The 1996 World Cup isn't likely to invoke very happy memories for most Indian cricket fans. Not only did India, the host nation, fail to lift the trophy, but its exit from the tournament was marked by the unsavoury sight of the semifinals being called off following crowd disturbances, with India on the verge of a humiliating defeat.

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Meanwhile, off the field, a fierce marketing battle was being waged by two cola giants with an eye dominance in a market that had been set free with the reforms of 1991. Of the two, Coca Cola was effectively making a re-entry into the country after its unceremonious departure in 1978 after the then Janata government asked the world's favourite soft drink brand to dilute its majority stake in its Indian subsidiary. Its arch-rival Pepsi had come in through the more circuitous route of a tie-up with state-owned Punjab Agro Industries Corporation and Voltas and was just about finding its way around the market for soft drinks.

For both companies, the World Cup being held simultaneously in India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, represented a great brand building opportunity. With ITC Wills winning the title rights to the trophy, the two soft drink majors also staked their claims to official partners to the tournament.

Strange as it seems in today's era of cricketers as fitness and health-conscious athletes, this was a time when the players actually drank sugary sodas during the drinks breaks.

Eventually, Coca Cola put down Rs 10 crore for the rights to be called the official sponsors of the tournament and fresh from its recent acquisition of Ramesh Chauhan's Thumbs Up, looked set to overshadow its rival in the battle for attention inside stadiums and on television. Its TVC for the campaign, sung by the legendary Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and featuring the colours of the streets of India was classy and evocative.

Pepsi though had other ideas. Its agency J Walter Thompson (HTA in India) came up with a campaign that was both combative and creative in equal measure and turned the tables on its opponent. The ads showed cricketers and even officials rejecting the official drink in favour of the unofficial one and even featured the venerable umpire Dicky Bird going loco. Officially, it said, cricket is played in whites by gentlemen. In reality, the players for the tournament wore coloured clothes and faced up to the pace of fast bowlers like Courtney Walsh and Alan Donald.

Its cheeky theme "Nothing official about it" turned the apparent disadvantage of losing the battle for the sponsorship to Coca Cola into a massive win for Pepsi and became a kind of anthem for the age.

First Published:Feb 2, 2021 11:39 AM IST