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Affordability A survey conducted by CCI in 2001 revealed that 300 ml bottles were not popular with rural and semi-urban residents where two persons often shared a 300 ml bottle. It was also found that the price of Rs10/- per bottle was considered too high by rural consumers. For these reasons, CCI decided to make some changes in the size of its bottles and pricing to win over consumers in the rural market. In 2002, CCI launched 200 ml bottles (Chota Coke)[9] priced at Rs 5. CCI announced that it would push the 200 ml bottles more in rural areas, as the rural market was very price-sensitive.
It was widely felt that the 200 ml bottles priced at Rs. 5 would increase the rate of consumption in rural India. Reports put the annual per capita consumption of bottled beverages in rural areas at one bottle as compared to 6 bottles in urban areas. Acceptability The initiatives of CCI in distribution and pricing were supported by extensive marketing in the mass media as well as through outdoor advertising. The company put up hoardings in villages and painted the name Coca Cola on the compounds of the residences in the villages.
Further, CCI also participated in the weekly mandies[10] by setting up temporary retail outlets, and also took part in the annual haats[11] and fairs – major sources of business activity and entertainment in rural India. CCI also launched television commercials (TVCs) targeted at rural consumers. In order to reach more rural consumers, CCI increased its ad-spend on Doordarshan[12]. The company ensured that all its rural marketing initiatives were well-supported by TVCs. When CCI launched Chota Coke in 2002 priced at Rs. , it bought out a commercial featuring Bollywood actor Aamir Khan to communicate the message of the price cut and the launch of 200 ml bottles to the rural consumers. The commercial was shot in a rural setting. In the summer of 2003, CCI came up with a new commercial featuring Aamir Khan, to further strengthen the Coca-Cola brand image among rural consumers. The commercial aimed at making coke a generic name for ‘Thanda. ‘Of the reason for picking up the word ‘Thanda’, Prasoon Joshi, national creative director ??? McCann Erickson, the creator of the commercial, said, “Thanda is a very North India-centric phenomenon.
Go to any restaurant in the north, and attendants would promptly ask, ‘thanda ya garam? ”Thanda’usually means lassi or nimbu pani, ‘garam’is essentially tea. Because the character, in itself, represented a culture, we wanted to equate Coke with ‘Thanda’, since ‘Thanda’too is part of the popular dialect of the north. Thus making ‘Thanda’generic for Coca-Cola. With the long-playing possibilities of the ‘Thanda’idea becoming evident, ‘Thanda’became the central idea. Once we decided to work on that idea, the creative mind just opened up[13]. “