The onslaught of summer has begun, and so has the marketing blitzkrieg of one of the biggest cola makers in India—PepsiCo. Vipul Prakash, VP - Beverage Category, PepsiCo India tells us how the brand is aiming to offer consumers more choice via product campaigns for 7Up, 7Up Nimbooz Masala Soda and Revive
Q] What was the insight behind ‘Hum Toh Hai Like This’ campaign of 7Up?
When we ask consumers about what 7Up means to them, we hear words like ‘authentic’, ‘real’, and ‘refreshment’. We realized that consumers yearn to go back to their authentic self, defying pressures to change or be compliant with the societal norms. So we put together the ‘Hum toh Hai Like this campaign’ which is all about celebrating one’s authenticity and really doing what one feels like.
Q] What is the marketing mix for this and which medium is the focus of your ad spends?
It will be a 360 degree campaign. Television will play a big part of it and so will out of home, hoardings, shop fronts and digital. It’s basically very close to a traditional mix for a brand during summer time.
Q] You have simultaneously released product campaigns for 7Up Nimbooz Masala Soda as well as Revive, why did 7Up choose to not space out the ads?
Looking at it from a manufacturer and a marketer’s point of view, your question makes a lot of sense i.e. why don’t we do one campaign every two months to be active throughout the six months. But I am true to the consumer needs, it’s not like somebody is a Revive consumer, somebody is a 7Up consumer and someone else is a 7Up Nimbooz Masala Soda consumer, the same consumer during different points of the day feels the desire and need for different brands. From a manufacturer’s perspective we can say that logic of staggering out the marketing is okay, but from a consumer point of view it is not. Also, because Nimbooz Masala Soda and Revive are still in their early stages, we thought it is important to establish 7Up as a trademark for authentic refreshment which will satisfy your needs irrespective of whether you need a carbonated soft drink or Nimbooz, or Nimbooz Masala Soda, or Revive. Thus, we decided to advertise all three products under the same umbrella together.
Q] You launched Revive in two states, Kerala and Tamil Nadu last year and now decided to go national with it, what kind of response did it see in the two states?
We got great consumer response and thus went national with it in February this year. It has just established the need for a hydrotonic product. Consumers believe 7Up Revive is an answer to that. So, we obviously got the right results on important matrix like repeat rates which is critical for any new product to succeed.
Q] How has Anushka Sharma helped to add value to brand 7UP?
She has been great for 7Up and for Nimbooz Masala Soda. The property is all about authenticity and mischievousness which Anushka is a right fit for. Very rarely have I seen this sort of a personality match with the brand. We released our first advertisement with her, last year which became a big success so we decided to continue the story, and are very happy with the results.
Q] Aerated drinks have been known to bank a lot on brand ambassadors, how important is it to have one for a popular brand like 7UP today?
For us the conversation doesn’t start with whether or not we need a celebrity. The conversation always starts with what is the brand idea, and our agencies and partners are well aware of that. In some cases we believe that having a celebrity helps, be it about creating early awareness, or being a great fit with the brand which makes it easier to communicate the brand values. In some cases we believe that the story we want to tell can actually be told better without a celebrity. Let’s take the example of the two variants we have launched, Nimbooz Masala Soda has a celebrity because we feel that it’s easier for us to communicate what this new product is about, because it’s such a great fit with Anushka. On the other end, we believe that 7Up Revive is a functional product. We had to educate the consumers about the need for 7Up Revive i.e. a hydrotonic drink when you sweat. It required communication and not a celebrity. A brand like Pepsi uses celebrities in some campaigns and goes without them in others. Bottom line, if the celebrities help the brand idea, we take them, if they don’t, we keep them out.
Q] With people becoming health conscious, what is your strategy to get them to pick up a carbonated drink?
Yes, consumers are becoming health conscious. Therefore, the corollary of that is consumers are looking for a portfolio of choices. When they want an aerated drink, they pick Pepsi. When they want a juice, they pick Tropicana and when they sweat, they need 7Up Revive. So, the solution is in offering a portfolio of choices. Our goal is, whatever the consumer needs on a particular occasion, there should be something from the PepsiCo portfolio to satisfy his need. So, it’s not so much about aerated drinks versus water versus juice versus hydration drinks versus other things. It is about having a right basket of portfolio which the consumers love. Over the last three-four years we are offering them a far wider choice than what we used to.
Q] You spoke about two ends, Tropicana and Pepsi, are there plans to blend the two by adding more fruit juice in fizzy drinks like some of your competitors?
Yes, we are working very seriously on the addition of juice to our carbonated soft drinks. In fact 7Up Nimbooz Masala Soda which has 5% juice content is one such product. 7Up Nimbooz Masala Soda is a CSD with juice. You are right, categories will start blurring. Marketers like us will have to look beyond categories and focus on consumer’s need. But fact remains that a consumer doesn’t see 7Up Nimbooz Masala Soda as an aerated drink or a juice. It is just that he or she loves the taste of it and may want to drink it at times.
Q] Cold drink companies are increasingly localizing their beverages as opposed to the older trend of banking on the globally tried and tested flavours, why?
I will answer this question in two parts. Is there a trend of reviving traditional flavors? Yes, there is. However, it will never be an either or situation, it’s not that consumers don’t want Cola or Lemon drinks and are choosing only traditional drinks. The consumer is just asking for more choices. The second part of the question is--are the new drinks being introduced at the expense of the earlier one? No, we want both of them to co-exist so as to allow the consumer to choose.
Q] Can you a share a marketing experience?
Very recently we launched 7Up Revive, in a full sleeve packaging in blue. While doing some consumer work in Tamil Nadu and Kerala, we got the feedback that people try Revive not because of the television advertisement, but the packaging. If they like the packaging, they spend time to read about what is inside--- the electrolytes and vitamins, realize that it’s a hydrotonic. You devote 30-45 seconds to a TV ad but spend anything between two to 20 minutes with the packaging. That was a big learning.
Q] How do you leverage packaging to make your brand stand out?
We had not leveraged enough on packaging in our marketing mix earlier. So as we enter the summer of 2016, we are really focusing on packaging in a big way, be it Nimbooz Masala Soda, 7Up which we have changed to a full sleeve packaging, or Revive. Even our recent Pepsi Emoji campaign is actually a shelf to media campaign and really starts with the packaging. If you go to the supermarket today, hopefully the shelf of PepsiCo products will look different from what it did last year and will thus will have a better engagement, connect and consumption.
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