Hours after West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee
announced her plans to paint Kolkata blue to celebrate her one year in power,
Soft Drink giant Pepsi has shaken the ad world by signing the Chief Minister as
its next brand ambassador.
In a press conference held at Kolkata, the India head of marketing
at Pepsico Miss Nilima Nilopadhyay (name changed temporarily as a part of the
current campaign), explained further details about their strategy. “The colour
blue has always been associated with Pepsi. We are glad to observe that Kolkata
has finally embraced blue after years of red – which was obviously due to the
influence of a certain competitor.”
She went on to explain deeper similarities between the Pepsi
brand and the way Mamata Banerjee is ruling the state. “Our tagline – Change the
Game – is exactly what Didi is doing as far as governance is concerned. Challenging
traditional objectives of development and growth while focussing on a uber cool
blue image for the state!”
With the end of IPL round the corner and thus the risk of
cricketers, footballers and Ranbir Kapoor losing their impact [the latter risk being
independent of IPL], this move is being seen by advertising industry professionals
as a masterstroke by Pepsi.
Unconfirmed sources have pointed out that Pepsi may
move back to its old tagline with a minor modification while featuring Miss Banerjee – “Yeh Didi maange more”
– a suggestion sent to Pepsi by the Finance Ministry because of the repeated
requests for larger packages for the state of West Bengal.
When approached for his comments on this development, CPI-M
leader Sitaram Yechury said, “Even the great Rabindra Nath Tagore wrote – “Where
the mind is without fear, and the head is held high” – did he not mean ‘Sir
utha ke jiyo” by that?
