunes of Hindustan Thompson Associates (HTA), with directorial guidance from filmmaker Prahlad Kakkar, on the outskirts of Mumbai. The theme will remain Yeh Dil Mange More, which will be the Pepsi line in India for the next three years.
Senior Pepsi officials are tightlipped, but sources in the Rs 1,200-crore multinational's glass-panelled headquarters in Gur-gaon outside Delhi say the campaign's focus is to help Pepsi penetrate into rural India and increase its marketshare from the current 46 per cent. Around 20 per cent of Pepsi's 500,000 outlets are in the countryside. The company has plans to increase the network to 7,00,000 by the end of this year.
"The idea is to make this campaign an emphatic, strong communication exercise. Pepsi's gameplan is to penetrate into areas where films are an obsession but cricket a virtual non-entity," the sources said, adding: "The dual effect of willow and celluloid (a cricket legend and the nation's topmost filmstar) will help the campaign maintain its retention value both in urban and rural areas." The first ad in this series—which shows Sachin with village kids—is already on air.
Advertising circles maintain worldwide that celebrity endorsements—if handled properly, using stars as casting devices rather than as just stars—have always helped both brand and celebrity. As far as this ad goes, "the campaign would talk about how the entire nation looks up to stars like Shah Rukh and Sachin," say Pepsi insiders. "How the two are the cynosure of all eyes and the repository of all hopes, one for cinema and one for regaining the World Cup. How the two represent the one thing on which this country is completely united...and that is what Pepsi hopes to gain as a brand. There should be no second thoughts about the brand and its positioning in the minds of buyers."
The soft drinks giant would have completed the film this month but couldn't due to difficulties in getting common dates from the two stars. The duo can be brought together only in May first week. However, Sachin may have to do a portion of the shoot in England since the Indian cricket team is leaving Mumbai on April 27 for pre-World Cup warm-up matches. The ad should be on air by May third week and run for a larger part of 1999. Contrary to general market perception, Pepsi sources say the focus of the ad will not revolve around the forthcoming cricket bonanza. That part Pepsi will tackle though promotional schemes and a separate World Cup campaign built around four cricketers—Sanath Jayasuriya, Wasim Akram, Shivanarain Chanderpaul and Tendulkar—and will break around May 14 and run through June 20, when the final will be played at Lord's.
But isn't there an overkill of Sachin and Shah Rukh in our advertising? Some marketers tend to agree. Sachin and Shah Rukh and soft drinks. Sachin and tyres and audio systems and toothpaste. Shah Rukh and cars and motorbikes and suit-ings...the list is endless. But Pepsi believes this ad could be a trendsetter.
