The US-based multinational aerated soft drink company Coca-Cola has launched their campaign ‘Share a Coke’ in India. This campaign was first launched in Australia in 2011, where the Coke bottle had the country’s most popular names written on it, like Maria, Alisha or Chris. The campaign was a major hit in the Australian market. So much so, that the ‘Share a Coke’ campaign got eventually replicated in over 70 countries including the United States, United Kingdom, South Africa, and many others. While the purpose and the idea behind the campaign remained intact, it got a new spin in different regions – the Coca-Cola bottle saw not just names of people, but also names of countries or sports teams.

Now that this popular campaign is finally here in India, obviously they had it give it a desi twist. They have replaced popular names of people with different titles of family members on the Coke bottle – like ‘Ma’, ‘Bhai, ‘Friend’, ‘Papa’ etc. For Indians, family comes first and one can understand why they made this move for the Indian market.

After kick-starting the campaign with a 40-second video featuring Bollywood actor Tahir Raj Bhasin, Coca Cola has released its second commercial starring Bollywood veteran Ashish Vidyarthi. This 45-second commercial features a father and a son, traveling in a train. The father, played by Vidyarthi, tempts his young son with a Coke bottle and doesn’t let him have it till he accepts his ‘friend request’ on social media. The label on the bottle reads “Friend”. The son finally gives up and accepts the request and quickly takes a big swig from the Coke bottle.

While the original campaign was conceptualised by Ogilvy & Mather that had fetched them several creative awards, this ad film for the Indian market has been created by McCANN India. With the theme ‘Har Rishta Bola, Mere Naam Ki Coca-Cola’, the ad films show the significance of relationships for Indians. It’s a sweet advertisement that will resonate with a lot of Indian kids and their parents. I have many friends who still keep their parents’ “friend requests” pending on Facebook. So the idea behind it is extremely relatable, funny and at the same time, sweet.

But there are minor glitches here and there. The User Interface (UI) of the mobile screen where we see “Friend Request Accepted” written, could’ve been better. It’s not looking realistic, what with those big fonts grabbing almost the entire screen. Also, which India train looks like this? It almost looks like a neatly built set and that’s not a nice thing for an ad when a viewer can look through the veil. But other than that, overall, the commercial makes you feel warm and fuzzy. The music by Sameer Uddin suits the narrative really well and has a feel-good vibe around it. Excited to see the “Share A Coke” campaign finally here in India!