The Pepsi 2001 ad that is Still Remembered After 25 Years: Beckham, a Juventus Fan, and the Battle for the Mind!

Great advertisements don't merely entertain; they occupy permanent real estate in our minds. As Al Ries and Jack Trout famously wrote in Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind, powerful brands sit like sumo wrestlers in the mind, making them incredibly difficult to dislodge.

With the FIFA World Cup upon us and football fever gripping the globe, I found myself thinking about the greatest football advertisement that still enjoys top-of-mind (TOM) recall for me. Instantly, one commercial came rushing back, the unforgettable 2001 Pepsi ad featuring David Beckham and a young Juventus supporter.

At the time, Beckham was the undisputed superstar of Manchester United and one of the biggest names in world football. The commercial opens inside a stadium tunnel. On one side stands Beckham, Still trying to overcome the disappointment of being substituted  by the coach. Opposite him is a young boy, calmly holding a Pepsi can. The boy stares at Beckham with an almost expressionless face.

Slightly puzzled, Beckham asks if he can have a sip of the Pepsi. The boy casually hands him the can and watches as the football icon takes a long drink. The youngster's expression hardly changes, perhaps a hint of curiosity, maybe even the slightest frown.

Bewildered, Beckham returns the can and begins to walk away. Suddenly, the boy says: "Excuse me, can I have your shirt, please?"

Beckham lights up instantly. At last, he thinks, the youngster has recognized that he is one of the biggest football stars on the planet. With a broad grin, Beckham removes his jersey and proudly hands it over. The boy takes the prized shirt, carefully wipes the spot on the Pepsi can where Beckham had drunk from, hands the jersey back and simply says: "Thanks, mate."

Then he walks away. A stunned Beckham can only watch. The camera then reveals the back of the boy's shirt. It reads Juventus. Brilliant.

At his peak, a Beckham's jersey could have fetched a small fortune. Today, such memorabilia might command an even higher price. But the young fan has no interest in keeping it. His loyalty belongs elsewhere. He wanted the can, not the shirt. And once Beckham's lips had touched his Pepsi, the jersey had served its purpose.

The ad brilliantly captures something every football fan understands instinctively: club loyalty borders on religion. Fans don't merely support their teams; they identify with them. Their allegiance transcends money, celebrity, and even common sense. And that's what makes the commercial so extraordinary.

Pepsi managed to make both Manchester United and Juventus supporters smile. Nobody loses. Nobody is mocked. Beckham emerges as the good sport, while the boy embodies the fierce devotion that makes football the world's greatest game.

Twenty-five years later, I still remember every frame. That, to me, is the hallmark of great advertising. Because the best ads are not the ones we remember. They are the ones we never forget.

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exciting new times for tracking TV viewership

For a long time, TV viewership details were a lot of hocus pocus. It was imagination and conjecture. However, technology and cutting the cord by the young netizens has led to some fascinating insights. Many of us are exasperated by the antics of satellite channels who want to charge for every channel separately.

Now we have an option. We can shift to online streaming platforms. Hotstar live streams EPL and PKL, Sony Liv, is streaming India tour of West Indies and Australia tour of England.

The most exciting part is when live sports get streamed on Hotstar a ticker that shows the number of people watching the telecast at the exact point of time.

When India played New Zealand in the cricket world cup, the ticker went crazy, 13.5 million watched the contest that is a whopping 1.3 crore Indians!

However, the finals did not even get a fraction of that viewership. India rules online streaming platforms.

Last Sunday the blue boys of world football Manchester United played the Wolves, and only 65,000 Indians watched the match!

Today when Tamil Thalivars are playing Jaipur Pink Panthers in the Professional Kabbadi League (PKL) a whopping 6.14 lakh people are watching! In India, kabbadi is the second most liked sports, at least in the online platforms. 

Moreover, these are only preliminary matches and imagine what will happen when the PKL season progresses. In future, PKL will challenge Indian cricket and IPL in the popularity charts.

Wish that Sony Liv also gives us ticker details of the number of viewers watching the telecast. Very exciting for marketing professional and marketing teachers and analysts. These are hard dynamic stats getting displayed right in front of our eyes. Wow, I love it.

Manchester United, Arsenal, Tezer and Foosball - The heart of Ethiopian Games - Ethiopian Journey - Blog Post no - 21

(Continued from Blog post no - 20)

watching EPL match in a hotel

What do the Ethiopians get in return for the two birr they paid. They get to watch the live telecast and also get a free chilled coca (Coca-Cola). The regular price of the coke in the market too is two birr. So how do Ethiostar or the other hotels that extend the same service get benefited? Simply it’s the hotels’ way of paying back to the society. Most of the youngsters watching the live telecast are from the local community and they are literally the ears and eyes of that area.

And as we know that it is always better to be in friendly terms with the immediate environment in which a business operates. Coca-Cola missed out on building more good will. If Coca-Cola had added some Kolo or a Dabo Kolo, the good will would have increased by leaps and bounds. Delight the customer and make him the brand advocate for a life time!

Manchester United Fans, Ethoipia

But the rivalry that generates the maximum fun, enjoyment, and ribbing and sometimes even clashes and scuffles are the bi-annual matches that involve Manchester United and Arsenal. Manchester United and Arsenal are top notch Premier clubs that boast of fierce fans who are ready to do anything for their team.

Arsenal Fans and Flags 

Come Sunday and we have supporters coming with huge towels or flags with their team colours and logos  and they would boisterously support their own teams. The support for both teams was uniform and other wise close friends almost come to blows over a penalty missed or some injustice meted out to their teams. Arsenal was more popular than Manchester United as Arsenal had more black and players of African origin. Once I watched a Manchester United Vs Arsenal match in BDU auditorium and it will remain as one of the most enjoyable interactions with the football crazy Ethiopians.

Another interesting ethnic game that I saw being played is ‘Tezer’. In this game first a suitable pole is chosen. A long rope may be of two or three feet is firmly tied to the middle section of the pole. At the other end of the rope a small round ball made by a roll of plastic sheet shoved into socks is fixed. The rule of the game is that the players should not touch the rope to which the ball is tied. Also the ball should not touch their clothes. When kicked, if the ball finishes revolving around the pole unchecked by the player in the defender position, the player who kicked the ball will be a winner. I found the acrobatics involved in the game to be of very high calibre!

I should thank my student and now a distinguished faculty at department of accounting, BDU,  Dr. Elefachew Mossisa who has guided me in identifying this game and telling me its name. Betam Konjo (very Good) and ahmesugenalew  (thank you) . Also I should also thank Hider Ali, who has sent very old and rare photos.I will be use them later Hider. 

Of course fun loving Ethiopians also play the loud and very boisterously ‘foosball’. Ethiopians call it Joteni (thanks to Dr. Elefachew Mossisa again) . Table football, also called fuzboll and sometimes table soccer. Foosball is a table-top game that uses figures representing football players, fixed on rotating rods.  To begin the game, the ball is served through a hole at the side of the table, or simply placed by hand at the feet of a figure in the centre of the table. The initial serving side is decided with a coin toss. Players attempt to use figures mounted on rotating bars to kick the ball into the opposing goal. Expert players have been known to move balls at speeds up to 56 km/h (35 mph) in competition.

It is a very engrossing game, but tends to get very noisy. In the chilly evening breeze slightly tipsy Ethiopians and sometimes even foreigners engage and enjoy this maddeningly intoxicating ‘foosball”.