Soaring mercury adds fizz to this cool drink

With the onset of summer, a soft drink advertisement has walked away with the top honours in the Mint-Ipsos-TVAdIndx’s March survey. The Coca-Cola Co.’s Sprite drink topped the ranking, beating commercials from DLF Indian Premier League (IPL) and Cadbury Oreo cookies, which took the next two slots.

The top 10 is a mixed bag on the ad reach index that measures ad awareness and brand recall among consumers. The top-ranked Sprite ad scored 71 points, while the IPL and Cadbury Oreo logged 68 and 65 points, respectively. Other consumer products that figure in the top 10 include an advertisement for soft drink Frooti at No. 6 and Lehar KurKure snacks at No. 7.

Three commercials from telecom service providers also feature in the top 10. While Vodafone ads are at Nos. 4 and 9, Airtel Money is at No. 5. Another ad for the IPL is at No. 8, while a commercial for satellite television distributor Tata Sky is at No. 10.

The survey polled 755 respondents from high-income groups in Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore.

Also see the full ad survey

Average scores on the ad reach index rose sharply in March compared with the preceding month. Six ads scored 60 points or more in March compared with only one in February. The Sprite ad scored 11 points more than the Idea 3G ad which topped the ranking in February.

The month’s ad diagnostics index, which measures the softer features of commercials such as likeability, enjoyment, believability and claim, showed a similar mix. The only new entrants in the index were advertisements for L’Oreal Fall Repair shampoo and Britannia 50-50 biscuits. Cadbury Oreo topped the ad diagnostics index, followed by Sprite and the IPL.

Average scores also rose in March. All 10 ads scored 60 or higher, compared with six in February. March’s top 10 ads scored 82-60 points on this index, compared with 71-54 in February.

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Sprite

Meridian Communications

A young man is about to offer a pretty girl at a bus stop a ride on his motorcycle when another man driving a convertible cuts in and offers her a ride first. She agrees. The man on the bike, disheartened, takes a swig of Sprite. Inspiration strikes, and he offers a ride to an elderly woman at the bus stop. She declines, saying she is afraid she might fall off the two-wheeler. The girl offers her the car seat and opts for the bike, much to the chagrin of the man in the convertible. Tag line: Sprite, rasta clear hai (Sprite, the way ahead is clear).

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