Coca-Cola has launched a new lemon variant of Minute Maid, which had earlier launched ‘Pulpy Orange’ in 2007. Nimbu Fresh, the new variant was launched on February 19. The brand has been positioned as ‘Bilkul Ghar Jaisa’ attempting to woo the Indian consumers.

The brand was exclusively launched at Future Group’s Big Bazaar and Food Bazaar hypermarket chains. The brand was available only at 96 outlets across seven cities including Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Pune and Ahmedabad. The brand was launched under the ‘Shubh Muhurat’ programme by Big Bazaar, where all the new brands are launched.

Sandeep Walunj, chief marketing officer, Big Bazaar, said, “Close to 15 lakh people walk into Big Bazaar on a daily basis. The idea was to work together closely with the brand team at Coca-Cola to deliver a never before launch. Big Bazaar consumers experienced the ‘Joy of New’ with close interactions with the product.”

The Big Bazaar and the team of Coca-Cola planned various activities including unique in-store promotions, signages and branding. An exclusive Minute Maid Nimbu Fresh zone was created along with various contests and sampling. Standees, danglers, dropdowns and cross category reminders were also created for the launch.

Sumanta Datta, vice-president, customer and commercial leadership, Coca-Cola India, says, “This partnership was a win-win opportunity for all as it provides Coca-Cola India the scale to refresh its consumers across the four metros as well as Hyderabad, Ahmedabad and Pune, all in one go. On the other hand, this special relationship enables Big Bazaar to exclusively offer a brand such as Minute Maid Nimbu Fresh to its consumers.”

Nimbu Fresh will be competing with PepsiCo’s Nimbooz by 7Up and Parle Agro’s LMN.

Mountain Dew has partnered with Kings XI Punjab as its official sponsor for the upcoming season of IPL. The deal has earned exclusive rights for the IPL home matches by featuring the brand on player’s uniforms.

Alpana Titus, Executive Director (flavors) PepsiCo India told the press that the partnership will help Mountain Dew as a brand launch consumer engagements that will help strengthening the market share in North India specifically Haryana, Himachal, Punjab, Jammu and Kashmir. PepsiCo India has gained a good share in the market from Punjab and Haryana and Mountain Dew as a brand has been responsible for the growth of success.

Alpana Titus also disclosed that they are soon rolling out a campaign “’Dar ki Wicket Girayega to Hamare Saath Khelega’” for cricket fans who get to play with their favorite icons from KXIP. The winner also gets to take home branded merchandise, complementary tickets to IPL matches and other value added gifts.

The brand will adopt a 360 degree marketing approach and roll out marketing campaigns across colleges, marketplaces, radio, TV, outdoor and multiplexes, where direct engagement with consumers is possible.

All the leading ladies of Bollywood have endorsed Lux at the peak of their respective careers. And the latest name to follow tradition is Katrina Kaif. Lux officials have roped in Katrina Kaif as the new face of Lux Purple Lotus and Cream, the new variants from HUL.

Katrina will be seen in a TVC created by JWT, directed by Marco and shot in Bangkok.
Sudhanshu Vats, vice-president, home care and skin cleansing, HUL “Lux, over the years, has been known for introducing exciting innovative variants for its consumers and here’s another such variant which is sure to appeal to consumers with its unique purple color and sensuous aroma. We look forward to this variant becoming a favorite amongst consumers across India.”

“Lux has always used stars that are on top and even the stars realize that. Kaif was the obvious choice because she’s currently very popular and is endorsing the brand for the first time,” concluded Nandita Chalam, VP and senior creative director, JWT, the agency which has worked on the latest TVC.

The Rin TVC by Hindustan Unilever Limited has been in the limelight for the past week. The TVC did arise a lot of questions in the consumers mind; a) Can a competitor dig at a rivals brand so bluntly, b) Is it legal for a corporate company to avoid all the advertising rules to gain publicity and c) What will be the after effect of this TVC?…Though, we may have to wait and watch for the answers of the above questions, right now what’s evident is that the ad has done what it intended.

The TVC was aired on February 25, 2010 and had the heads turning over the mention of the rival brand Tide Naturals in it. The commercial involved comparison between the two brands. Industry sources also reveal that the ad was released on weekend on purpose, considering the holidays due to Eid-e-Milad and Holi.

The ad featured two mothers waiting at a bus stop for their children to arrive from school. Meanwhile, they happen to glance in each other’s shopping basket. One lady had Rin whereas the other had opted for Tide Naturals. The lady with Tide starts bragging about the product by mentioning about ‘khushboo aur safedi bhi’. The Rin lady just smiles.

When the school bus arrives, both the children come out. The Rin boy’s shirt happens to be more white and shining than the Tide boy’s. The Tide lady is shocked looking at the spotless shirt. The Rin boy then takes a dig at Tide and asks his mother, ‘Aunty chaunk kyun gayi?’ (Chaunk Gaye? is the tagline for the brand Tide).

Though the TVC claims lab results as a proof, the industry believes it’s just a false claim. Meanwhile, P&G has moved to the Calcutta High Court against Rin’s TVC. P&G mentioned that the TVC was “disparaging” against its detergent brand, Tide Naturals.

Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) has also received several complaints against the tvc and will reveal shortly its verdict.

MSN India has teamed up with Webduniya.com to launch probably India’s very first Hindi portal. The site is called MSN Yuva and is targeted at youth audience residing in Tier II and III Indian towns.

The editorial and content strategy rights remain with MSN India while Webduniya will feature as content partner and it will provide Hindi content -produced or owned by Webduniya.

Sanjay Trehan, Head, MSN India, indicated that MSN India may launch more online properties in other regional languages such as Tamil in the coming months. Trehan further said, “The next growth in the online space will be powered by vernacular content.”
Wikipedia and Google have also tried their stints at regional languages in the past.

Owing to the deal with Webduniya, MSN has also made Webduniya’s Social Networking Website – Dosti , which will enable users to create profiles and network with friends, send and receive messages or scraps in Hindi.