Coca-Cola clinches KKR sponsorship deal as PepsiCo loses fizz

Despite PepsiCo’s desperate last minute revised offer late on Tuesday night to Shah Rukh Khan-owned Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) for team sponsorship, it is rival Coca-Cola that has clinched Khan’s much-coveted IPL sponsorship deal.

Khan, miffed with the way PepsiCo recently terminated his over 10-year endorsement contract, on Wednesday formalised a three-year sponsorship deal with Coca-Cola for KKR.

The deal between the two positions Coca-Cola’s clear lemon drink Sprite as the KKR team’s associate sponsor and pouring partner. Interestingly, apart from ex-PepsiCo ambassadors Khan and Sourav Ganguly, one of PepsiCo’s current endorsers Ishant Sharma will also be seen drinking, wearing and promoting Sprite during IPL matches.

Coca-Cola had moved in swiftly to wrap up the deal days after PepsiCo dumped Khan as its brand ambassador. Khan, on his part, went public on how he was upset with the termination of the PepsiCo deal.

Said Coca-Cola India VP-marketing Venkatesh Kini: “Our entire association with KKR has been conceptualised in an engaging manner, in keeping with both KKR and brand Sprite’s positioning.”

PepsiCo too had been in the race to pick up sponsorship for KKR, and till late last week, had maintained that it was in discussions with Khan to ‘take this relationship to a new phase’. But an official close to the developments said: “Though a letter of intent between Coca-Cola and KKR had been signed, even PepsiCo’s revised offer which came late on Tuesday night for a higher amount of money could not swing the deal in the latter’s favour.”

As part of the deal, Coca-Cola’s Sprite will get branding, promotion and pouring rights for the KKR team, and the brand will be featured on the players’ apparel and helmets. Sprite, official beverage of the team, will have in-stadia presence and activation rights for all seven home matches at Eden Gardens.

A multi-media communication plan involving mass media, in-stadia and in-market activation and digital platforms with brand Sprite is in the offing.

Coca-Cola officials declined comment on the financials of the deal.

With this deal, some of Bollywood’s biggest stars are in some ways, now associated with Coca-Cola. The beverage company recently renewed its contract with Aamir Khan for brand Coke for an undisclosed amount, and its other cola brand Thums Up is endorsed by Akshay Kumar. As per a TAM AdEx report for year ’08, Shah Rukh leads the ranking of the country’s top celebrity endorsers on television.

As reported by ET last week, Sprite has dislodged brand Pepsi to occupy the second slot in soft drink sales according to market researcher AC Nielsen.

Coca-Cola has already sewn a deal GMR’s Delhi Daredevils and is learnt to be in talks with Punjab Kings XI to renew last year’s association as a team sponsor.

Knight Riders sample Coke deal but Pepsi still in reckoning

Cola kings are eyeball to eyeball over Shah Rukh’s knights.

The negotiations with PepsiCo for title sponsorship beginning to look tough, the actor’s Indian Premier League team has begun talks with Coca-Cola for a deal.

“Coca-Cola signed a letter of intent with Kolkata Knight Riders for title sponsorship on Monday. The proposal is for a limited offer for IPL Season II. The Sprite brand (the company’s clear lemon drink) will be used by KKR as part of the promotions,” top sources in both Kolkata Knight Riders and Coca-Cola confirmed today.

The sources said Coca-Cola is expected to pay around Rs 6 crore as sponsorship to the team owned by Shah Rukh, actress Juhi Chawla and her husband Jai Mehta.

Neither Mehta nor Coca-Cola’s official spokesperson was willing to comment.

The Knight Riders has been scouting for a title sponsor ever since real estate major Housing Development and Infrastructure Limited (HDIL), which bagged the deal last season, pulled out this year because of the economic slowdown.

Coca-Cola sources said the decision to leverage its Sprite brand through the Calcutta IPL team came after it displaced Pepsi as the second highest selling soft drink in India, according to a December 2008 study by market research major AC Nielsen. Thums Up, also from the Coca-Cola stable, retains the top slot.

However, Coke sources insisted that the decision to back KKR did not indicate any association with Brand SRK. Rather, they said, they wanted to leverage Bengal cricket icon Sourav Ganguly’s association with the Knight Riders and promote Sprite in the state.

“We have a long-standing relationship with Aamir Khan, our brand ambassador. Our proposal has no connection with SRK, we are limiting ourselves to KKR” said a Coke source.

The Knight Riders clarified that the doors had still not been closed on Pepsi. The beverages major has not renewed its endorsement contract with Shah Rukh, but a title sponsorship for the Knight Riders was on the cards as an amicable “golden handshake”.

“Channels of communication are still open with Pepsi. But it is clear that they are going to be tight with their purse strings. So we decided to check out the market. Coke has shown interest. But no final call has been taken yet,” said another top KKR source.

PepsiCo sources admitted that they were treading cautiously and not without reason.

The sources pointed out that Coke was expected to seal its deal with broadcaster SET Max as an on-air sponsor for IPL season II, like last year.

“And like last year, Pepsi does not want to be in a situation where it spends money on any IPL property, but is unable to leverage that through ads on SET Max. The channel’s on-air deal promises exclusivity to a sponsor in the category,” said a Pepsi source.

