Star Bros Battle Cola Wars in South

Battle of two star brothers. Taking the Cola war in Andhra Pradesh to the heights of fizz, Pepsi has signed on Telugu filmstar Pawan Kalyan of "Thammudu" (Younger Brother) and "Badri" fame to take on elder megastar brother Chiranjeevi's grow up to Thums Up challenge.

Cola consumers in the state will be chilling out with their favorite soft drinks with a heated family drama pitched in for entertainment as the two brothers battle it out for their mindshare.

Announcing a series of initiatives for the state, during a press conference here, Pepsi launched the localised "Mera Number Aayega" campaign and flagged off "fun vans" wherein consumers drinking a Pepsi from these vans get to play games and win prizes. Pepsi has also tied up with Yahoo! for a co-branded youth hang out portal "pepsizone.yahoo.co.in" featuring movies, music, cricket, games and contests.

The consumption of bottled soft drinks in Andhra Pradesh is one of the highest in India, which is estimated between Rs 5000-6000 crores, higher than even the southern states of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka put together. "Pepsi has roped in Kalyan as he is an icon of youth, which the soft drink stands for," Rohit Ohri, director, HTA, makers of the ad campaign said.

Refusing to term the coal battle with Chiranjeevi as "rivalry," and refusing to grow up to his elder brother's "Thums Up" challenge, Kalyan who has signed a two-year contract with Pepsi, said he would prefer to remain young and that "people don't need artificial drinks to grow up."

Superstar Chiranjeevi had been recently signed up by Coke for the 'Grow up to Thums Up' challenge campaign. The ad, similar to the one starring Salman Khan, is being handled by Leo Burnett.