Coca-Cola boosts ad spending in India
NEW DELHI : Coca-Cola India on Friday said it has allocated record marketing budget for Thums-Up, Coca-Cola, and Sprite for September and December quarter by leveraging its global partnership with the International Cricket Council (ICC) to intensify advertising efforts for the ongoing Men’s World Cup, as well as the festive season. The move follows a lacklustre performance by beverage makers in the summer.
In 2019, ICC and Coca-Cola signed a five-year global contract, appointing the American beverage company’s brands as exclusive non-alcoholic beverage partners for all ICC events globally until 2023. The World Cup promotions are spearheaded by Thums Up the largest selling brand in its India portfolio, while the flagship, Coca-Cola, focuses more on festive season campaigns.
It is also investing in promoting Sprite for the ongoing cricket tournament, said Arnab Roy, vice president of marketing for Coca-Cola India, and Southwest Asia. “We’ve been activating ICC World Cup with brand Thums Up along with the recently piloted Limca Sportz.
All the activations around the festivals also started off in a very big way in Maharashtra followed by Durga Puja in West Bengal. We’ve also been doing some very interesting stuff around Diwali but in a slightly limited way, because there is also the World Cup...This will result in one of the largest (marketing) investments we have done in Q3 and Q4 combined in our company’s history in India," Roy said during a virtual media round-table.
While most firms spruce up spending in the run up to the festive season, beverage makers typically amplify advertising spends during peak summer months. However, summer sales of cold drinks were “challenging" with unseasonal rains hitting demand for beverages
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