Growing up in Pakistan meant watching PTV and the plethora of advertisements. There were brand advertisements offering unbelievable riches, jewels and holidays to far off mysterious places. Remember how a soup brand gave you the chance to win diamond rings and other promised walkmans? Or better yet were others who offered exciting vacations! As we grew up so did the number of channels and accordingly did these offers. These days diamond rings are not the only allure, today it is all about making you the next big thing. One don’t remember if anyone actually won the ring or the walkman but this is an established fact that dedicated companies are working hard to make others’ dreams come true.
Amongst these brands, the name that came up often was that of Pepsi. Who can forget the time when Pepsi promised a trip to England for the cricket World Cup in 1999 only if you got a 1 2 3 on your bottle cap or the numerous ads starring Shahid Afridi displaying superb cricketing skills?
Cricket is one language that all Pakistanis understand and Pepsi is one beverage that runs in our veins so when you combine the two, together it makes one good mocktail. Pepsi has always been associated with the promotion of Pakistani cricket in one way or the other and recently it has gone a step further by launching the ‘Pepsi Cricket Star’ 2011 campaign after a successful first term completion.
According to the campaign, Pepsi is giving the opportunity to every Pakistani kid to make it big and be one day part of the national cricket team. What deeply touches is the fact how marketing has gone beyond just jingles in commercials and free giveaways. Instead of calling people to their doors, the campaign has gone to every corner of the country giving young street cricketers a chance to make it big on a national level. It’s the dream of every aspiring cricketer to be trained under some of the biggest stars of Pakistani cricket.
The launch of the campaign has generated a lot of positive feedback from the masses. Once considered giants, Pakistan were on a downward. Revival efforts were underway and this helping hand by Pepsi will go a long way in giving the sport the boost it requires. The campaign is a highly successful example of reaching out to the general public especially the youth that forms the bulk of its market and is an appreciative move by Pepsi in the larger interest of the country. Pepsi will now help realize the dreams of those starry eyed boys who drank the beverage during games in their streets all the while imitating Afridi’s style and Shoaib’s swagger. Pakistan is teeming with talent and the most effective way of keeping it here where it belongs is to give our youngsters a platform to perform. Kudos to all these companies for coming up with these ideas and here’s to hoping that all these ideas plan out and bring forward the brilliance that is Pakistani youth. How marketing has done wonders in the larger interest of the country is not a new story. How it has made the impossible possible for those youngsters is a tale that will be told by cricket stars of future themselves.
