Cola Wars Go Green

The allusions to Eve are all too obvious. Even as a sultry siren with a sinewy snake in attendance pouts her way through a long cool drink of Mirinda Apple at a vantage point over the Gemini flyover, bang opposite, a pretty model offers you ‘colours’ in a a range of fizzy drinks from Fanta.
Welcome to another round of the Cola wars and this time, it’s colourful. No more dull brown cola or predictable orange. The colour is a zesty green and it’s no coincidence that both the cola giants were there in the market at about the same time. “The stocks have gone,” says an attendant at a city grocery store when asked for an apple drink from either of the cola brands early last week, “You must come in the morning if you want it.” The manager of a medical store next door echoes him, “The apple flavours get over by early afternoon,” he says, “Try tomorrow morning.”
The build-up to the new green branding has been sharp and short.
While television is yet to add the edge, the market is abuzz with curious consumers. As Steffi, a marketing professional says, “I have tried all the new flavours for the heck of it.” She likes the apple flavour of both brands but shows a thumbs down for the watermelon. “I have not tried them as yet, they have not been available in the vicinity,” says Girish of Imagequity, a reputation management firm, “But yes, I would want to try them.” Not a fizz fan, Girish hopes the apple flavours would provide some variety from the mango drinks he favours.
This new avenue into the fizzy wars, feels Anita Gupta, general manager of Hindustan Thompson Associates(HTA), is all about youth and their current obsession with fruity flavours. “It’s also about fun,” she says, “And the young are always experimenting.”
Aggressive advertising by the cola giants is mostly addressed to their own franchise, feels Mani Iyer, who has been in the advertising industry for 36 years. “So one cola brand wants to create an extension into its franchise through a new flavour,” he comments, “And the other doesn’t want to be left behind.”
Finally, fizz is all about fun and hardly much about assuaging real thirst in a city hungry for water. But cola enthusiasts are not complaining. As they swap notes on the new flavours and enjoy the battle for their favour from the sidelines, the cola wars have moved to a new turf. It’s green.