Business and Marketing Strategies of

PEPSI in India

Project Report Submitted by: SMRUTI RANJAN DORA, NMIMS, MUMBAI

Dated: 13-07-2014

ABSTRACT
India has been an unparalleled market for Pepsi in several ways.
Despite the alarming Pesticide Controversy in 2003 and 2006,
thanks to Pepsis constitutional brand equity in India, nothing
could mar its phenomenal growth in the country. Along with
JWT, the agency handling its brand advertisements, Pepsis
marketing and business strategies has been instrumental in its
survival and growth in Indian Market against all odds. The
panache and energy with which it carries out its advertisements,
cries out its slogans, Pepsi has been successful in descending in
the consciousness of its Indian consumers. And its objective has
been simple: Quenching the Thirst. The following report is an
attempt to give an insight into the various strategies adopted by
Pepsi, some of which have change the tide of Cola war in its
favor and some which have simply fallen flat.

INTODUCTION
India has more than a 50 billion market in soft drinks that grows at 6-7% annually. PepsiCo has a
34.1% market share and Pepsi as a product enjoys a 9.8% market share in India (Fig.1) and is
outsold by Thums Up and Sprite in the Indian Market (Fig.2). Thums Up and Sprite comes from
the house of Pepsis arch rival, Coca Cola. The per-capita bottle consumption in soft drinks is 5-6
bottles per year in India. Therefore, Pepsi has a plethora of opportunities ahead of itself to gain
momentum in its sales and revive its marketing strategies to become the brand that outsells all
other rival brands. REF.1

Fig.1

Fig.2

MARKETING AND BUSINESS STRATEGIES:

PepsiCo in India has planned an investment worth 33000 crores to expand its market in India by
2020.REF.2 "India is a country with huge potential and it remains an attractive, high-priority
market for PepsiCo. We've built a highly successful business in India over the course of many
years and we believe we've only scratched the surface of the long-term growth opportunities that
exist for PepsiCo and our partners," chief executive officer Indra Nooyi said in a statement. This
move came after Coca Cola announced its plan to invest $5 billion to expand its presence in the
Indian
Market.
Looking back, PepsiCo entered Indian market in 1989 thereby gaining the vantage of an early
start over Coca Cola in India. It launched its partnership with the very popular R.P Goenka group
of companies and later went ahead to partner with the government of Punjab and launched Lehar
Pepsi. Well known singer, Remo Fernandes and actress Juhi Chawla were among the first to
endorse Lehar Pepsi in its immensely popular ad campaign, Yehi hai right choice baby. After
this, through a spurt of customized ads, captivating catchphrases comprising hybrid of English
and Hindi words, product innovations and a right mix of celebrities to have the brand endorsed,
Pepsis Marketing strategies have been an interesting case study for many.
Over the years, Pepsi has remained faithful to its target market offering mid-priced products and
catering to a premium segment: Youth in Tier 1 and Tier 2 Cities. Youth for Pepsi is a universal
class; an all encompassing one and it refuses to shift its focus away from them. Pepsi finds
Cricket and Bollywood to be the two major arenas where it can address its target crowd.
Therefore, time and again, this organization has relied largely on celebrities from these two
segments to capture the imagination of Youth of this nation. And it has done so exceedingly well
by tapping into the energetic, rebellious, irreverent, audacious and impatient mindset of the
Youth through its memorable campaigns.
To achieve the objective of this report it also becomes incumbent to understand and analyze the
strategies adopted by Pepsis major competitors as well. They have majorly influenced many of
its marketing decisions; good and bad. When one thinks of the competitors in soft drink market
in India, the one name that cannot be overlooked is Coca Cola. Although Dabur, Cadbury and
Parle Agro should also be listed as PepsiCos competitors, but undoubtedly the fiercest battle
fought for a whale of portion in the ever growing soft drink market is between PepsiCo and Coca
Cola. Coca Cola arrived in the Indian market on 1993 after a hiatus of 16 years. It has since
become an iconic status in this market. Despite Pepsi as a product outselling Coke in several
parts of the country, Thums Up and Sprite are the two products from the house of Coca Cola that
commands a larger market share than Pepsi. The battle has been fought with bared teeth, many a
times adhering to a series of ambush campaigns to slander respective market shares.

