Pepsi company India has launched a television ad film with actor Salman Khan. The campaign encourages youngsters to try out the beverage drink which now has an elevated refreshing experience that has more fizz.
Bollywood ka Bhai Salman Khan lost a lot after he was convicted of a hit-and-run case, back in 2002. One of them was a Thumbs Up brand endorsement. Coca-Cola which owns the brand dropped him as its brand ambassador amid severe backlash.
Yet, years later, Khan became the unceremonious King of cinema and they brought him back in 2012 — only to drop him again in 2016. Except for this time around, he was not being a bad boy, but an old man.
Thumbs Up, which had cashed in on his ‘macho image which is synonymous with the brand, wanted a ‘younger’ brand ambassador. They chose not to renew Khan’s contract and went with Ranveer Singh instead.
The film opens with a young couple sitting at an American-style diner, where a waitress serves them a bottle of Pepsi. But the man doesn’t like this and gets up and walks to the waitress and asks her to serve them a cola beverage with more fizz.
The company’s brand ambassador Khan is seated nearby. Khan slides a glass of the cola beverage and asks him to try it. The man’s thirst is quenched, and he asks the waitress if he could get the same cola beverage as that one.
Khan tells him he was given the same drink earlier, which makes the boy very surprised as he hadn’t expected it to have so much fizz. The boy then picks up the same bottle and takes it back to his table.
Saumya Rathor, category lead, Pepsi Cola at the company, said, “Its new campaign brings alive the philosophy of swag and refreshment with more fizz. This campaign is pivoted on driving trials while maintaining the brand’s quintessential irreverent challenger spirit. Working with Khan has been an absolute delight and we are sure all the brand’s lovers will enjoy his new swag avatar in the film.”
The new television commercial will be amplified via a 360-degree campaign, the company said. The country’s non-alcoholic beverages market could expand at a compound annual growth rate of 8.7% to reach about ₹1.47 trillion by 2030, according to a report.
In 2019, the size of the overall beverages market which also includes carbonated soft drinks, juices, bottled water, and fruit-based beverages among others was ₹67,100 crore, according to the economic policy think tank Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations.