This means, even if Pepsi ends up clinching a deal with KKR, it may not be able to leverage the brand and run ads on SET Max during the IPL broadcast.

“We had committed Rs 10 crore a year till 2013 to be IPL’s beverage partner. Yet we could not get a single spot aired on Sony Max, as Coca-Cola picked up the sponsor slot for about Rs 16-18 crore, blocking the entire category,” said a Pepsi source.

Coke, Pepsi thirst for SRK’s KnightRiders

There’s nothing official about it yet, but Shah Rukh Khan is starring in a Cola War Redux with his Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) team playing the sidekick. At stake is the sponsorship of the Khan-promoted India Premier League (IPL) team, with Coca-Cola India and PepsiCo trying to outbid each other.

The plotline begins when PepsiCo dumped its decade-old brand ambassador Khan from its Youngistan campaign last week. Coca-Cola moved in, offering to sponsor KKR, which would have ensured that Khan and his team members including Sourav Ganguly, also dropped by PepsiCo in 2008, and Ishant Sharma, an existing PepsiCo ambassador are seen endorsing Coke products.

Coca-Cola, which is planning to push its Sprite brand of clear-lemon drink through KKR, is close to signing a two-year deal with the IPL team, people close to the matter told ET. However, on Tuesday, PepsiCo approached KKR with a counter offer, upping the stakes. ET has learnt that a letter of intent has been signed between Coca-Cola and KKR.

Both parties are meeting on Wednesday to take up the matter. Khan had publicly expressed his unhappiness about the way PepsiCo terminated his contract. As first reported by ET on February 13, PepsiCo had decided not to renew his contract.

Coca-Cola’s sponsorship deal includes merchandise branding rights “T-shirts, jerseys, helmets, caps”in-stadia branding rights on perimeters and dug-outs, aligning with the team as a beverage partner, serving Coca-Cola beverages in home stadiums, and below-the-line and above-the-line promotions by KKR team players. KKR team members and Khan may also feature in Coca-Cola advertising specific to IPL. Every IPL team gets to play seven matches in home stadiums.

Summer is peak season for beverage companies and Sprite, according to a recent study by AC Nielsen, had dislodged brand Pepsi as the country’s second-largest aerated beverage. Neither Coca-Cola nor Pepsi chose to comment on the developments.

PepsiCo has already closed a deal with India Cements-owned Chennai Super Kings and is still in talks with Mukesh Ambani’s Mumbai Indians. In IPL’s season one, Coca-Cola had walked away with the cup as its exclusive on-air sponsor.

PepsiCo’s five-year, Rs 50-crore deal with Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) as the IPL’s pouring rights partner, on the other hand, had turned out to be a damp squib and was later called off.

Though financials of the expected deal could not be confirmed, it is learnt that the deal “KKR’s deal with one of the cola makers “will involve an upfront cash transaction and a brand activation component. This is Coca-Cola’s second sponsorship deal with an IPL team, Delhi Daredevils being the first. The beverage maker is also learnt to be in talks with Preity Zinta-Ness Wadia-owned Punjab Kings XI.

Preity Zinta’s grand plans for Kings XI Punjab

The IPL will start soon enough and it seems like Preity Zinta has big plans for her team!

Preity Zinta’s IPL cricket team- Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) may not have made it to the finals of the inaugural IPL, but there is no denying the fact that the bubbly actress gave it her all to cheer her boys, right from the word ‘go’. Captained by the flamboyant Yuvraj Singh, KXIP made it to the semis which in itself, is no mean feat.

Now before the second edition of the hugely successful IPL kicks off this year, Preity Zinta already has some special plans to further boost her team’s prospects. In an attempt to further develop the game of cricket in the states of Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and J&K, Preity’s KXIP will hold a cricket seminar as well as a coaching camp in Chandigarh. The aim of this camp is to identify, nurture and groom regional talent in pursuit of excellence for the game. Besides providing a suitable platform for budding cricketers, this camp will also help identify brand ‘Kings XI Punjab’ with fans and the regional community as a whole.

Apart from the coaching camp, ‘KXIP Cup’, a T-20 tournament among the teams of the four states is also planned to be conducted at Chandigarh and Mohali from 28th Jan to 02nd Feb’09. The tournament will be conducted in conjunction with the state associations and in particular the Punjab Cricket Academy (PCA). The basic aim of the KXIP cup is not only to recognize genuine talent but also recruit them in the KXIP team and also the PCA. This cup will also be a platform for the states to connect with different communities of the nation.

The matches will be played in a league format among five teams i.e. two from Punjab and one each from the other three states (Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, and Jammu & Kashmir). Every team will comprise of 14 players and two officials. Each team will play the other teams once and the top two teams will qualify for the finals. Hence, a total of 11 matches will be played in the tournament. The matches will be conducted at the PCA Stadium in Mohali and the Cricket Stadium, Sector 16, Chandigarh. The winning team will be given cash prize of Rs.3 lakh while the runner-up team will be given a cash prize of Rs.2 lakh.

Special prizes will also be awarded in following categories:

Man of the Match
Man of the Series
Best Batsman
Best Fielder
Best Catch of the Tournament
Most Promising Player
Fair- play Best Team

Looks like Preity has already started the groundwork for her team KXIP to come out triumphs in this year’s IPL.