Pepsi ki kasam is peppy, but coca-cola tu beats it

Pepsi Ki Kasam is a peppy track that might as well emerge as the party anthem of the year
Pepsi Ki Kasam is a peppy track that might as well emerge as the party anthem of the year

Earlier this week, Pepsi put out a song from the upcoming film The Zoya Factor, which releases on September 20 as its newest ad in media. The song featuring actors Dulquer Salmaan and Sonam Kapoor has the duo dancing to the song Pepsi Ki Kasam, which has been conceptualised by Wunderman Thompson and integrates the brand’s ‘swag’ symbology into a full-length Bollywood film song. The song has everything Bollywood stands for — glamour, glitz, gorgeous gyrating girls — with Sonam leading the dance parade. In just a couple of days, the song/ad has garnered 3.5 million views on YouTube.

On the positive side, Pepsi Ki Kasam is a peppy track that might as well emerge as the party anthem of the year, if Bollywood pundits are to be believed. The catchy lyrics do tend to linger in your head but they could have been better. The lead pair — Sonam Kapoor and Dulquer Salmaan — share a good chemistry. The song, however, doesn’t fully establish the backdrop of the narrative as it begins with Dulquer doing a commercial shoot for Pepsi and within seconds, he and Sonam Kapoor start dancing together. But in the ad, that contextualisation is not really critical. 

On the flip side, there is nothing really spectacular, spell-binding or sizzling about Pepsi Ki Kasam. Nothing that usual Bollywood songs don’t normally have. Somehow, the advertising finesse is missing. Pepsi’s presence brings no additional value to the music, the dance or the creatives. It is as ordinary or as commonplace as any song sung by Benny Dayal and composed by the trio Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy.

The lyrics by Amitabh Bhattacharya again are nowhere as memorable as say the Dabangg 1 song Munni ke gaal gulabi, nain sharabi, chaal nawabi re; main Zandu balm huyi, darling tere liye or the Dabangg 2 song where Kareena Kappor croons mere photo ko seenay se chipkale sanyian Fevicol se.  

Also, the Pepsi Ki Kasam as a full-length song-as-an-ad is not really a new idea. Last year, the film Luka Chuppi featured Coca-Cola Tu as a song-as-an-ad by Pepsi’s arch rival Coca-Cola, featuring Kartik Aaryan and Kriti Sanon. The song/ad has so far clocked a mind-numbing 377 million views on YouTube! And the original Punjabi single it was copied from has separately logged 170 million views! Why? Top-rate, foot-tapping dance music. Great lyrics. A very millennial rendition by singer Tony Kakkar. With Aaryan and Sanon showing magical rhythm together.

It is, of course, early days for the Pepsi ad but my gut feeling is that Coca-Cola Tu beats Pepsi Ki Kasam. Rest, the future will unfold. Asian Paints, meanwhile, launched an extension of its campaign released earlier this year, featuring Deepika Padukone and Ranbir Kapoor. There had been much speculation in industry circles whether the brand would continue to pair Deepika and Ranbir or replace the latter with Deepika’s better half Ranveer Singh, who is the brand ambassador for Asian’s rival Kansai Nerolac. But the new film for Royale Health Shield has continued with the Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani hit pair. 

The commercial shows Ranbir Kapoor getting very upset with Deepika Padukone for not getting invited to her housewarming party. Padukone teases him by comparing him to bacteria and taunts him that the paint kills such irritants, obviously implying him. At the party later that evening, Kapoor gets his own back telling Padukone, who is about to lean on a wall, that the paint kills bacteria. The joke is now on her! There is of course the usual blah about Silver Ion Technology, as recommended by the Indian Medical Association, etc, etc, etc.

The commercial is nice. Actually very nice. Deepika and Ranbir have more than chemistry that sets them apart. Both are very metro. Both are urbane. Both are classy. Both are confident. And together, they rock. The comic timing of both is impeccable. The dialogues are sharp and intelligent. But the delivery of the dialogues is even sharper. As the festive season gets underway, winning commercials such as this will further strengthen the brand supremacy of Asian Paints. Well done guys! 

Star World, meanwhile, aired a really cute commercial featuring a bear stepping out of his den after prolonged hibernation. The bear is used as an analogy to a young girl who steps out of her room to sit with her family in front of the TV to catch an episode of Master Chef Australia’s Season 11. The entire family is surprised, in fact dazed, by the welcome development; the mom even starts to shed copious tears of joy! I just love the humour in the ad. So understated, yet so sharp. And the messaging is so simple. Good content has magnetic attraction. Even to attract diehards.(The author is an advertising veteran)

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