MAM
Pepsi’s new drink to feature in TVCs around World Cup
MUMBAI: Mountain Dew, the neon coloured citrus tinged carbonated drink that Pepsi launched in Mumbai on Thurday, will feature prominently in the television commercials the company plans to unleash on television in the next month.
 PepsiCo India Holdings chairman Rajeev Bakshi |
PepsiCo Holdings India chairman Rajeev Bakshi, who was in the city to launch the ‘third largest soft drink brand in the US’ , however, refused to be drawn into the details of promotions likely to be launched on and offline around the World Cup, saying it was ‘too early’ for revealing the presenting sponsor’s gameplan.
As part of ground promotions, Pepsi announced a tie up with kids’ channel Nickelodeon and MAX that would select six children to lead the Indian cricket team onto the field during the World Cup. Pepsi officials present at today’s launch said that a slew of similar promotions would be announced in the next fortnight.
While TVCs during the World Cup are bound to remain thematic, advertising after the cricket fever subsides will focus on the drink’s overseas integral association with alternative sport. Currently, HTA has devised (with some aid from its sister agencies in other countries) three 30 second spots that have been classified in two categories – Posers and Cheetah. The first revolves around four much traveled cool dudes who embody attitude and who face a moment of reckoning when they realize they have not really ‘been there, done that’ till they have ‘done the Dew’.
The second TVC has the foursome now firmly hooked to the energy of Dew, raising their adventurism a few notches higher by matching the stride of a cheetah to snatch a Dew from the sprinting cat.
PepsiCo ad agency JWT has taken the ‘youth and action’ message spawned initially by global ad agency BBDO and plans to roll out a high voltage multi media communication package, identifying with high energy outdoor activities, popular with teens. The spots, conceptualised by JWT, have been made by filmmaker Kunal Shivdasani and shot at various locations in Mumbai like Film City, Lonavala and the Borivili National Park, the stills shot by well known photographer Atul Kasbekar.
Officials admit that the focus of the drink will remain the urban youth, the rural consumer is still a distant target for Mountain Dew. The national rollout, according to Bakshi is however slated to take place by 6 February. Before Mumbai, Mountain Dew was launched in Goa on 22 December, to cash in on the New Year frenzy in the coastal state. According to officials, research agency IMRB was employed to assess the target consumer and the age bands that would identify with the drink.
Pepsi also roped in two of the most popular ambassadors of Mountain Dew abroad, 23 year old Fabiola Da Silva of Brazil, the top female in the field of aggressive inline professionals and 24 year old Chad Kagy of the US, the world’s top BMX competitor, both of whom were present on Thursday at the Radio Club.
PepsiCo is set to roll out an innovative ground communication package including specially designed Mountain Dew cars that will hit the roads in key cities, and fun games like ‘Dew Velcro’, ‘Dew Twin Peaks’ and ‘Bungee Running’ which will be installed at popular youth hangouts in cities and towns to build up the excitement.
Digital
Content India 2026 opens with a copro pitch, a spice evangelist and a £10,000 prize for Indian storytelling
Dish TV and C21Media’s three-day summit puts seven ambitious projects before an international jury, and two walk away with serious development money
MUMBAI: India’s content industry gathered in Mumbai this March for Content India 2026, a three-day summit organised by Dish TV in partnership with C21Media, and it wasted no time making a statement. The event opened with a Copro Pitch that put seven scripted and unscripted television concepts before an international panel of judges, and by the end of it, two projects had walked away with £10,000 each in marketing prize money from C21Media to support development and international promotion.
The jury, comprising Frank Spotnitz, Fiona Campbell, Rashmi Bajpai, Bal Samra and Rachel Glaister, evaluated a shortlist that ranged from a dark Mumbai comedy-drama about mental health (Dirty Minds, created by Sundar Aaron) to a Delhi coming-of-age mystery (Djinn Patrol, by Neha Sharma and Kilian Irwin), a techno-thriller about a teenage gaming prodigy (Kanpur X Satori, by Suchita Bhatia), an investigative crime drama blending mythology and modern thriller (The Age of Kali, by Shivani Bhatija), a documentary on India’s spice heritage (The Masala Quest, hosted by Sarina Kamini), a documentary on competitive gaming (Respawn: India’s Esports Revolution, by George Mangala Thomas and Sangram Mawari), and a reality-horror competition merging gaming and immersive fear (Scary Goose, by Samar Iqbal).
The session was hosted by Mayank Shekhar.
The two winners were Djinn Patrol, backed by Miura Kite, formerly of Participant Media and known for Chinatown and Keep Sweet: Pray & Obey, with Jaya Entertainment, producers of Real Kashmir Football Club, also attached; and The Masala Quest, created and hosted by Sarina Kamini, an Indian-Australian cook, author and self-described “spice evangelist.”
The summit also unveiled the Content India Trends Report, whose findings made for bracing reading. Daoud Jackson, senior analyst at OMDIA, set the tone: “By 2030, online video in India will nearly double the revenue of traditional TV, becoming the main driver of growth.” He noted that in 2025, India produced a quarter of all YouTube videos globally, overtaking the United States, while Indians collectively spend 117 years daily on YouTube and 72 years on Instagram. Traditional subscription TV is declining as free TV and connected TV gain ground, forcing broadcasters to innovate. “AI-generated content is just 2 per cent of engagement,” Jackson added, “highlighting the dominance of high-quality human content. The key for Indian media companies is scaling while monetising effectively from day one.”
Hannah Walsh, principal analyst at Ampere Analysis, added hard numbers to the picture. India produced over 24,000 titles in January 2026 alone, with 19,000 available internationally. The country now accounts for 12 per cent of Asia-Pacific content spend, up from 8 per cent in 2021, outpacing both Japan and China. Key exporters include JioStar, Zee Entertainment, Sony India, Amazon and Netflix, delivering over 7,500 Indian-produced titles abroad each year. The top importing markets are Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt, the United States and the Philippines. Scripted content dominates globally at 88 per cent, with crime dramas and children’s and family titles performing particularly strongly.
Manoj Dobhal, chief executive and executive director of Dish TV India, framed the summit’s ambition squarely. “Stories don’t need translation. They need a platform, discovery, and reach, local or global,” he said. “India produces more movies than any country, our streaming platforms compete globally, and our tech and creators win international awards. Yet fragmentation slows growth. Producers, platforms, and tech move in different lanes. We need shared spaces, collaboration, and an ecosystem where ideas, technology, and people meet. That is why we built Content India.”
The data, the pitches and the prize money all pointed to the same conclusion: India is not waiting for the world to discover its stories. It is building the infrastructure to sell them.
