Vimoh's Blog

Sprite wins the cola ad wars. And it takes the trophy with a wise smirk. If ads affected my choice of soft drinks even one bit, I would probably be drinking Sprite right now.

Coke and Pepsi dazzle you with large-scale starry dreams, but it takes a Sprite ad to speak the language of simplicity and common sense. And common sense, being in such short supply already, takes the cake and eats it with relish. Here then, is what a Sprite ad can teach us about winning.

You don’t have to ‘win’

One of the lesser-remembered lessons from the kachhua-khargosh fable is that the hare ran needlessly fast too early. If he had conserved energy in the beginning, he could probably have dispensed with the need to doze off mere metres from the finish line.

Also, remember Cars, the animated movie? Who really won the final race? The loudmouth baddie? Or the good-natured hero McQueen? McQueen didn’t win the race by crossing the finish line first. He did it by helping someone else win.

Sprite ads prove the futility of the ‘first’ tag. Technically you do need to be ‘first’ to win a race, but true victory comes from merit, wise choices, and value addition to the experience of the audience/ customer.

Wait and watch

What if you are the kachhua? What if, like the turtle, you lack the energy and resources to stay up to speed with the bigger players? Sad situation. The good news is, you have time on your side. You can wait and watch. You don’t have to make the mistakes your fellow competitors make. Keep running as fast as you can. But don’t sweat it. Instead, pay more attention to observing the one that went ahead.

Sprite’s winning ad strategy uses this model. They let Pepsi and Coke make expensive, star-studded ads and then come up with the respective trademark Sprite spoof. You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to tell which ads end up having more impact (or which ones cost less money to make).

Money won’t help you win

Money may help, but it isn’t the ticket to victory. Many people seem to work under the belief that dazzling audience with expensiveness is the way to their hearts. Not so.

What works is simple functionality. What works in the end are workable solutions. Things that allow the user/ consumer/ audience to connect to what is being offered. And because most of us live in a world where common sense still makes things go around, Sprite ads work.

Just to be clear about things, I don’t drink colas. Not even Sprite. Lessons can be had from anywhere you care to look.