The tie-up is exclusive in the sense that Baskin Robbins will be creating and serving a number of mocktails using the Coca Cola brand of non-alcoholic beverages, at its Baskin Robbins ice-cream parlours.

Says Allied Domecq Retailing assistant country manager (India), Rajiv Varma: ``We will be launching these mocktails in our galleries in February 1999. It is a joint promotional activity by Coca Cola and Baskin Robbins in India.''Baskin Robbins has a number of such exclusive arrangements, which vary from country to country. ``The tie-up may be with Pepsi in some countries and in some others it is with Coca Cola,'' says Varma.

In fact, Baskin Robbins had recently launched a special offer for consumers in Mumbai offering Coke Floats--an ice creamtreat in Coke--as a test launch. The special offer which lasted for about two weeks gave the benefit to consumers for having a Coke Float at a reasonable price of Rs 15. Normally, Coke Floats served in other restaurants are priced at over Rs 25.Coca Cola brands in India include the cola drinks like Thums Up and Coke, and non-cola beverages like Fanta, Limca, Gold Spot, etc.

``A number of special recipes in non-alcoholic mocktails will be prepared and served in Baskin Robbins outlets. We expect this joint promotion to pay off well for both Baskin Robbins and Coca Cola,'' says Varma.

In the cola and non-cola wars, ace rivals Pepsi and Coca Cola are always skirmishing for such promotions and tie-ups to promote their brands worldover, as also in India.

According to an IMRB survey of 41 cities, in the 265 million case, Rs 3,500- crore Indian soft drinks market, while the Pepsi brand has a market share of 27.5 per cent in the total market, brand Coke has a share of 12 per cent in terms of volumes, and that ofThums Up is 17 per cent. The over-all market share of Pepsi, according to the IMRB study, is 47 per cent and that of Coca Cola is in the range of 48 per cent and 55 per cent.

Baskin Robbins, which is considered to be a premium brand of ice cream, served through gallery kind of outlets worldover, had undertaken price cuts in mid-1997, by reducing the per scoop price to Rs 25 from Rs 31.

This enabled the multinational to garner volumes at a more attractive price. The other advantage was that while other ice cream brand prices went up marginally, Baskin Robbins took the price cut, which narrowed the gap between a Baskin Robbins ice cream and the other local brands. u