Classification:
The Marketing and Business strategies of Pepsi can be classified into the following groups:
1. Pricing
2. Positioning
3. Innovative Campaigns
4. World Cup association: Title Sponsorship
5. Covert Advertisements
6. Ambush Marketing
7. Indovation: Innovating products
8. Targeting Health conscious groups
9. Advertisement: Broadcast, Outdoor and Print
10. Creating Sharing Wealth
PRICING:
PepsiCo in India has followed an aggressive pricing strategy to grab a large chunk of soft drinks
market share. Indian market is price sensitive. There is an acute economic inequality. It has
many a times cut its prices to compete and match to the pricing strategies of its arch rival, Coca
Cola.
It has recently lowered the price of its 200 ml returnable glass bottle of Pepsi by Rs. 4 and has
decided to sell the product at Rs.8. The move came after Coca Cola followed the same pricing
strategy for coke and dropped the price of 200 ml coke from Rs.10 to Rs.8 earlier last year, to
gain a better market share than Pepsi. This sounds a good pricing move by PepsiCo. Pepsi enjoys
a market share of 9.8% in the soft drink pecking order while Coke is just behind Pepsi with an
8.5% share. However, Coca Colas cash-cow Thums Up and Sprite still outsell Pepsi with a
vantage point of higher market share of 15% and 14.8% respectively. A price drop of 20% may
harm Coca Cola more than the 33% price drop by Pepsi. Being the cheapest among its
carbonated beverages Coke stands the risk to endanger the sales of Thums Up which is still being
sold at Rs. 10.REF.3
One should also note that Pepsi decided to make this strategic move a few months before the
festive season of Oct and Nov. This does look promising in elevating the sale volumes of Pepsi
in the coming months. Since 20-30% of industry sales come from the Returnable Glass Bottle
(RGB) segment, it can prove to be a good decision for Pepsi to have responded to this Price fight
now and not back when Coke made the move. Pepsi could have suffered severe margin losses if
it had followed suit back then.REF.3
Also Mr. Sanjeev Chadha has been appointed as the new CEO of Asia, Middle East and Africa
(AMEA) region.REF.3 He is known for bold and aggressive marketing strategies and this can
significantly help Pepsi regain its foothold in India in comparison to Coke.

Rural Markets are extremely price sensitive and since the rural Market comprises roughly over 7
million people, profits may dwindle severely if the pricing strategy isnt carefully drafted and
executed. A similar scenario was witnessed back in 2003 when Coke had slashed price of its
product to Rs.5. Pepsi soon followed suit but eventually had to withdraw its move as profits
ebbed.
One of the major strategy failures that seem to have engulfed PepsiCo in India is its lack of focus
on the rural segment. Pepsi rules the rooster in the Urban Market Segment. Urban cities are less
price sensitive as compared to rural market. The emotional connect to a product like soft drink is
incomparably low in rural markets and is more of an impulse driven buy. Thereby it becomes
crucial to continually devise competitive pricing strategies to increase the sales momentum and
consequently earn and maintain loyalty of the consumers. Coke on the other hand gives Pepsi a
stiff competition with respect to Price reduction coupled with deep distribution in rural markets.
POSITIONING:
Pepsi in India has always positioned itself with a brand philosophy that categorically targets the
youth. Since its dawn in the country, it has focused religiously on the youth sentiments. As and
when the sentiments of the youth changed in the country, so did the positioning of Pepsi. From
frivolous, impatient youngsters to responsible and opportunity seekers, it has encompassed all
the mindsets of the youth through its logo, advertisements, campaigns and messages. With the
Oh Yes Abhi campaign now, it positions the brand with the Youngistaan Brigade.
Cricket and Bollywood being the two biggest fixations of the youth, Pepsi has actively employed
august personalities from these two domains. They are hailed as the trend setters and source of
inspiration for the youth of the country and hence, Pepsi has used their attributes and qualities in
fortifying its brand image in the mindset of its target customer. With changing times, Pepsi has
changed its brand ambassadors to suit the mindset of the youth and thereby remain young as a
brand in the consciousness of its consumers. From Juhi Chawla to Deepika Padukone, Aamir
Khan to Ranbir Kapoor and Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar to Unmukt Chand, Pepsi has always
positioned itself as a brand of the current age.
Pepsis latest call to use popular emoticons in its logos created brouhaha in the global market and
also in the Indian Market. It proved out to be a significant way to reach out to the target
consumers.
Also, it has traversed miles to connect to the youth in the digital media. The Youngistan Anthem,
several contests, polls, online music concerts, effective employment of Facebook and Twitter
pages to reach out to the masses has proved out to be a blockbuster move.
However, this is where Pepsi also loses out to its rivals, Thums Up and Sprite from the house of
Coke. These are products that have a significant presence in the rural market. Unlike Pepsi which
has stuck to its core theme of representing youth, Coca Cola has successfully experimented on a
variety of themes such as happiness, rejuvenation, refreshment, replenishment, masculinity
(Thums Up), Smart minds (Sprite). Such themes have struck a chord with the rural market and

