Thanda Matlab Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola India2002
Thanda Matlab Coca-Cola is a 2002 television commercials (campaign) for Coca-Cola India, created by McCann Erickson India.
The line
Thanda matlab Coca-Cola (A cold drink means Coca-Cola)
Why it works
Bollywood star Aamir Khan, in a run of regional disguises from a Punjabi farmer who chills bottles in his well to a Bengali professor, insists that when anyone asks for a “thanda”, the everyday word for a cold drink, what they mean is Coca-Cola. Written by Prasoon Joshi at McCann Erickson, the campaign abandoned the slick, Western imagery of cola advertising and spoke to small-town and rural India in its own idiom and accents. It is studied as a defining case of a global brand going local by claiming a generic word: the catchphrase entered everyday speech, and the work won India's Grand Effie in 2003, with the agency reporting that, for the first time, Coca-Cola beat Pepsi in its research and became the most preferred soft-drink brand. It is also criticised for leaning on regional stereotypes.
Techniques
- Plain folks Drops slick Western cola imagery to speak to small-town and rural India in its own idiom and accents, claiming the everyday word for a cold drink.
- Testimonial and endorsement Bollywood star Aamir Khan, disguised as a run of regional characters such as a Punjabi farmer, personally insists that a cold drink means Coca-Cola.
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