Cola war enters YouTube

NEW DELHI: A scepter is haunting Youngistan ��� the scepter of YouTube. Pepsi has just changed tack. Its newest ad, a spoof on competitor Coca-Cola���s Thums Up commercial featuring Bollywood daredevil Akshay Kumar, was first released on YouTube two weeks ago before hitting the more popular mass media platform.

A first of its kind, Pepsi���s recourse to YouTube, a free video sharing website, may trigger off a deviation from the mean by other brands. Though guaranteed eyeballs will still be lower (on YouTube) than the conventional media plan, it���s only a matter of time when penetration leading to increased internet usage poses a significant threat to established media.

From Pepsi���s end, it wasn���t a concerted effort. Thanks to the Indian Premier League (IPL) buzz, true-blue brand advertising took a hit in JWT, the ad agency servicing the Pepsi account. ���A fortnight back, IPL was hot and weaned away a lot of air time. But we had the content for the spoof ad ready and were not able to release it,��� admits JWT V-P and client services director Hari Krishnan.

That���s when Soumitra Karnik, creative head on the Pepsi account at JWT, came up with a brainwave. ���It is more than a spoof as Youngistan is an attitude and here to make a statement. It also represents the old-versus-new tussle, and that prompted us to go in for a new format, given the constraints,��� says the 37-year-old Karnik.

Even Balki, chairman of Lowe India, seems smitten by the idea ��� ���It���s a damn cool idea and should set a trend for the industry as a whole.��� Seconds ad maven Prahlad Kakkar: ���YouTube is a brilliant idea. In three days, it hits a target audience which is relevant. And what���s more, the posting is free.���

Going forward, the mood at Pepsi is ebullient and the company may replicate its YouTube-first model. ���We will continue to build the same through interventions in the near future,��� says PepsiCo India executive vice-president (marketing) cola Sandeep Singh Arora. Elsewhere, across segments, brand-owners have suddenly wizened up to the Pepsi example.

���If I have a product tomorrow with high internet penetration, YouTube is a good choice,��� says Vodafone marketing director Harit Nagpal. ���Though electronics is more about experiential marketing, YouTube may be a good vehicle for consumers considering gifting as an option,��� points out LG Electronics marketing head Sandeep Tiwari.

The YouTube release has had a multiplier effect on viewership of the commercial through word-of-mouth and multiple postings. ���It���s viral marketing and expands big time,��� seconds Mr Krishnan. The commercial takes off from where the Thums Up ad left ��� in the Thums Up advert, after his derring-do, a bed-ridden and plastered Akshay Kumar manages to do just about one thing ��� taste his ���thunder���, as Thums Up positions itself.

But Pepsi goes beyond, albeit ���with a shoestring budget���. In the Pepsi ad, two youngsters approach the bed-ridden Thums Up hero to literally steal his thunder, along with the girl. When ET popped the question to Santosh Desai, former McCann chief (the agency that handles the Coca-Cola account), about the effectiveness of such medium, he didn���t mince words.