Sprite takes naming rights on IRCTC’s Lucknow–Delhi Tejas Express
Sprite will receive full branding rights for IRCTC’s Lucknow–Delhi–Lucknow Tejas Express from August 19 to November 11, temporarily renaming the service the Sprite Tejas Express. The deal opens a high-visibility out-of-home channel and a new non-fare revenue route for rail travel.
The brand move
Sprite has secured full branding rights for IRCTC’s Lucknow-Delhi-Lucknow Tejas Express, which will temporarily be announced as the Sprite Tejas Express. The deal introduces corporate naming rights for an Indian train and expands railway non-fare advertising revenue.
The numbers
- August 19, 2026
- November 11, 2026
- 512 km
- 6 hours 15 minutes
- six-day weekly schedule
Why it matters for the brand
For beverage and mobility companies, the deal creates a replicable partnership model combining route-level exclusivity, captive audiences and shared non-fare revenue opportunities.
What to track next
- Passenger-recall, QR-scan, coupon-redemption, and station-area sales data during and after the August 19-November 11 campaign.
- Whether Sprite products receive exclusive or preferential placement in Tejas onboard catering and at Lucknow, Kanpur, Ghaziabad, and New Delhi touchpoints.
- IRCTC announcements of additional train naming-rights deals, rate cards, or broader non-fare revenue targets.
- Social-media volume and sentiment around the renamed service relative to conventional Sprite campaigns.
- Renewal, route expansion, or follow-on partnerships with other Coca-Cola brands or rival FMCG advertisers.
- Deploy QR codes, limited-edition packaging, and station-area retailer offers to connect train exposure with measurable purchase behavior.
- Use onboard sampling, branded meal bundles, and digital screens to increase dwell-time engagement beyond exterior livery visibility.
- IRCTC packages post-campaign performance metrics into a standardized commercial-media inventory for other routes and premium trains.
- Coca-Cola evaluates extensions into station retail, railway catering, and festival-season route takeovers if recall and sales metrics meet benchmarks.
- Rival beverage brands increase scrutiny of high-traffic intercity corridors and negotiate competing transit-media partnerships.
The counter-case
The activation may be more spectacle than scalable revenue model: a three-month renaming on one route can generate earned media, but its incremental impact on Sprite sales or IRCTC non-fare income is unclear. Train passengers are a captive audience, yet exposure does not guarantee purchase conversion, particularly if onboard availability, pricing, and measurement are weak. There is also a risk that overt commercial naming erodes the premium or public-service perception of the Tejas brand.