On March 4, PepsiCo placed a full-page advertisement in an apparent challenge to its competitors. In a statement to Storyboard18, a company spokesperson framed the campaign as a celebration of spontaneity, saying, “With the launch of the ‘Anytime is Pepsi Time’ campaign, we are defining refreshment for the upcoming summer season — turning every moment, big or small, into an opportunity to enjoy an ice-cold Pepsi.”
Read More: Cola Ad Wars Are Back!: Pepsi fires first salvo. ‘Nothing official about it 2.0’?
As competition heats up and marketing tactics evolve, one question remains. Will India once again witness the fierce cola ad rivalries of the 1990s? If history is any guide, the battle for dominance in the country’s soft drink market is far from over.
In 1992, Ramesh Vangal, then managing director of Pepsi Foods India, described the country’s cutthroat beverage market to The Washington Post in stark terms: “This is a vicious market… but here, it’s genuine Mario Puzo.” At the time, Indians were consuming an average of just three colas per year.
Yet, even in a nascent market, the conditions were ripe for a battle of global titans. With vast potential for growth, lax copyright laws, and the Indian business community’s well-honed talent for inventive problem-solving – the Cola Wars found fertile ground in India.
A fierce marketing battle was unfolding between two cola giants, each vying for dominance in a market newly opened by the economic reforms of 1991. Among them, Coca-Cola was staging a high-profile return after its abrupt exit in 1978, when the Janata government mandated that the global beverage leader dilute its majority stake in its Indian subsidiary. Meanwhile, its chief rival, Pepsi, had entered the market through a more convoluted path – a partnership with the state-owned Punjab Agro Industries Corporation and Voltas. As Pepsi worked to establish its footing in India’s evolving soft drink landscape, Coca-Cola was determined to reclaim its lost ground with a bold and strategic re-entry.
Nowhere was this more evident than in 1996, when Pepsi’s provocative campaign, “Nothing Official About It,” took direct aim at Coca-Cola, the official sponsor of that year’s Cricket World Cup. Coca-Cola had secured the official sponsorship rights for the tournament with a Rs 10 crore investment, positioning itself at the forefront of brand visibility both inside stadiums and on television. Fresh from its acquisition of Ramesh Chauhan’s Thums Up, the beverage giant appeared poised to outshine its competitor in the high-stakes battle for consumer attention.
But it was Pepsi that took the fizz out of Coke’s campaign. The Nothing Official About It campaign, widely regarded as a landmark in ambush marketing, set a new precedent for aggressive advertising – one that, while still visible in today’s social media-fueled marketing skirmishes, has since adopted a more restrained tone.
Read more: How Pepsi’s ‘Nothing Official About It’ campaign stole the ‘thanda’ from Coca-Cola
Cricket has long provided a lucrative battleground for cola brands. In 2012, PepsiCo secured title sponsorship rights for the Indian Premier League (IPL), with a staggering bid of nearly Rs 400 crore at the time, outpacing rival Coca-Cola. As it was reported then, Coca-Cola had purchased the tender documents but opted not to bid, considering the price too steep. Over the following years, Pepsi invested heavily, securing team sponsorships and beverage partnerships, ensuring its presence dominated the league – save for one notable exception: the Mumbai Indians, for whom Coca-Cola retained pouring rights.
That exclusivity did not go unchallenged. In 2013, at Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium, Coca-Cola made its presence felt in an unconventional way – by distributing bottles with labels stripped off, ensuring players still drank its product without explicit branding. Beyond the stadium walls, Coca-Cola set up kiosks across the country, enticing fans – some of them clad in Pepsi-branded merchandise – to sample its beverages at deeply discounted “invitational” prices.
But the battle was not to last. In 2015, PepsiCo made the unexpected decision to terminate its five-year IPL sponsorship deal prematurely. The void was quickly filled by Chinese smartphone manufacturer Vivo, marking the end of a golden era of cola-driven marketing showdowns. The Cola Wars became cold.
Since then, the Indian soft drink market has only grown more competitive. The entry of Reliance-owned Campa Cola has added a new dimension, intensifying rivalries among global and domestic players. And if recent marketing maneuvers are any indication, a revival of the Cola Wars may be on the horizon.