Coca-Cola and PepsiCo are famous for getting the endorsement of top celebrities around the world. In many countries in the world, we can find advertisements of these two cola giants being broadcast almost every hour in television. Many children and teenagers get influenced by their superstar role models (mostly actors and sports personalities) to drink soft drinks. However, it seems that newspaper ads are more effective for Coke and Pepsi in times of trouble.
This happened during the recent cola crisis in India. The two cola giants came up with huge ads in the leading newspapers in India. I am quoting from a report of Business Standard:
As per the data available, television shows a more robust record clocking 17,995 seconds of advertising volumes, between August 1-20, 2005.
While this year it's a different story where only 1,820 seconds of advertising volume have been recorded between August 1-20, 2006.
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Both Pepsi and Coca-Cola have relied on print for communication. Again, AdEx data shows that print advertising (in terms of column centimetres) has risen from 2,886 cc in August 1-15, 2005 to 67,031cc in August 1-15 2006."
So, you can see clearly that TV ads have declined significantly while newspapers ads have increased multifold during the recent cola crisis in India. Why newspaper is so powerful:
1. Newspapers are perceived to be as more 'serious' than television in South Asia.
2. Television channels are mainly perceived to be as a source of entertainment.
3. Newspapers help to form opinion more effectively.
4. Television is accessible for everyone but newspapers are read by educated people only.
5. Full page newspaper ads attract a reader more than 30 second TV commercials.
6. In India, until the beginning of 1990s, TV channels were controlled by the government and that is why people rely more on newspapers than TV channels for news.
So, Coca-Cola and PepsiCo understood the power of newspapers in Indian society. I guess they would allocate more budget on newspaper ads from now on.
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