PepsiCo India aims to Double Biz By 2020, Ropes In Katrina Kaif For Promotion
PepsiCo India aims to Double Biz By 2020, Ropes In Katrina Kaif For Promotion

As a part of the strategy to double business, Food and beverages major PepsiCo India is giving its Tropicana juice an image make-over, roping in Bollywood actor Katrina Kaif as brand ambassador.

Apart from focussing on smaller cities, rest of urban (RoU) and rural market expansion, the company is also looking at packaging innovations to enhance the reach of the brand.

"Given the fact that juice is a really under-penetrated category in the country, we want to be participating in the penetrative growth," Deepika Warrier, Vice President Nutrition, PepsiCo India said.

She said Tropicana is one of the fastest growing brands of the company and PepsiCo India has laid out "a pretty ambitious plan that we want to double Tropicana business by 2020".

At present, the Tropicana master brand, including Slice and other sub-brands, is over Rs 1,000 crore, she added.

Commenting on the repositioning of the brand, Warrier said, "Earlier Tropicana was seen as an international aspirational brand and we were targeting to young adults and metro consumers as a complement to rushed breakfast."

Now the company will target youth, making Tropicana "an enabler in lifestyle for the time-pressed millennials who find their own health and nutrition hacks and to suit their individual lifestyles".

“PepsiCo India has a redefined strategy through its strategic partnership with bottling partner, Varun Beverages Ltd (VBL) for sale and distribution of Tropicana range of juices along with Gatorade and Quaker Value-Added Dairy in the north and east India announced in January,” she shared her thoughts regarding the distribution front.

"The north and east regions together account for 80 per cent of the juice market in India," Warrier said, adding VBL's reach will help the brand more than double the distribution reach in these regions, with a focus on rest of urban (RoU) and rural market expansion.

The target for Tropicana is to reach 2.5 lakh outlets in 330 towns from one lakh in around 80-100 towns at present, she added. In the south and west India, Tropicana will be sold through PepsiCo's system for core carbonated beverage.

Warrier also said PepsiCo India could consider smaller pack sizes for Rs 10 as compared to the current entry-level size of Rs 20 as it looks to penetrate deeper into the rural markets. Besides, innovations like the transparent packaging in order to convince consumers that the juices don't contain preservatives may be looked at.

 
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