the urban cities together and the results are out there for everyone to see. Thums Up and Sprite
outsell Pepsi in the Indian market.
INNOVATIVE CAMPAIGNS:
The purchase of a soft drink is an impulse decision and therefore one needs to ensure that the
target customer identifies with the brand and develops an emotional connect. Therefore, it
becomes of utmost importance for the Cola Company to advertise and promote its brand at the
right time and at the right place at the cost of having to spend a fortune to arrest the attention of
its consumers. Pepsi has set up exemplary standards when it comes to advertising its products
through innovative campaigns.
All the campaigns under Pepsis belt have spoken to one target consumer, the Youth of this
nation, always. Although each time it tries to associate a different aspect to connect to them. It
has employed several celebrities from the world of Cricket and Bollywood to convey its message
through its campaigns. So far an array of actors including, Aamir Khan, Shahrukh Khan,
Amitabh Bachchan, Juhi Chawla, Aishwarya Rai, Kajol, Rani Mukherjee, Saif Ali Khan, Preity
Zinta, Fardeen Khan, Priyanka Chopra, Kareena Kapoor, Ranbir Kapoor, Deepika Padukone and
sports persons; Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Virender Sehwag, Ishan
Sharma, Robin Uthappa, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina, Vijender Singh and many more have been
associated with Pepsi as its Brand ambassadors. Cricketer Unmukt Chand is the present brand
Ambassador of Pepsi. REF.4
The campaigns have been customized with catchy slogans that use a hybridized set of Hindi and
English words, Hinglish. This is in coherence to the language the youth in urban cities use in
their day to day life and hence can relate immediately to the catchphrase. Very few corporate
brands have been able to mix globalization with a regional flavor with such a resonating effect as
Pepsi has.

1. Yehi Hai Right Choice Baby, Aha! ,1990:

This was the period that was witnessing the unfolding of Pepsi Era in India. Hence, the slogan,
Yehi hai Right Choice Baby was synonymous to the liberalizing period when India was readying
to open doors to several MNCs and accepting a plethora of choices. It conveyed the idea that
India is waking up to carbonated drinks and given all the choices that this country can have,
Pepsi is the rightmost choice. The credit for the slogan was shouldered by JWT, the agency
handling PepsiCos brand advertisement.
The campaign began with an ad featuring Remo Fernandes and Juhi Chawla (Fig.3) and its
sequel was followed by an ad featuring Aamir Khan, Mahima Chowdhary and introduced
Aishwarya Rai. It became a runaway success and Brand Pepsi was established.

