7Up, The Lemon Army - PepsiCo India

Background

Cricket is religion, as far as youth in South India are concerned.  7Up already had an existing sponsorship deal with the Chennai Super Kings, the top team in the India Premier League (IPL) Cricket Series.  It was decided to leverage this deal to maximise the impact the campaign would have on young cricketers.

Idea

The Agency created a new version of cricket, themed around the number 7 and called 7Up Style Cricket, viz:

7 players per team

7 overs per innings

7 balls per over

7 runs per boundary

There were teams in 7 cities battling out in 7Up Style to be the 7Up Lemon Pattalam (army) who would win a trip to South Africa to play a game against the Chennai Super Kings in the India Premier League.

The Results

Not only did the media go wild with the thought of a new cricketing format, young cricketers in their thousands brought their skills to the competition.

• 32,354 young players registered.
• 340 teams participated in the ‘Lemon Pattalam’ against an objective of 140.
• 7Up achieved an unprecedented sales figure of 50 million cases for the first time ever!