Sprite changes its tagline yet again

The soft drink brand has introduced a 'University of Freshology'.

Sprite, the No. 2 brand in the Coca-Cola India family, has changed its tagline yet again. The brand was launched in India in 1999 with the tagline, 'Sprite Bujhaye Only Pyaas, Baki All Bakwaas', positioning itself as a no-nonsense brand and basic thirst quencher. The TV commercial featured Lisa Ray bathing in Sprite.

Since then, it has continued with the same positioning, though it changed its tagline to 'No Gyan - Only Sprite in 2004. A few years later, it changed it again to 'Seedhi Baat, No Bakwaas, Clear Hai!' in 2008, which apparently worked well for the brand till now.

The lemon-lime based sparkling drink has now adopted the tagline, 'First drink, then think, Sprite - University of Freshology', which reinstates Sprite as a refreshing drink.

Speaking 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."

While taking the beverage to the next level, the company has ensured that the brand maintains its true essence. According to Murthy, it was important to build the brand further based on the same ideas established for so many years. Therefore, even in the new campaign, the company has taken care to introduce a new challenge to its consumer - mainly youngsters who come across various situations in day to day life and how they can overcome them.

Designed by Ogilvy India's Delhi branch, the new baseline has been crafted with a purpose of being used globally in Euro-African-Asian countries, also known as EAG charter in a phase-wise manner. Currently, apart from India, the new campaign is also on air in Pakistan.

The task of giving Sprite, a beverage brand already popular for its edgy character, a breath of fresh life was not an easy task for the agency - it took almost a year to deliver the final output.

Ajay Gahlaut, executive creative director, Delhi, Ogilvy India, explains, "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."

Gahlaut emphasises that with 'University of Freshology', the agency is reinforcing the idea that Sprite is a refreshing drink.

Six television commercials have been created for the campaign, out of which three are teasers which build curiosity around the brand. The teasers will be followed by the three main films.

Coca-Cola India is also promoting the brand through its website, Sprite.in, wherein audiences can finish the stories of the teaser campaign shown so far. The best ideas will be made into TVCs. The new idea will also be promoted through the Sprite Gully Cricket programme, which too has been redesigned with new rules and regulations.

For the record, the market for the sparkling beverage segment is about 700-million unit cases and Coca-Cola India claims that Sprite has about 14 per cent market share.