Continuing the trend of soft drink companies roping in popular Bollywood stars as brand ambassadors, PepsiCo India has appointed '3 Idiots' actor Sharman Joshi as the brand ambassador for its 100 per cent natural lemon favoured drink, 7UP.
The brand has also roped in director of '3 Idiots' and the popular 'Munnabhai series', Rajkumar Hirani to direct the new on-air campaign around the theme, ‘Gussa Hatao, Chill Machao’ (forget anger and chill out), an idea in line with the message put across by the film maker in his films on the 'Munnabhai series' and '3 Idiots'.
The campaign, that includes two TVCs, is expected to go on-air by the end of March.
On roping in Sharman as brand ambassador, Alpana Titus, Category Marketing Director (Flavoured Carbonated Drinks), PepsiCo India Beverages, said, ''Sharman, with his calm, unruffled and extremely affable personality is a perfect match to highlight the brand’s positioning of a cool, refreshing drink. With Raju Hirani creating his magic with the ad films, we are confident that our consumers will not only enjoy the campaign but also identify with the theme of ‘Gussa Hatao, Chill Machao’. We look forward to a great summer season; kick starting with this exciting campaign." On being appointed brand ambassador by the soft drink company, Sharman said, ''I have always enjoyed drinking 7UP; hence, I believe that this endorsement was meant to be. I am glad to be a part of this interesting and exciting campaign, which delivers a message I personally believe in as anger leads to nothing but regret.
Also, I have to confess that getting an opportunity to work with Raju Sir again was icing on the cake.'' Taking cue from real life moments of sudden provocation, the thematic campaign highlights simple issues of anger management.
People often get into heated arguments, squabbles and fights that always seem mindless and silly in retrospect.
The TVCs revolve around these instances and Sharman as the new 7UP guy proves to the enraged characters that their anger is misplaced and it is best to douse it with a chilled bottle of 7UP, through a series of witty and offbeat questions! Talking about the campaign, Director, Rajkumar Hirani said, ''I am very selective about the TVCs I direct, but the scripts that I received for 7UP were very interesting.
I saw the scope of adding value to the message, since this campaign is not just about giving gyaan. The thought behind the characters’ self realisation of stupidity while getting angry is superb.'' The first TVC revolves around a man who has been splashed with mud by a speeding truck and gives the truck a chase on his two-wheeler, hell-bent on teaching the driver a lesson.
The second film is about a fight that breaks out between two fans of rival soccer teams while they are watching a match. A fight made even more ridiculous by the fact that neither of them has any connection whatsoever with the countries playing! In both TVCs, Sharman appears as the cool voice of reason, diffusing their anger with 7UP.
On the idea behind the campaign, Sandipan Bhattacharya, Executive Creative Director, Batten, Barton, Durstine and Osborn (BBDO) India, said, ''Every minute you spend in anger, you lose 60 seconds of cool! With growing instances of mindless flare-ups that we see around us every day, this philosophy is sure to resonate with the youth. We wanted to have a 7UP campaign that has a life beyond its 40 seconds on the TV screen. A philosophy that packs the benefit of the product, yet has some use in our daily lives. 'Chill Machao' is not just a campaign you see, it is a campaign you can live.'' The on-air campaign will be supported by robust outdoor, online and on-ground activation.
