MAM
Ronaldo’s Coke snub kicks off a meme-fest
Mumbai: What seemed like a simple act by Portugal footballer Cristiano Ronaldo of moving aside two bottles of Coke and replacing them with a bottle of water at a post-match presser quickly metamorphosed into a sponsors’ nightmare at the 2020 Euro football league. For one, it cost the beverage giant a staggering loss of valuation pegged at $ four billion.
The incident also seems to have kickstarted a trend amongst the Euro 2020 players- with France’s Paul Pogba and Italy’s Manuel Locatelli following in the Portugal captain’s footsteps by taking a swipe at one of the official Euro 2020 sponsors and doing a ‘Ronaldo’. To the extent that the UEFA (The Union of European Football Associations) had to step in to ask the players to stop the ‘bottle removing’ trends.
But that didn’t prevent the opening of social media floodgates to an abundance of memes on the entire episode! Riding on the frothy meme-tsunami triggered by the football legend’s snub to the aerated drink, brands too launched a flood of witty, cheeky campaigns on social media.
There was of course, Amul topical doing what it does best – literally milking the matter – this time on ‘beverages and football…and on not bottling one’s feelings!’
This round on moment marketing was however won by Fevicol for nailing it with their on-point post.
Created by Schbang, the tagline featuring two bottles of the glue goes “Na bottle hategi, na valuation ghategi”
Online trading platform Upstox had a word of warning to brands on the placement of their products and for those trading in stock markets: “Stock markets are subject to Ronaldo’s risks, place your brand carefully”. Taking a dig at the Cola giant, it added, “It’s not only defenders who need to be scared of CR7”.
Portugal footballer’s healthy preferences found favour with diagnostic lab network Pathkind Labs, which posted : When a legend says it you do it. Stay hydrated. Adding a word of caution, ‘Summer is at its peak. Drink plenty of water and stay cool!’
Needless to add, packaged drinking water brand Bisleri was completely in agreement with the famous footballer’s views on the water. Bisleri endorsed his act of holding up a bottle of water to the cameras and making an appeal to drink water instead of sugary drinks. Leveraging the act to its advantage, it hilariously wrote, tagging the footballer: Christiano choosing water over soft drinks since 1985.
It also added, “Be smart like the G.OA.T -Quench your thirst with the right choice” possibly simultaneously taking a dig at another cola giant which had a tagline of ‘yehi hain right choice, baby’! Talk about hitting two birds with one stone, huh?
Parle’s Rola Cola added its two cents on the debate of soft drinks – saying ‘have a solid rola cola instead’
Manforce condoms too waded into the meme storm, with a creative saying ‘MAKE LEGENDARY CHOICES #Ifyouknowyouknow’
Brands
Muthoot FinCorp names Arun Kumar COO & Harjit Singh Takkar chief distribution officer
Leadership hires to boost operations and widen pan-India reach
THIRUVANANTHPURAM: Muthoot FinCorp has strengthened its top deck with the appointment of Arun Kumar B as chief operating officer and Harjit Singh Takkar as chief distribution officer, sharpening its focus on scale, speed and service as it pushes into its next phase of growth.
The flagship financial services arm of the 138-year-old Muthoot Pappachan Group, popularly known as Muthoot Blue, is expanding both muscle and mindset. With more than 3,750 branches nationwide and its digital platform, the Muthoot FinCorp ONE app, the company is betting on tighter execution and wider reach to stay ahead in an increasingly competitive lending market.
Arun Kumar B steps in with nearly two decades of experience cutting across financial services, technology transformation and customer analytics. He previously worked with CreditAccess Grameen, where he led enterprise-wide technology and data strategy initiatives and played a pivotal role during a major merger in the microfinance space. His work spanned integrating operations and products while scaling lending and non-credit offerings such as insurance and pensions.
At Muthoot FinCorp, Arun will steer operational excellence and strategic growth initiatives, aligning teams and processes to deliver sharper efficiency across the business. A gold medallist from Anna University and a postgraduate from IIM Indore, he also holds certifications in design thinking, Blue Ocean Strategy and business analytics.
Harjit Singh Takkar takes on the newly created role of chief distribution officer, reporting directly to the chief executive officer. The position is designed to energise the company’s distribution engine and bring greater governance and agility across its branch network.
Takkar brings over 28 years of retail banking experience, having held senior leadership roles at IndusInd Bank, Bandhan Bank, Yes Bank and ICICI Bank. Known for scaling branch networks and building high-performing teams, he combines distribution expertise with governance depth as a qualified company secretary with a master’s degree in finance and control.
In his new role, Takkar will oversee branch business and distribution channels, with a clear brief to expand reach, lift productivity and reinforce the company’s pan-India presence.
Commenting on the appointments, Muthoot FinCorp Ltd. chief executive officer Shaji Varghese, said the company continues to invest in leadership as it scales. “Our purpose is to improve the financial well-being of the common man. As we grow, strengthening leadership across key functions is important to ensure consistency in execution and customer experience,” he said.
With complementary strengths in operations and distribution now in place, Muthoot FinCorp appears set to move from steady expansion to sharper acceleration, backed by people, process and technology working in concert.
