Meri pyaas bhujao....???. Review on Sprite 'I don't want to do' commercial

Why review an ad campaign? It is in all probability a pointless exercise. Maybe with an exception of the fact that I get 5 MS points for a review that is submitted and 2 more for every read by a member or a non member. But what will I do with all those MS points? Maybe it’s a pointless exercise after all. And as I write it, it registers that I have already written one pointless paragraph without actually coming to the point.

And the point is do I recommend the Sprite ‘I don't wanna do’ ad. That raises the question why would one not recommend this ad. After all, this ad is not anti-national, anti-societal or anti-consumer. The worst that could happen is that you will have to sit through a one minute ad; you don’t lose much by watching it do you? So probably the point is whether I like this ad. And my answer to that question is a very clear ‘NO’.

Before I elaborate on that point, I have a couple of points that need clarification. I do not think any ad soft drink ad will make a hardcore loyalist shift his brand and that is my personal conviction. Secondly I am not a mountain dew fan either. I have of course had a taste of both Sprite and mountain dew (not the Indian version). I personally don’t think there is too much to differentiate. I am per say a reluctant soft drink drinker (if that is the right way to put it) and this point is elaborated in my review on Pepsi, those of you who haven’t read it can try and catch it (another pointless exercise at increasing MS points). What a soft drink ad can at best do is try and create a brand image, help brand recall, and probably initiate the undecided part of the population to try it and hopefully become brand loyalists.

Brand recall:

One of the prime areas where this ad fails in my view is that, it reminds me of more of Mountain Dew, than of Sprite. Maybe it is just me, but I guess the Sprite guys have done a favor to Mountain Dew with the ‘I don't wanna do’ campaign. I do not think that the retaliatory Mountain Dew ad was great idea either, but then this is not the topic to discuss that, so I will leave it there.

Brand image:

The initial Sprite campaigns (remember Lisa Ray bathing in Sprite?) where it tried to re-enforce the fact that, at best a soft drink can quench thirst and nothing else, was some sort of an image building exercise. But with ‘I don't wanna do’ what is Sprite trying to convey? That if you drink Mountain Dew, you will need to use the ‘jhadi’? Or that one will not have ‘that’ need, if you drink Sprite?

If you say they are trying to project an image of a laidback cynic who does nothing but pass judgment on anything and everything, I would like to know how many of us identify ourselves with that image (irrespective of whether we are one or not).

The market leader v/s the underdog

The arrival of Sprite in the Indian soft drink market and its clever ad campaigns as the underdog (capitalizing on the loopholes in the promotional strategies of already established brands) did take it to a position of strength. When mountain dew came in, Sprite was an already established brand in many ways. I can understand if mountain dew came in with an ad strategy that attempted to cash in on Sprite’s popularity (given the fact that it is trying to establish itself therefore trying to ride piggyback (Thanx nathan) on already popular Sprite and also the fact that it is from the Pepsi stable, which thrives on such strategies), but surprisingly it came with ads that had nothing to with anything about its competitors, trying to project a brand image of youth and adventurism (visuals and the punch lines vary from superb to pathetic depending on which side of the cola divide you are, I personally believe they were so-so). But what is surprising is that an established player like Sprite deciding to capitalize (?) Mountain Dew’s popularity (?). I personally think that it reflects the defensive mentality, panic and down right uncertainty. You are often clubbed in the same league as the people with whom you tend to compare yourself. If you are as classy as you claim to be, why associate yourself with a crappy brand?

On a tangent:

Now I know I am going to go off on too much of a tangent but then just bear with me. Imagine a situation where the Ministry of Tourism in India decides to wake up (high hopes eh?) and run an ad campaign to promote India as a popular tourism destination, how would you like an ad campaign that suggests that ‘one of my neighbors is a terrorist state, the other is politically unstable, the next is down with SARS, while another is battered by ethnic violence, so come to India come to India all ye who want to have some fun’.

Do you think that is credible ad strategy? Should India advertise its strengths as a tourism destination or should it bank solely on problems our neighbors are facing? Turning the question around; should Sprite bank on its strengths as a soft drink or should it poke fun at other competing colas and aerated beverages? If someone from Sprite tells me that we don’t have anything that we can crow about hence we are trying to cash in on the popularity of brands that are crowing about themselves, I will agree that this ad campaign and many of Sprite’s that have been aired before this are all master strokes in advertising.

What if the consumer likes it?

Am I against comparative and competitive ads as such? No, certainly not. I believe that such ads give the consumer a greater degree of choice, while explaining the pros and cons of multiple brands. But an ad that merely makes a mockery of another brand’s ad campaign is not a comparative ad. It may be a competitive ad. But all competitive ads do not automatically qualify to become a good ad. I was recently asked this question as to, why does a stupid movie become a hit and a sensible movie flop? But then, the fact remains that a good movie is a good movie even if it flops and a bad ones remains, just that even if it is a super hit. If you and I, as consumers, lap up bad ads saying, “So what? It makes commercial sense”, we are going to have more and more brands hiring more and more ad companies to come up with more and more such ads. Why do you think Bollywood produces more trash year after year? Ask a producer he will say that is what the consumer wants. Finally who is the consumer? You and me. The reason for having a forum like mouthshut in my opinion is to develop consumer awareness, point out flaws in products and their misleading marketing approaches. So maybe reviewing an ad campaign is not pointless after all….

I am not reviewing this advertisement on behalf of manufacturers of sprite. Maybe if I was I could take into account its commercial impact and brand it as a success or failure. I am reviewing it as a consumer, so what I am trying to judge is the effect it has had on me as a consumer. I personally think the ad is in bad taste, shows lack of original marketable ideas or maybe even borders on lack of marketable strengths in the product it tries to sell.

‘Comments and interaction welcome’