Pepsi Cola has turned blue. Hard-nosed HSBC bankers are offering good wishes. Castrol is suddenly releasing music albums. Five-star hotels are discovering new menus and Hutch has promised live video of cricket matches on cell phones. The Indian bazaar has turned bizarre, as is inevitable when there's cricket in the air and money to be made. Even though the World Cup in South Africa is two weeks away, the market is awash with promotional gimmicks and freebies. In the last quarter of the financial year, it is not book-keeping that is keeping India Inc occupied. Cheering, praying, singing, dancing-it has "poora yakien" that the World Cup fever will deliver for it what its deals and discounts could not.

Sony Music's Chalo India croons for cricket

There is everything official about this World Cup-from songs to drinks, airlines to bikes, televisions to TV channels, travel agents to accessories. While the World Cup will see clashes among 14 teams, in India battle lines have been drawn-between official and unofficial sponsors. So if LG's 14 captains are pitched against Team Samsung, Pepsi is giving Coca-Cola the blues. And Nirvana Music is hoping that its official Khel Re album will stand out among others being released for the World Cup. With the restrictive ambush marketing clause, almost everybody is pitching for the official tag. Not surprisingly, the sponsorship fee this time has been the highest ever-SET Max shelled out $250 million (Rs 1,200 crore) for telecast rights till 2007. And official sponsors like LG and Hero Honda have paid anything close to $30 million for the World Cup rights up to 2007. Says Atul Sobti, senior vice-president, marketing and sales, Hero Honda Motors: "Cricket is a religion here. It is boom time whenever the game is on."

Pepsi hopes to add more fizz to its sales with its blue avatar and a new slogan that complements the Indian team's colours.

.Besides offering customers assured gifts, LG offers souvenirs like autographed sports watches and Parker pen sets with pictures and signatures of the 14 captains.

Besides offering free trips to South Africa and miniature bats and caps, SET has planned a slew of cricket shows.

HSBC's "I Cheer for India" campaign gives away T-shirts, caps, special badges and miniature balls.

Samsung is giving away prizes worth Rs 25 crore, including VCD players, microwave ovens and watches. Players In The Game The market is flooded with never-before gimmicks, deals and freebies for cricket-loving consumers

It is not just the traditional cricket backers like Hero Honda, LG, Sahara and Pepsi who are cheering the Indian team. Philips, Videocon, Kuoni Travels, Microsoft-the list of companies joining the cheering crowd is long even though some of them are not even remotely associated with the game. And all of them are trying to be different. Sony Entertainment Television (SET) India has roped in Kapil Dev and Madan Lal to do match post mortems. The channel is also targeting women viewers with a slew of programmes-like Exxtra Innings anchored by actress Mandira Bedi.

Pantaloon Retail India, the official merchandiser in India, has launched a new line called Passionwear in metros. It will bring to cricket fans a range of World Cup merchandise-replica T-shirts, message T-shirts, caps and other accessories incorporating the logo, characters and cricketers.

Not to be left behind is the Rs 600-crore Indian music industry. With sales shrinking by 40 per cent in the past two years, the industry is hoping that the release of some music albums that capture the spirit of the game-amply aided by Bollywood-will trigger growth. Comprising a mix of old and new songs, albums like Stumped (Virgin Records), Chalo India (Sony Music) and Khel Re (Nirvana) are flooding the market. While Nirvana hopes to market over a lakh cassettes, producers of Chalo India claim the album is already doing brisk business.

Among the cola giants, Coca-Cola has maintained a low profile while Pepsi, in its inimitable style, has turned its cola blue. "Rang gaya hai Pepsi Indian team ke rang me" goes its slogan. In a multi-pronged strategy it has slashed prices, is selling commemorative bottles with images of popular cricketers and has launched a contest "Pepsi Badaa Shikari Hunt" which will select six cricket fans to lead the Indian team from the pavilion to the field at the World Cup. Says Vibha Paul Rishi, executive director, marketing, Pepsico: "We expect our cola market share to grow by at least 1 per cent in January-March 2003."

But the decibel level is the highest in the consumer electronics market. Samsung, armed with a Rs 55-crore marketing budget and a slew of new launches, hopes to attract customers with its "Team Samsung India First" campaign and hopes to sell about five lakh colour TV sets during the World Cup. LG has gone a step ahead-besides the $8-million sponsorship fee it is spending Rs 80 crore on advertisements and promotions. Every LG customer will get an assured gift with souvenirs (Parker pen sets with pictures and signatures of the 14 captains and autographed sports watches) thrown in. Besides, it has also launched "World Cup Pass Chahiye", a lucky draw which offers 701 gold passes and 600 silver passes for the World Cup matches and 100 limited edition LG products. Videocon has a Rs 10-crore kitty while Philips has earmarked Rs 25 crore for the World Cup.

The bigger the money at stake, the higher the frenzy-that's the effect cricket has in India. Corporate India's spend on the game has been rising-from about Rs 50 crore in 1996 to over Rs 200 crore in 1999 and this year it is likely to touch Rs 1,500 crore. The advertising spend alone is said to have gone up by 250 per cent compared with the last World Cup to anywhere around Rs 800 crore. Fuelling this growth is the spurt in satellite TV viewership in India-from 22 million in 1999 to over 40 million in 2003. This is likely to cross 70 million by 2007. Says Rajat Jain, executive vice-president, SET India Private Ltd: "Television is the biggest element driving the industry's spend on the game."

It is interesting to note that while many are cheering the team and selling cricket, not many are betting on the country's victory. Perhaps the odds are against or the stakes too high for India Inc to take chances-most of the companies have hedged their campaigns against India's losses. So, Pepsi-Set Max's just-released peppy music video by Adnan Sami titled O Ye O talks about defeat as much as the win. And that's true for most of the World Cup campaigns-companies have largely delinked the deals and freebies from India's win.

But will India Inc win its game? Says Piyush Pandey, group president and national creative director, O&M: "Just hitching onto the World Cup bandwagon will not work. Doing it innovatively and differently holds the key." Despite all the song and dance, even if the team makes it to the semi-finals, India Inc may have won-in raking in the returns.