Coca-Cola’s Sprite is launching a new advertising campaign in India, where the brand holds the second position in the list of soft drink brands. The tagline of the marketing push, which aims at younger consumers, says, ‘First drink, then think. Sprite—University of Freshology.’ The iconic lemon-lime based soda, which was launched in 1999 across the country, will be now promoted through a series of 6 TV commercials, as well as social media platforms and the brand’s website—www.sprite.in.

The new campaign, which was designed by Ogilvy India, is dedicated to young people who know how to get out of sticky situations. The brand is offering its consumers a chance to tap into the creative process and make up ‘smart cut’ endings for three unfinished TVCs for a chance to win a mobile phone—the submissions are accepted through March 15 by the ‘University of Freshology’ located on Sprite’s fan page on Facebook. The brand is also encouraging its creative fans to give some smart answers to a bunch of delicate questions (like «What would you say if your partner asked you ‘Honey, am I looking fat?'»)—entrants with the best replies will have one of the eight collectible limited edition tees (the winners are determined every hour on a daily basis until March 15).

Ajay Gahlaut, executive creative director, Delhi, Ogilvy India, comments, «Sprite has been known as a beverage which refreshes mind and body and we were asked to bring the brand back to the consumer in a new avatar for the forthcoming summer. The difficult part of the process was that Sprite already has a history and was working well in India. Therefore, we came up with the tagline, ‘First drink, then think’. Once again, we told the consumers that Sprite is not a magic potion and drinking the beverage will not bring any drastic change. One should rather use his or her mind.»

To date, since the refreshing drink arrived in the country 12 years ago, the brand’s tagline in India has been changed three times—in 2004, then in 2008 and now. In the interview to afaqs!, Srinivas Murthy, director, marketing (flavours), Coca-Cola India, says, «We have had a good run with our old tagline, ‘Seedhi Baat, No Bakwaas, Clear Hai!’, so far. Since the last two years—almost 10 years after it was launched—Sprite was successful in turning into one of the leading brands. Therefore, we thought that the time is apt now to move to the next level, where the brand should behave and talk like a leader to its consumers.»