It's a desi formula that the Coca-Cola Company hopes will break the back of long-standing rival Pepsi. In a far-reaching shift from earlier strategy, Coca-Cola will now increasingly associate itself with `Indian passions' like cricket and Hindi films, even as a thriving economy and growing consumer thirst spin robust profit growth for the multinational. Says Rahul Dhawan, Manager, External Affairs of Coca-Cola, ``One of the passions of Indian consumers that Coca-Cola connects with is movies. The company's involvement ranges from in-movieadvertising, theatre tie-ups, premieres, to national launches, special shows and consumer promotions.'' Coca-Cola also happens to be one of the major spenders in movie merchandising in Hollywood.

Post-liberalisation, co-branding of movies and merchandising has turned into a deluge after a mere trickle. American beer company Stroh's paid Rs 15 lakh to the producers of Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge for a 15-second scene in which Shah Rukh Khan mentions the brand name while downing a canned Stroh's. And most recently, Coca-Cola spent Rs 1 crore on sponsoring Subhash Ghai's recent film Taal, in which the brand name figures prominently in a scene. And ads linking Hum Saath Saath Hain with the cola are also doing the rounds.

While Pepsi and Coca-Cola exhaust every lesson taught in the IIMs to corner market share, it is Hindi movie producers who are merrily making the moolah as now, they need not wait for Friday releases and Sunday reviews. Says a spokesperson of Rajshri Productions, makers ofCoca-Cola HSSH: ``Coke will advertise our movie through various mediums. It helps both companies as they can derive mileage out of the movie's success.''

In fact, Taal recovered its entire production cost even before its release thanks to corporate sponsorships in the form of surrogate advertisements. Apart from Coke, brands like Kenstar, BPL and the Manikchand group shelled out Rs 50 lakh each to pay for advertising that seemed embedded in the movie's storyline.

If Mukta Arts officials are to be believed, Ghai would have swapped a Coke bottle for a Pepsi if the latter so wanted. Ghai shot two bits of the movie - one with a bottle of Coke, the other with Pepsi and then showed the snippets to senior executives of both companies. Pepsi found Ghai's asking price way too high, Coke didn't, and the rest is movie history.

The reasons for higher allocations on film merchandising and sponsorships are simple: a neck-to-neck race for market share between the cola companies. According to an IndianMarketing Research Bureau (IMRB) survey of 41 cities, Pepsi has a market share of 27.5 per cent in the total cola market while Coke has a share of 12 per cent in terms of volumes and its sister brand Thums Up has 17 per cent. While there are differing figures, the over all share of Pepsi, according to the study, is 47 per cent and that of Coca-Cola is 48 per cent in the entire soft drinks market.

Movie producers too are wooing corporates to circumvent lack of funds from legal channels and high movie making costs. BPL, Pepsi, and Coca-Cola are among the few companies pumping in big money into movies. Says Dhawan: ``One of the most important activities include national launches and consumer promotions of movies. We are associating with a host of successful Indian films through this route. Some of the English movies include Godzilla, You've Got Mail, and My Best Friend's Wedding.''

``Another aspect of the company's association with movies is featuring some of the most popular Indian actors andactresses in its advertising,'' adds Dhawan. Aamir Khan, Karisma Kapoor, Twinkle Khanna, Rambha and Ramya and Punjabi pop sensation Daler Mehndi plug Coke, while Shah Rukh Khan and Manisha Koirala are Pepsi's mascots.

Despite the multi-crore sponsorships, there is no guarantee that co-branding of a movie will result in higher sales. What it may do is facilitate higher brand recall, as ads shown in TV can be switched off unlike those in a cinema hall. ``Our strategy is to associate with movies on a long-term basis. We are not looking at short-term gains. Hence we can't quantify sales pre- and post-movie activation,'' says Dhawan.