In the first week of May, Pepsi introduced the 500 ml PET on-the-go consumption pack, and in the last week of May it launched the one-calorie Diet Pepsi in a 300 ml can: Coke is still to catch up.

While the Pepsi spokesperson refused to divulge figures on volumes, he said: ``We do not look upon the World Cup as an event for sales. The World Cup was there for us to leverage Pepsi's top-of-mind score and to maintain a lead.''On that scale, Pepsi scored. Through it's three-part ad-campaign, Pepsi not only managed to sneak Shah Rukh into theIndian cricket team's locker room, but also snuck its brand into the consciousness -- what little was left over for between-overs -- of Indian viewers.

According to the FCB Ulka Media Interface study, 62 per cent of the respondents were aware that Pepsi was an official tournament sponsor, and 43 per cent voted for Pepsi as the telecast sponsor on ESPN/Star Sports. But the real clincher: Pepsi scored a whopping 73 per cent --against Coke's 23 -- on TV ad-recall, and in press ads, Pepsi notched 23 against Coke's 7 per cent. Insisting that the Pepsi India budget was not more than 10 per cent of last year, the Pepsi spokesperson says: ``Top-of-mind is related to volumes and so it definately helped in off-setting and increasing competition --as well as helped in Pepsi offtake.''

Sales couldn't have shaken the earth though. Soft drinks manufacturers are quick to trot out a slew of excuses for a stagnant market: May '99 was not as hot as May '98, the Gujarat cyclone took a heavy toll of the west market, andfinally, the old 80/20 saw. The soft drinks consumption in the India market is 80 per cent on-premise and 20 per cent at-home. With people glued to televisions at home, what chance was there for the market to grow?

Says an industry watcher: ``The summer was hard for the soft drink and ice-cream industry this year. Both cola brands would have hardly seen a 0.2 per cent increase in sales." The $3.4-million question then is: did the World Cup promos actually help Pepsi sell more cola than it would have otherwise, between February and June 1999? Consider how Pepsi promotions have driven sales for the last five months.

In February 1999, Pepsi introduced World Cup collector cards: two bottles of Pepsi got the consumer one card. The scheme ran till March 20, 1999 --and Pepsi claims it gave away seven million cards. Pepsi then started the Hitman self-liquidating promo (SLP) on the cards, from March 20 to April first week.From the middle of March to April 20th, Pepsi ran the ``It's my World Cup, Aha'' contest,linked to crowns of Pepsi 300 ml bottles. Pepsi claims to have planned to give away 10,000 Bubble watches and 100 LG televisions and ``the TV and watches are almost gone.'' April '99 also saw Pepsi launching a mascot promo in association with a slogan contest run in leading national and regional papers.

Finally, between May 5 and June 20, Pepsi ran World Cup Stuff: another SLP, this one offered team T-shirts, caps, special button-caps, and a Sachin watch on 300 ml bottle caps. Pepsi had planned on at least a million pieces of merchandise and says ``it is going very well''. The World Cup might be over, but its merchandise excitement might yet drive Pepsi's June sales.