The crazy country of cricket fanatics that is what will define India for the coming month.

. That is not to say that cricket fever will then subside, just normalize after its crescendo. During a time that everyones eyes are riveted to the television screen, and with the onset of summer, presents a nice opportunity to Cola manufacturers to capitalize on sales. And leading the vanguard is PepsiCo. Pepsi has always been at the forefront of capturing advertising and image rights for all things Cricket. And it routinely comes out with special marketing campaigns and the like during the oft occurring cricket tournaments; case in point the Indian Premier League. During IPL Season 2 in February 2009, PepsiCo joined hands with Team Chennai Super Kings, the winners of the inaugural IPL as their official beverage sponsors. Their image was significantly boosted by the appearance of the charismatic captain M S Dhoni in CSKs and Pepsis adverts. Then during the last IPL, season 3, they came out with the PEPSI YOUNGISTAAN WOW contest wherein fans could play a mini-game on a website or their cellphones. Star power was in the form of Ranbir Kapoor and Sanjay Dutt. PepsiCo flexed its muscles by emerging as the sole bidder for the IPL title rights. Thus, Pepsi will get exclusive rights from the BCCI for the next edition of the Indian Premier League. Pepsi also used cricket as the launch platform for its new packaged nimbu-paani drink Nimbooz, by associating itself with the Kings XI Punjab. Everytime a player from KXIP hit a boundary cheerleaders would perform the bhangra and one lucky Nimbooz customer would win an all-expense paid trip to South Africa and also get to meet all the KXIP players. Cricket, nimbu-paani and cheerleaders an explosive combination and a match-winning one! Being environmentally responsible is also on Pepsis list and it uses their achievements to good effect. In 2009 PepsiCo India recycled and gave back more water than they consumed through various initiatives like recharging, replenishing and reusing water. The green campaign won them many admirers and improved their image. Another coveted campaign is the Pepsi MyCan. Here the Bollywood bigshots King Khan SRK, the suave John Abraham, the svelte Deepika Padukone and the young Imran Khan featured for Pepsi to round off the veritable list of stars. The unique form factor of the can and the stylish packaging made it a great hit with the youth brigade. Unique concepts like Pepsi Diet for the health conscious, 2-litre bottles for the party animals and recyclable cola bottles for the environment-caring also positively affected their bottom-line. Change the Game is their tagline as the Official Sponsors of the Cricket World Cup 2011. It features different cricketers in different short-films. Designed to address the Youngistaan crowd, you have the big-hitting Dhoni with his Helicopter Shot and Kevin Pietersen with his Switch Hit. The selection of famous cricketers with an Indian setting to the ad films shall surely endear them to Indian fans. Change the Game appeals to todays Indian youth who wants to break free from the shackles of orthodox thinking and define their own rules. Pepsi also has offers galore for one and all. They have a tie-up with Pizza Hut where consumers get a Pepsi free with each order of a Medium Pizza. Pizza Hut provides the marketing while Pepsi delivers the goods a win-win for both. Among all these advertisements during the World Cup, it shall be interesting to see what CocaColas reply shall be. Im sorry, Coke-who?