Pepsi ropes in Fardeen, Rahul for ad campaign

new delhi: now, the cola war is gathering steam. a day after rival coca-cola’s decision of signing up celebrities and launching new commercials, pepsi foods is launching a new aggressive campaign with actor fardeen khan and model and dj rahul khanna. and, interestingly this commercial is taking an indirect hit at coke’s popularity and business growth.pepsi’s 45-second rahul-fardeen commercial will be aired during the ongoing india-zimbabwe cricket test series through the dd channel. the commercial has been created by hta with ad film maker anand surapur, industry sources said. coca-cola had just announced the signing up of sushmita sen for thumbs up, virender sehwag for coke and launching a new life ho to aisi campaign by aishwarya rai. pepsi food’s campaign will feature two well-off youth (fardeen and rahul) roaming at a beach and looking for a summer job. they end up working in two different cola kiosks—rahul at the pepsi one and fardeen at another cola kiosk, shown in red and hinting at rival giant coke. the campaign hots up with the commercial showing rahul’s business growing, with pepsi selling like hot cakes and fardeen sitting quietly as the other cola finds no takers. the ultimate rivalry and punch comes when the commercial features a child repeatedly approaching rahul for pepsi. when rahul asks who is consuming so many pepsi bottles, the child replies: “a man who does not have any work.� then, fardeen is shown sipping pepsi and saying, “life should be like this� (in a shuttle, similar to coke’s punchline life ho to aisi, taking a dig at rival coke), followed by pepsi’s punchline yeah dil maange more. the message is fun in life comes via pepsi and not from any other cola brand. according to ad industry experts, this new pepsi commercial is expected to kick off similar aggressive commercials by coke, with its new celebrity line-up. competition will also ensure better quality commercials, they said.