The world's largest beverages brand plans a grand tribute to Sachin Tendulkar who is one century short of becoming the first batsman to score 100 international centuries: launch some 6.5 million special Coca-Cola cans with pictures of the master batsman.
The move will help the cola giant make the most out of its Rs 12-15-crore endorsement deal with Tendulkar signed early this year, and make up for not leveraging the association during the Cricket World Cup that India won.
Coca-Cola is printing the cricketing legend's pictures along with statistics of his select 10 centuries on about 6.5 million cans of brand Coke to celebrate Tendulkar's hundredth international century which everyone expects in England, where India will play four tests and five one-day internationals starting July 21.
The cans will be rolled out in the market starting next fortnight. This is the first time a celebrity or a brand ambassador will figure on packs of any Coke beverage in India.
"We are making an exception for one of India's great legends," says Coca-Cola India VP (Marketing) Anupama Ahluwalia. In some European markets, Coca- Cola has, in the past, printed pictures of celebrities on its beverage packs. Tendulkar has handpicked nine of the 10 centuries that Coca-Cola cans will spot.
The tenth will be his hundredth century. Coca-Cola will release about eight lakh cans with the details of Tendulkar's 100th century whenever it comes. A mass media campaign is set to coincide with the cans rollout, created by ad agency McCann Erickson. Industry experts say the idea is big and has scale, but its strategic implementation would be a key for its success.
"A Sachin campaign could be a sure-shot winner, but how well the marketer leverages the campaign, makes a consumer connect, and takes it forward is the key," says Mahesh Chauhan, co-founder of advertising and marketing firm Salt Brand Solutions.
"But they (Coca- Cola) are probably a bit late in leveraging their association with Sachin, considering they signed him early in the year, though it must be part a planned strategy," he added, referring to the missed opportunity during India's successful world cup campaign.
Sachin, who is known to charge about a million dollars per year per deal, endorses close to 13-14 brands including sports footwear and apparel maker Adidas, luxury Swiss watch maker Audemars Piguet, insurance services firm Aviva Life Insurance, bank Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and appliances major Toshiba.
These brands too are looking to leverage their association with the cricketer once he cracks his 100th century.
Though firms do leverage associations with celebrities through packaging, this is the first time it is being done on a mass scale. PepsiCo, for example, had rolled out PET bottles with blue packaging with Indian team skipper MS Dhoni's body during the World Cup.
