Ruchira Jaitley, Senior Director – Social Beverages, PepsiCo India, says the brand is targeting the millennial audience with the Pepsi Challenge through different platforms
By SALONI DUTTA
Q] As part of the global Pepsi challenge, Pepsi India is taking part in a first-of-itskind short film that will include footage from UrtheCast – the world’s first fullcolor Ultra High-Definition video system located aboard the International Space Station (ISS). How is the brand planning to leverage this for marketing and what are some of the plans to drive this campaign?
When it was first unveiled, even we were surprised at the scale of what we were planning – a story that spans 12 countries and four continents is tough albeit done before; however, to do it with two cameras which are located in outer space is completely novel. With the ultra high-definition video system of the UrtheCast cameras and leveraging the creative and artistic direction of eight-time Grammy award winning entertainer Usher for producing the short film, all put together it spells ‘you are the cast’ for Pepsi consumers. It is about getting millennials across the globe to talk about culture while building a story that spans music, video, technology. Over and above that, in India we have triggered something called ‘In The Cast’. #InTheCast is an opportunity to send a message to outer space via this camera. We have also selected 34 tweets which are now a part of this large symbol of hope, the Diya that we will create and can be seen from space. We will be sending all these tweets, shooting and making larger content out of it so that the messages of hope and peace come across; messages that the world just needs now more than ever.
Consumers have been giving good feedback about the idea and there is something about it that just transcends nationality and other affiliations. Millennials are part of a culture, they are not part of a country and they are not limited by conventional boundaries or in the way they think. In his role as a curator, a global artist like Usher adds a lot to the mix. We are hoping that this gets even more popular and are planning to time it in such a way that it resonates with the audience and is a meaningful message of what we stand for and what the millennials can impact.
Q] What does the brand gather from the millennial audience?
Earlier this year Pepsi launched the new #PepsiChallenge globally and at the heart of that was all that we know about the millennials today. We did a lot of research, globally in India. Since its inception, the #PepsiChallenge has been a mix of digital and social challenges – some global like UrtheCast but also some of these are local like Crash the Pepsi IPL or PMI Unbox challenge. This talks to the larger insights that we have garnered on the millennial audience. The work started in India about a year ago when we were saying ‘where are the millennials going’ and globally also this is something that we believe is important. Firstly, millennials do look for a way to leave a lasting impact and believe that there are boundless opportunities and possibilities around them. The second aspect is that a lot of these insights are global. They aren’t about India alone. And it is what brand Pepsi has always stood for – challenging the status quo, all for a better outcome.
Q] How are you preparing for the post-millennial generation that sees the smartphone as a utility rather than technology?
The fact that the Pepsi Challenge is so big on digital and social has actually helped us engage with consumers across touchpoints. We have had all kinds of challenges in the past – design challenges, sports challenges, music and dance challenges – depending on which country you are in and how it has been activated. For us in India it made sense to further leverage the audio-visual format. We had already done a similar exercise with Crash The Pepsi IPL and so there is no dissonance there. At the end of the day, all of us have been shaped by similar cultural nuances. All of us use mobile today as a utility, some more than the others. So everything that we have done on Pepsi literally ties in with what is happening with our consumers and what we have seen as behaviour around us.
Q] What are the different platforms used by PepsiCo to propagate brand messages?
Social is a large part of what we do, whether it is common social platforms or broadcasting social platforms, it is an important part of digital for us. Additionally there is a lot of content that is being consumed. And that is why with #CrashThePepsiIPL we were clear that it is not just about being a part of the challenge but equally creating content which can be shared and also simply watched by an audience. The top-of-mind recall on the creatives that came in and were aired on TV spoke volumes about the success of the campaign. This doesn’t mean that agencies don’t do good work; it just means that when it comes from the consumers who are creating the content, the desirability of that content goes up dramatically. For this UtherCast challenge as well, we are collaborating with every single player, large and small alike including Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, but equally there will be a Rocketalk, other such social platforms as well. At the end of the day, it is going where consumers are, where their interests lie and where they are consuming content.
Q] How is PepsiCo aiming to create a global cultural fluency and yet remaining relevant to the local audience?
Marrying global and local has been Pepsi’s DNA since the beginning. That is what has endeared us to consumers here for the last 25 years. We have always been proudly global but humbly local. Some of the most evocative expressions around Pepsi have been those where we have leveraged both global and local, so whether it was Dil Maange More which actually came from a global insight, Live For Now or Live It Abhi – it has always been the best of both worlds and our audience has always responded to that.
Q] How is PepsiCo trying to be different in the cola segment in India?
Pepsi has a strong and ingrained brand image. We are a much-loved consumer brand in India and will continue to build that kind of consumer resonance. This year with Pepsi Challenge we have gone to that next level of engaging across platforms and media and doing it in a way which not only has a global scale but will also have a local connect with local platforms. We stay committed to saying ‘how do we make Pepsi more and more relevant for India’.
ABOUT THE BRAND
PepsiCo entered India in 1989 and has been consistently investing in the country, building an expansive beverage and snack food business supported by 37 beverage bottling plants and three food plants. PepsiCo India’s portfolio includes brands like Pepsi, Lay’s, Kurkure, Tropicana 100%, Gatorade and Quaker. Within two decades, the company has been able to organically grow eight brands that generate Rs 1,000 crore or more in estimated annual retail sales and are household names across the country. In 2009, PepsiCo India achieved a significant milestone, by becoming the first business to achieve ‘Positive Water Balance’ in the beverage world, a fact verified by Deloitte Touché Tohmatsu India Pvt. Ltd. The company has been Water Positive since then.
FACTS
CREATIVE AGENCY: JWT
MEDIA AGENCY: MINDSHARE
SOCIAL & DIGITAL MEDIA MARKETING AGENCY: AUTUMN WORLDWIDE
BTL/ACTIVATION AGENCY: COLLATERAL
PR AGENCY: GENESIS BURSONMARSTELLER
CMO FILE
Ruchira Jaitly is the Senior Director – Social Beverages at PepsiCo India. She manages Pepsi, Mountain Dew, Mirinda and 7-Up brands and has been working for PepsiCo for over 10 years. Jaitly started her stint at PepsiCo with the snacks brand Kurkure. She also worked on global brands like Lay’s and Cheetos as category director for Western snacks until August 2011. Prior to PepsiCo, she was with Unilever India in sales and brand management for personal care products over a span of six years. Jaitly is a graduate of St Xavier’s College, Mumbai with a management degree from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad.
MARKETING TIP
Take risks and don’t be afraid of failure.
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