Shah Rukh to fizz it up with new Sprite ad during IPL

PepsiCo ended its association with its most famous and visible brand ambassador here a few months ago, which led SRK to famously quip: "They have thrown me out and I'm jobless." Now, he might prove the biggest marketing challenge for the cola major this summer season. Particularly since Sprite's 'seedhi baat' ads always make fun of rival campaigns.

Interestingly, last summer Sprite commercials had spoofed Pepsi's 'Youngistaan' commercial, which had featured SRK.

Look who's set to cock a snook at Pepsi: Shah Rukh Khan. Come next week and King Khan will be seen drinking and promoting Sprite, Coca-Cola's clear lemon drink, in TV commercials.

The new Sprite commercials will break on television next week, and will be aired through IPL matches. Mr Khan will be playing himself in the ad as the owner of the Kolkata Knight Riders team and will be seen offering a tongue-in-cheek 'seedhi baat, clear hai' advice to the team manager on how to defeat the opposition. Apart from Mr Khan, KKR captain Sourav Ganguly and Ishant Sharma will be part of the new Sprite commercials. While Sourav was also dropped by PepsiCo last year, Ishant was endorsing Pepsi till now.

Soon after Pepsi decided against renewing its contract with Shah Rukh, Coca-Cola had wrapped up sponsorship

of KKR as associate sponsor and pouring partner for Sprite. Under the deal, Sprite has branding rights for players' apparel and helmet.

In fact, Coca-Cola and PepsiCo had fought a close battle to align with KKR for sponsorship. Coca-Cola is also aligned with IPL broadcaster Sony Max as associate sponsor. In India, Sprite and Pepsi have a history of spoofing on each other. As first reported by ET, Sprite dislodged Pepsi as the country's second-largest aerated drink late last year.

With this, Coca-Cola has three of the biggest Bollywood stars in its camp: Shah Rukh Khan for Sprite, Aamir Khan for Coca-Cola and Akshay Kumar for Thums Up. Before joining the Coke team, Aamir Khan was a brand ambassador for Pepsi.
source: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/ET-Cetera/Shah-Rukh-to-fizz-with-Sprite-ad-during-IPL/articleshow/4397918.cms