Can Pepsi’s Atif anthem convert die hard Coke fans?

Pepsi has always had a long standing relationship with music and the brand has never shied away from expressing its enthusiasm for the art and so the soda company launched its new campaign titled ‘Jee Lay Har Pal’ in the wintery shades of The Royal Palm in Lahore. Unveiling the anthem was none other than superstar Atif Aslam as Pepsi’s new brand ambassador and the event managed to cull in several celebrities including a brooding Fawad Khan, a moustached Ahmed Ali Butt, Ayesha Omar in her usual red carpet avatar and the newly married Mekaal Hasan.

Fawad Khan and Ayesha Omar

The new Pepsi campaign revolves around the concept of freedom and living in the now, a theme song that is sung by none other than Atif Aslam himself who also performed it along with many of his other famous hits throughout the evening.

“I have always believed that life is too short to be lived in neutral and that we need to savor every moment of life to the fullest!” he said at the event. “My entire life has been a journey to find the moments within the moments and to live those moments on my own terms. Pepsi’s fresh mantra of ‘Jee Lay Har Pal’ is a perfect manifestation of my belief system and defines a purpose in life i.e. to unlock the excitement of life in every moment. This is not just a song but an inspiration for the youth that I have written and composed from the heart.”

Atif is enough to draw a crowd and a good crowd is what makes an event successful. Unfortunately, even though we spotted a few A-listers on the “blue” carpet the excess of black suits and ties was quite overwhelming and brought the ethos of the show from creative and inspirational to corporate but such are corporate events and we can’t really be bitter about it. Or can we? The good thing is that the crowd was generally better behaved and there were no reported incidents of misdemeanor; Atif didn’t have to save anyone, thankfully!

Coming back to the anthem, it is absolutely amazing. Atif does sound great and thankfully, the song is not a sell-out to Pepsi branding within the lyrics! However, is Atif Aslam enough to convert die hard Coke fans into committing to Pepsi? We’d love to hear from the people.