Losing all the media advertising rights to Pepsi which bagged a Rs 150 Cr marketing deal with the Indian Premier League, IPL 6, to begin soon, Coca-Cola has its plans to reclaim lost ground with its extensive marketing strategies. The major competition to the rival would be by selling the soft drink at a price of Rs 8.

Pepsi has not made any move against this aggressive pricing and we believe they wouldn't too. This gives Coca-Cola a healthy lead to be the best selling soft drink. Market expansion and more advertising will easily beat out Pepsi sales.

Coke also plans to introduce a 400ml pet bottle to bridge the gap between a 300ml bottle and 500ml bottle. With the price point less than Rs 18, Coke will definitely find millions of buyers, who would prefer to shell anything under Rs 20 to have the pet bottle convenience.

'Student of the Year' lead actress Alia Bhatt, and her co-stars Varun Dhawan and Siddharth Malhotra during the IPL season would be the advertising stars for the company, officials said. Themed "Refreshment at Rs 8" Coca-Cola has already reached major citites with cut-throat competition to PepsiCo, which has already all the rights for advertisements in IPL 6 on air and on ground.

IPL would be the title sponsor for IPL for the five years to come, with a Rs 400 cr contract spread evenly over 5 years. It is also the presenting sponsor for the game with the additional Rs 60 cr deal. For Rs 10 Cr more, they are also the drinking partners for 8 of 9 teams.

Coca-Cola is more pragmatic with its approach. It would instead invest the money on improving the distribution in rural areas. Over 400,000 more stores will be selling Coca-Cola soon taking the total number to 2.6 million. Other brands of the same parent like Thums Up and Sprite will be sold at Rs11 and Rs12.

(AW-Anil)