Fig.3
2. Ye Dil Maange More, 1999-2006:
This catchy slogan had an immediate strong connect to the youth. It
featured prominent personalities namely, Shahrukh Khan, Sachin
Tendulkar, Amitabh Bachchan and Pawan Kalyan. The ad was
directed by Ad Guru Prahlad Kakkar (Fig.4).
Such was the popularity of this campaign that it became a battle
slogan and Captain Vikram Batra, a martyr who served Indian Army
during 1999 Kargil War, used the slogan during the war period. A
bollywood movie, Dil Maange More, starring Shahid Kapoor was
also named after this slogan.

Fig.4
To prevent business entitiles from using this slogan for their benefits and promotions, PepsiCo
had to actively litigate it to employ the sole rights for its usage.
This campaign is also believed to be a follow up of an ambush marketing strategy employed
against Coke during 1996 World Cup
3. Ye Pyaas hai Badi, 2000:
This campaign brought together eminent film-stars like Shah Rukh Khan, Saif Ali Khan and
Preity Zinta to endorse Pepsi (Fig.5). This idea behind the slogan was to trigger a bigger thirst
among youth who are ever thirsty for more opportunities and hence want more from their life. It
was also launched in Tamil Nadu under the name, Indha Dhagram Perisu.

Fig.5
4. Yeh hai Youngistan Meri Jaan, 2009:
This time Pepsi, yet again catching up to the changing times, roped in Ranbir Kapoor and
Deepika Padukone for the first time (Fig 6). The ad also featured Pepsis brand ambassador Shah
Rukh Khan. It followed an undifferentiated targeting strategy catering to teens, young adults
from metros. The psychographics pertained to the lifestyle and attitude of youth. It was launched
during the Triseries Cricket Match in February and was widely promoted through radio, outdoor,
web and wireless platforms. It also followed a warm up Youngistan campaign on MTV and gave
the youth of India a platform to voice their thoughts.

Fig.6
5. My Pepsi My way, 2009:
This campaign again was hammered out to keep youth at the centre of focus and reiterated
Pepsis connect with cricket. The campaign had an innovative ad featuring Mahendra Singh
Dhoni, Virender Sehwag, Ishant Sharma, Robin Utthappa and Praveen Kumar playing cricket on
boat (Fig.7). It defined youth as go getters and opportunity grabbers who can walk several miles
to find out what they want from their life. Youth who have an audacious self belief could
instantly relate to the theme of this campaign.

Fig.7
6. Change the Game, 2011:
This campaign celebrated the irreverence associated with youths attitude towards traditions,
rules and regulations. It voiced thoughts in line with youth having the power to fly in the face of
traditions and pave their own path by not breaking the rules, instead changing them. It featured
several cricketers with game changing moves: Mahendra Singh Dhonis Helicopter Shot,
Harbhajan Singhs Doosra, Tillakaratne Dilshans Dilscoop and Kevin Pietersens Switch Hit. All
of these ad films were innovative and became a blockbuster hit among the youth. The cricketers
were shown in painted body looks conveying energetic and unique personas (Fig.8).

Fig.8
7. Oh Yes Abhi, 2013-14:
This campaign celebrated impatience of the youth in getting the right and important things done
for them. It made impatience a virtue. Ranbir Kapoor, Priyanka Chopra were featured in its ad
campaign (Fig.9). Pepsi took to innovative digital marketing strategies through this campaign. In
Twitter, it started the #CANTWAITABHI campaign wherein it asked the youth to share their
story and impatient side and what is it that they cant wait to do. All the impatient wishes were
curated in a virtual Pepsi bottle on Pepsis microsite and the most impatient ones were then made
come true. This was quite an innovative way to entertain and eventually capture the attention of
ones target customers.

The Pepsi Music Abhi was another innovative and first of its kind marketing strategy wherein an
online concert was simulated to engage music lovers from all parts o the country.
The Pepsi Shot 60 again was another one of its kind marketing approach wherein youth were
encouraged to make most of their impatience in making a 60 second film, editing and submitting
the film in 24 hours.

