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
TCS and ServiceNow join forces to fast-track AI in enterprises
New partnership aims to turn clunky workflows into smart, self-learning engines
MUMBAI: Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and ServiceNow have teamed up to help businesses move from AI experiments to full-scale adoption. The multi-year partnership will see TCS building industry-specific AI solutions on the ServiceNow platform, transforming slow, manual processes into intelligent, autonomous workflows that learn and improve over time.
Enterprises are eager for smarter ways to handle back-office functions like HR, finance, supply chain, procurement, and employee services. With this collaboration, TCS will offer AI-led solutions that bring together trusted AI, modern workflows, and deep industry knowledge, helping businesses work faster, smarter, and more efficiently.
ServiceNow president and chief product officer Amit Zavery said, “Enterprises need partners who can combine innovation, execution, and governance. Together with TCS, we are embedding AI directly into workflows, modernising legacy systems, and driving measurable results.”
TCS executive director and COO Aarthi Subramanian added, “Companies are ready to move beyond pilots to enterprise-wide transformation. Our partnership will embed intelligence across IT, operations, and customer functions, unlocking speed, efficiency, and lasting advantage.”
The solutions are designed to break down silos, giving organisations a holistic, insight-driven view. HR operations, for instance, could shift from fragmented services to a smooth hire-to-retire lifecycle, boosting productivity and engagement. Similarly, order processing could evolve from a slow, multi-step cycle into a fast-moving engine that drives revenue and cash flow.
TCS is already ServiceNow’s largest user for IT Asset Management, rolling out the system across thousands of devices in just three months. Both companies will also invest in co-innovation labs, solution showcases, and joint go-to-market initiatives to bring these AI capabilities to clients.
With this partnership, enterprises can look forward to workflows that think for themselves, helping businesses stay ahead in the AI era.
