Sprite’s new ad is about interactive storytelling & temp-activated engagement

Taking the summer campaign a notch higher, Coca-Cola India’s leading sparkling beverage – Sprite has introduced interactive storytelling to engage with the consumers for its ‘Sprite vs Summer’ campaign. The campaign accentuates the brand’s evolution as the ultimate refresher by emphasising its cut-through clarity, honesty and fun-loving way to look at the simplicities of life. 

The film opens with two friends sitting on the steps outside a shop, where the protagonist is holding a bottle of Sprite, while his friend is fanning himself with a newspaper, seeming to be restless and fed up with the heat. His friend then proposes for ideas to beat the summer heat by going to an air-conditioned theatre to relax, travelling to a hill station to enjoy the cool breeze or take a cold shower to refresh. The film progresses basis the selection made by the viewers while watching it on digital platforms. The protagonist takes a swig of his Sprite, as all the plans of the friend seem to fail. The friend ultimately realises that these brilliant ideas may or may not work, but the one idea that will always work is a simple refreshing Sprite. 

The summer campaign will be supported by a robust integrated marketing campaign, including TV commercials in eight languages – Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Marathi, Bengali, Oriya, Malayalam and Hindi. The Tamil film features film composer Anirudh Ravichander and comedian Daniel Annie Pope, whereas the Telugu film features comedian Darshi. Sprite is also the beverage partner of the IPL teams Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH). 

The campaign will also see innovative temperature-based activations on digital platforms. In case of an increase in temperature, for instance above 45 degrees, consumers in the particular city who click on the online banner will get a chance to receive a free Sprite sampling coupon. 

Commenting on the campaign, Shrenik Dasani, Vice President – Sparkling Category, Coca-Cola Indiaand South West Asia, said, “Summer in India is always intense and in our spirit of ‘jugaad’ we always try to find brilliant and innovative ways to beat the heat. Sometimes though, as the mercury rises, we feel the need to come up with ideas that are ‘different’ and ‘unique’...where a simple solution might just have worked! So, our message is an honest, tongue-in-cheek take on how ‘unique’ and ‘different’ ideas may or may not work to beat the heat, but what will always work is a simple refreshing Sprite.”  

He further said, “The campaign will utilise traditional touchpoints, including the IPL, and as a new refreshing twist, will include this interactive film. We were looking for a new format to drive home the point that despite all the ‘unique’ and ‘different’ ideas and choices out there to beat summer, it seems like there is only one choice that always works!” 

Commenting on the idea behind the campaign, Kapil Arora, President, Ogilvy & Mather, said, “Summer in India is unforgiving and during the season, nothing refreshes like Sprite. And while many people have different hacks and ideas (unsuccessfully) to beating the unrelenting heat, there is only one idea that works every time – Sprite.” 

Campaign Credits:

Agency: Ogilvy & Mather

Client Servicing: Amarinder Butalia, Subhash Kumar, Sheena Rustagi

Creative Team: Krishna Mani, Shailender Mahajan, Anissha Mazumdar, Hardik Trivedi

Production House: Curious Films

Post Production House: Prime Focus

Director: Vivek Kakkad

DOP: Maciek Sobieraj

Music: Sameer Uddin