Fig.9
WORLD CUP ASSOCIATION: TITLE SPONSORSHIP:
PepsiCo has spent a fortune, Rs. 160 Crore to Board of Control for Cricket to bag title
sponsorship and the tournament was officially declared PEPSI IPL 2013-14. Repucom
International, which runs an independent sponsorship evaluation business matrix, applauded
Brand Pepsi on the account that it had bagged a lions share, 67% exposure among the central
sponsors. Even brand Buzz Index gave a similar rating. Harish Bijoor, brand Specialist & CEO,
Harish Bijoor Consultants reiterated the above findings stating that Pepsi has got mind shares
that were big. REF.1
However, with controversies hitting headlines alleging cricketers involved in match fixing
charges drew attention away from PEPSI to BCCI and cricketers. Also this time with some of the
matches held outside the country, took off significant brand exposure and opportunities from
home ground.
COVERT ADVERTISEMENTS:
One of the most innovative ways to market a brand has been covert advertisements wherein the
brand and its products is highlighted and featured several times in a movie. Pepsi has engaged in
such smart advertisement moves umpteen times. It had featured itself in Subhas Ghais
blockbuster hit movie TAAL (Fig.10) and Karan Johars magnum opus My Name is Khan. It has
also been brought to news that actor Ranbir Kapoor is to be named Pepsi in one of his next
movies. Such marketing strategies incur low cost and generate high brand recall on the mind of
target customers.

Fig.10
AMBUSH MARKETING:
This is way marketing strategy to steal the rivals thunder during one of its pivotal marketing
campaigns. Ambush Marketing is usually employed during huge sporting events. The marketing
efforts of the rival companies are severely undermined through confusion in viewers and stealing
attention. Pepsis Nothing Official about It (Fig.11), the massive advertisement blitz blanketing
the ad world during 1996 World Cup is recalled as one of the classic cases of Ambush Marketing
when Coca Cola was the official sponsor of the tournament. The campaign was hugely
successful in capturing public imagination and a big chuck of mind share and Coke, as official
sponsors faced the brunt of it.

Fig.11
INDOVATION:
PepsiCo under one of its most significant marketing strategy keeps its visibility meter high by
regularly innovating and developing its products. Pepsi Atom, the pilot launch of Tropicana in
powdered form in sachets at Rs. 10 at Mumbai and Bangaluru, Nimbooz masala Soda in North
India are some of the innovations it has delved into in the recent times. Pepsi Atom has been
launched in tune with Masala Cola, Jaljeera flavor. It has been termed as INDOVATION: Indian
Innovation. Pepsi stated that the consumption patterns in India revealed a clear need for a
stronger cola in certain age bracket. However the efficacy of this new variant of Pepsi has been a
source of debate in the market. Results have not been very promising for Pepsi Atoms sales in

markets and might meet the same fate as

Pepsi Max if not revived within time.
TARGETING HEALTH CONSCIOUS
GROUPS:
Pepsi has been trying actively to unlock
growth in a new region by targeting health
conscious youngistan. It aspires to nourish the health conscious customers by including more of
nutritional products in its portfolio of offerings. These variants comprises of products with
reduced added sugar, parting with sodium and saturated fat products etc. Through its bottled
water, juices and sport drinks like Gatorades, PepsiCo is aspiring to outperform its rival.
However, Pepsis variant Diet Pepsi has not been as successful as predicted by the organization.
People drink Colas primarily to quench their thirst and tampering with its basic taste by
venturing into a product having a bitter sour taste hasnt been perceived as a smart move. The
sales volume of Diet Pepsi, hence hasnt been very impressive.
ADVERTISEMENT: BROADCAST, OUTDOOR AND PRINT
Be it the IPL season or Cricket and FIFA World Cup or festive occasions like Navarathri, Pepsi
pours out its advertisements and campaigns all over the media including Television, Radio,
Internet, Newspapers and Magazines. This not only increases its visibility manifold, but also
significantly serves as a strong Brand Recall. Promoting its campaigns on Billboards (Fig.12),
Bus-stops, Retail shop boards have been another regular yet successful strategy to increase its
connectivity with its target consumers.

