AKAW! That�s how the new Vanilla Coke from Coca-Cola India de-scribes itself. The funky punchline, that appears almost after every second in the brand�s new television commercial besides being splurged all over its print ad, featuring Vivek Oberoi in flashy outfits and the seventies� and eighties� bizarre hairstyle, springs from the marketing theories of Everett M Rogers!

Don�t be mistaken; the poor man has nothing to do with Coca-Cola India or McCann Erickson. He�s very much the same old professor in the Department of Communica-tion and Journalism at the University of New Mexico, whose research on "the diffusion of innovations" had forced a relook at marketing thinking. ... more