MUMBAI: As Pepsi and Coca-Cola reignite their decades-long fizzy feud ahead of the the IPL 2025 and the coming blazing summer, dairy giant Mother Dairy has quietly churned up a storm by pouring itself into the beverage battle with an utterly brilliant repartee campaign.

The latest skirmish began when Coca-Cola launched its nostalgic "Half Time, Coke Time" campaign, encouraging cricket fans to reach for the red can during match intervals. Pepsi quickly fizzed back, rebranding the Times of India as the Any Times of India with its "Anytime is Pepsi Time" response – a strategic play reminiscent of their legendary 1996 "Nothing Official About It" campaign that outflanked Coca-Cola's official World Cup sponsorship.

Pepsi's effervescent retort listed life's precious moments – "first time, thirst time, play time, crunch time, winner time, we time, me time" – suggesting their blue brand transcends scheduled refreshment, sparking a social media frenzy with fans bubbling over about the clever wordplay.

Just as the carbonated competitors were locked in their temporal tussle over "half time" versus "anytime," Mother Dairy skimmed past the conflict with a masterful third-way strategy, unveiling its "Not Just a Drink, but a Lifetime Companion" advertisement. The dairy disruptor effectively curdled both rivals' messaging by positioning milk as the true timeless beverage.

"Coke claimed half time, Pepsi countered with anytime, but Mother Dairy has completely changed the game with lifetime," notes a marketing analyst. "It's like watching two soda brands argue over when you should drink them, while Mother Dairy calmly points out what you should be drinking all along."

Industry experts suggest this calcium-rich counterpunch represents perfect timing from Mother Dairy, which has milked the opportunity to remind health-conscious consumers there's a nutritionally superior alternative.
"This isn't just about stealing attention; it's about changing the conversation entirely," explains a  consumer behavior specialist. "While the cola giants debate between 'half time' and 'anytime,' Mother Dairy has moved the goalposts to 'lifetime'—effectively highlighting that their product doesn't just refresh momentarily but nourishes permanently."

In this high-stakes game of marketing chess, Mother Dairy appears to have made a strategic moo-ve that has left the cola kings decidedly cheesed off and scrambling to respond to this unexpected dairy disruption in India's competitive beverage market.