Fig.12
CREATING SHARING WEALTH:
A negative publicity demands a huge price from a corporations brand image. With villagers
from several communities accusing PepsiCo of excessive usage of ground water in their parched
communities dented PepsiCos brand value Then came the infamous Pesticide controversy in
2003 and 2006 accusing PepsiCo and Coca Cola of allowing the pesticide residues from
groundwater to be included in the locally made soda. Consequently, it delivered a huge blow to

almost its entire range of products falling under the under the domain of beverages. Both
PepsiCo and Coca Cola had angrily reacted to the allegations accusing the authenticity of lab
reports and questioning the inadequate research that had been put behind the drive. Both Coke
and Pepsi came up with innovative advertising campaigns to deny the allegations. Coke played it
safe and never made a reference to the controversy in its ads. On the other hand, Pepsi chose to
use the safety issue to leverage its brand value and demand. It featured Shahrukh Khan in an ad
telling viewers that pepsi is never safe from the avaricious eyes of people like Sachin Tendulkar
(also featuring in the ad) who want to get to drink his Pepsi. The idea behind using this aspect of
the term safety was to convey that despite all controversies Pepsi is still desirable. And it
worked wonders for the organization. Pepsi survived the controversy without severe fall in its
sales.REF.5
Also during Press Interviews, all of these allegations were denied at its very foundation stating
that the Soft Drink Industry uses only 0.04% of industrial water usage; PepsiCo nevertheless
went to great lengths to do its damage control. Soon Aquafina came to be known as the top most
brands in India under bottled water category. Wells were dug in villages, rain water was
harvested and farmers were empowered with training of superior techniques for growing rice and
tomatoes. Since then, PepsiCo India through its environment friendly, sustainable development
initiatives has been able to establish its brand as a corporate citizen who is responsible towards
the society it functions in. This has not only given Pepsi a positive publicity but has also built a
safety net around itself protecting itself from any such future accusations.
PepsiCo Indias adopts a three-fold strategy to create sustainable measures in addressing the
social problems it indents to address.
1. Maintaining a positive water balance, replenishing more water than being consumed through
initiatives of recharging, replenishing and reusing water. 2009 has been marked as a
milestone year for PepsiCo in achieving this target.
2. Educating over 500 people in insulating and recycling their waste by transforming biodegradable waste into organic matter through vermin-culture.
3. Training farmers on contract farming, developing high quality potato seeds, arranging for
farmer loans and aiding citrus growers in a variety of ways.REF.5

FAILURES
1. Point Of Difference:
Pepsi loses out its arch rival Coke with regards to point of difference in its taste. There is no
unique taste of Pepsi that can be spoken of as compared to Thums Up. Thums Up has carved
a niche for itself in the rural markets in India with a very unique and different taste.
Therefore, PepsiCo needs to introduce new variants to Pepsi in the market and diversify its
portfolio with respect to local taste and requirements.
2. Creativity in ad campaigns:
Pepsi has over the years copied its ad campaigns from its global marketing campaigns, some
of them being the direct Hindi rendition of its English Slogans. Coke on the other hand has
generated a strong brand recall with its ad campaigns that establishes a connection with a
larger base target consumer. Happiness on the go, Thanda matlab Coca Cola have had a
greater connectivity with the Indian crowd both at the urban segments and rural market
segments.
Coke has also come up with some innovative campaigns such as running open trucks with
mobile fountain machines parked at places where election rallies were held.
3. Market Segment:
Pepsi has failed in developing a market in exactly where Coca Cola has established the
market for its cash cow, Thums Up: Rural Market. With the per capita consumption being
only 4 bottles per year, Pepsi should have seen tremendous opportunities in this market
segment. Thums Up operates in just 9-10 states of India and yet enjoys a bigger market share
than Pepsi. Such is the brand power of Thums Up in rural market and such are the
opportunities that lay available to Pepsi to explore and push its sales volumes in the rural
market segment.
4. Price Point Edge:
Pepsi has mostly altered the price of its bottles or size of its packages only after Coke has
made a change in the same. Moreover, one of the stiffest competitions that Pepsi faces in
rural markets is the local sellers of Chaach, Lassi and Lime Juice. Pepsi should introduce
newer variants in 150 ml bottle size at low prices, ex. Rs.5 in this market. It can gain a
significant advantage over Coke over sales volumes. This might cannibalize the sales of its
higher priced versions, but this is a marketing strategy that can be deliberated over to have a
price point edge over Coke or Thums Up.
5. Failure of Pepsi Atom and Pepsi Max in capturing markets:
Pepsi Atom had been launched to compete with Thums Up. However it failed to generate
interest among its target customers. The jal-jeera taste associated with it could not attract its
costumers and hence Pepsi Atom is at the brink of a failure. Even the marketing strategies

