The Eveready story: From ‘Give Me Red’ to staying relevant after 120 years

In the Indian advertising circle, batteries were boring for the longest time. But just three words changed that notion in 1993. ‘Give Me Red’ was a battery ad that did not feel like one.

It had the attitude of the young and the unstoppable. Schoolkids said it. College goers yelled it. It made advertising history in a country where most brands played safe. Overnight, Eveready became more than just a product.
Almost 33 years later, the same three words are being whispered with a different kind of urgency inside Eveready’s boardrooms. Not as a slogan but as a warning. Because the red the company once wore as a badge of swagger is now the colour of a balance sheet under pressure.

To add to the woes, the Indian battery industry is staring at a recycling mandate it cannot easily comply with.