Coca-Cola’s ‘Thums Up’ Brand Celebrates 100 Years Of Indian In The Olympics Via #PalatDe

Ahead of the 23 July start of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, Coca-Cola’s India cola brand Thums Up launched a campaign called ‘Toofan Wahi Jo Sab #PalatDe’ in celebration of India’s 100^th-year participating in the Games.

The campaign, created by agency Ogilvy India (North) and leveraging parent company Coca-Cola’s long-running IOC relationship as a worldwide Olympic partner, is led by a hero commercial which features athletes turning their bottles upside down and thus turning the famous red Thumbs Up logo into a visual symbol of grit and determination.

The aim of the activation is to celebrate and salute the Indian heroes of the Olympic Games: athletes who have overcome tremendous odds to be where they are today.

Launched on 6 July, the campaign objective is to ‘celebrate everyday heroism’: something that its marketing managers believe will resonate with an Indian population which, like so many around the world, has been severely impacted by the pandemic.

The campaign, whose title ‘Toofan Wahi Jo Sab #PalatDe’ translates as ‘The Storm Changes Everything’, is led by a 90-second hero spot starring Team India athletes and Thums Up ambassadors which addresses ‘the naysayers, the doubters, the convenient pessimists, the non-believers and the dream-killers’ with a message supporting the country’s Olympians who are committed to turning the jokes and taunts upside down and change the nation’s narrative.

The supporting creative executions, which feature a brand sponsored athlete endorsers including Bajrang Punia, Manu Bhaker, Vikas Kirshan Yadav and members of the India shooting team, carry three hashtags: #PalatDe, #ThumsUp4India and #Tokyo2020.

The campaign was created for Thums Up by a team at agency Ogilvy India (North) which included Chief Creative Officer (Ogilvy India) Sukesh Nayak, Chief Strategy Officer (Ogilvy India) Prem Narayan, Vice Chair & Chief Client Officer India Hephzibah Pathak, Chief Creative Officer (Ogilvy India North) Ritu Sharda, Creatives Preeti Koul, Shailender Mahajan, Kingshuk Dey, Rishi Pandey, Vishal Yadav,Vikrant Bisht, Surbhi Rathee and Srikanta Behera, Planners Rohitash Srivastava and Pritish Mukherjee, plus an account management team of Atif Rahman, Priyanka Walia, Rohit Sachdev, Saumya Sahni and Tarni Sharma.

The lead spot was helmed by Director Shashanka Chaturvedi and the production house was Good Morning Films.

Comment:

From the FIFA and Rugby World Cups, to domestic leagues around the globe, Coca-Cola has a long history of sponsoring major sporting events around the world spearheaded by its eight-decade IOC association: the longest continuous Olympic corporate partnership. These partnerships provide platforms to bring to life the company’s philosophy of ‘endeavouring to be a part of their consumers’ lives and their passions’.