adopted to popularize Pepsi Atom have fizzled out to Thums Up star power backed by the
very popular Salman Khan.
Pepsi Max on the other hand was marketed widely over internet only and an order based
delivery approach was devised. The online purchasing crowd in Indian market in the soft
drink domain is quite dormant and clearly the idea didnt work out and had to be shelved off.
6. Innovations:
PepsiCo has been riding high on its innovation meter with its flagship juice brand Tropicana
being launched in Mumbai and Bangalore in powdered form in sachets at Rs. 10. It also
made quite a success with the launch of Nimbooz Masala Soda in North India and revival of
Dukes Masala Soda keeping in tune to the local taste.
It is high time for Pepsi to research well and then launch an innovative variant of Pepsi in the
Indian market considering the competition it has with Sprite and Thums Up.
Also Pepsi should not aim to compete head on with Thums Up without proper research as
Pepsi Atom is viewed as a me-too product that seeks to rival Thums Up thereby
downplaying its theme of innovation.
7. Diet Pepsi:
This was a product that intended to compete with the already established Diet Coke.
However Diet Sodas have only constituted 2-4% of the sales of carbonated drinks and Diet
Pepsi has not been successful in capturing the attention of its target customers. This is a
product that needs to be completely revamped.

CONCLUSION
Considering all the marketing strategies discussed in this report and their efficacies, it can be said
without the slightest doubt that Pepsi does has a strong brand recall, however, it is yet to reach
the top spot in the Indian Market. A brand revival strategy of Pepsi is hence, of utmost
importance to position it above Thums Up and Sprite in the Indian Market. The brand revival
strategies should be devised after a detailed SWOT analysis and a thorough analysis of all the
marking and business strategies adopted by this Cola giant over the years.

REFERENCES
1. http://businesstoday.intoday.in/story/a-rough-summer-for-pepsi-in-india/1/196312.html
2. http://www.pepsico.com/PressRelease/PepsiCo-Announces-Targeted-Investment-of-Rs33000-Crores-in-India-by-202011112013.html

3. http://www.business-standard.com/article/companies/pepsi-coke-200-ml-bottles-now-atrs-8-113093000673_1.html
4. http://sports.ndtv.com/cricket/news/204313-unmukt-chand-is-new-brandambassador-for-pepsi

5. http://www.businessweek.com/stories/2007-06-10/pepsi-repairing-a-poisonedreputation-in-india

6. http://www.pepsico.com/Purpose/Human-Sustainability/Responsible-Marketing.html
7. http://profit.ndtv.com/news/corporates/article-pepsico-to-invest-rs-33-000crore-in-india-indra-nooyi-371912

8. http://www.pepsicoindia.co.in/media/Press-Releases/release_01_13_11_2.aspx
9. http://www.business-standard.com/article/companies/pepsico-takes-the-digitalmarketing-route-in-india-112022300151_1.html