Pepsi was already a global cola giant when it ran Yeh Dil Maange More in India in 1998. The line, borrowed from the register of Hindi cinema, translates roughly to ‘the heart asks for more.’ With it, Pepsi made a pitch that felt less like a multinational and more like a local youth movement. This was not a straight translation of a global line; it was a line built for Indian speech and Indian scenes.
The campaign
Brand: Pepsi. Campaign: Yeh Dil Maange More. Year: 1998. Country: India. The agency for the film is not confirmed in widely available records.
The film was fronted by Shah Rukh Khan, with Kajol and Rani Mukerji among the familiar faces. At the time, Pepsi and Coca-Cola were fighting hard for a young Indian market that was opening up to global brands but still lived inside Bollywood, cricket and Hindi film dialogue.
What the film said and how
The commercial sold appetite itself. More fun, more drama, more cricket, more life. The cola became the small, shareable symbol of wanting more than what you already had. The choice of Hindi was decisive: it told young viewers that Pepsi belonged to their world, not to an imported version of aspiration.
The ad worked by folding Pepsi into Bollywood’s emotional scale instead of treating India as a subtitled afterthought. The music, casting, movement and the Hindi line signalled that this was a local production with local idioms. The film rarely explains the phrase; it performs it, letting the stars carry the line like dialogue from a blockbuster.
The response it got
The tagline entered everyday speech. Students, young office-goers and cricket fans used ‘Yeh Dil Maange More’ to ask for another snack, another over, another chance. The line became a personality statement, not just a purchase cue. It worked because the phrase was small enough to fit into a conversation and broad enough to carry whatever the speaker wanted.
The campaign is credited with building strong youth affinity for Pepsi India. Precise sales figures for this single film are hard to isolate, but the return was visible in how the phrase travelled beyond paid media.
- Hindi worked as the lead language, not a dubbed global line
- Bollywood faces and cricket gave the ad instant cultural access
- The line was short enough to repeat in daily conversation
What it changed in the category
Before this, cola advertising in India often carried a global or imported accent. ‘Yeh Dil Maange More’ made localisation the creative brief. After it, Bollywood stars, cricket and Hinglish became defaults for beverage marketing, not exceptions.
The campaign also reset the terms of the cola war. A global tagline could be less powerful than a local phrase that people could own. Rivals and later brands began marketing moods and identities, not just refreshment.
Where the brand and the idea are now
The phrase remains one of India’s most recognisable advertising lines. Pepsi has revisited it in social content and nostalgia-driven moments, treating it as a heritage asset. The brand’s current work is more global and digital, but the line is still quoted in marketing conversations about building local resonance.
The bigger idea—turn a brand want into a life want—has outlived the media format. That is why the film is remembered as a lesson in cultural translation, not just a cola commercial.
Watch the original: Pepsi on YouTube
