PepsiCo
India plans to relaunch Duke’s range of beverages, more than six years
after taking the century-old lemonade brand off the shelves. The brand
will be test-marketed in Mumbai initially, with new flavours such as
raspberry, masala soda, gingerale and ice-cream soda. PepsiCo, which
will retail Duke’s in retro packs, is attempting to gain volumes in the
country’s growing lime and lemon-flavoured fizzy drink market, dominated
by rival Coca-Cola India.
“Duke’s flavours were once part of every Mumbaikar’s life,” said Deepika Warrier, director marketing, beverages, at PepsiCo India. “And now is the time to identify region-specific opportunities and give them the right kind of focus.”
PepsiCo India acquired Duke & Sons from the Pandole family in 1995. For almost the next decade, Duke’s products remained a key constituent of Pepsi’s portfolio in the western market before it withdrew them in 2004 to focus on national brands.
Pepsi launched lemon drink Nimbooz two years ago and has been pushing the brand, banking on its familiarity with homemade nimbu pani. But it still isn’t a match for citrus-flavoured drinks. Experts say Pepsi’s strategy with Duke’s could help it gain more volumes. “Since it’s a relaunch, it is a good move to launch variants to get more volume out of one brand,” says brand consultancy DY Works president Alpana Parida. The variants should, however, relate to the core equity of the brand just as Fair and Lovely variants retain the-“fairness” proposition, she said.
In the lime and lemon flavoured fizzy drinks segment, Pepsi’s rival Coca-Cola India is the market leader. In the first half of this year, Coca-Cola brand Limca’s market share by volume stood at 18% and Sprite’s 11%, according to market research agency IMRB. In comparison, Pepsi’s 7UP has a 4% market share and Mountain Dew 5%.
“Duke’s flavours were once part of every Mumbaikar’s life,” said Deepika Warrier, director marketing, beverages, at PepsiCo India. “And now is the time to identify region-specific opportunities and give them the right kind of focus.”
PepsiCo India acquired Duke & Sons from the Pandole family in 1995. For almost the next decade, Duke’s products remained a key constituent of Pepsi’s portfolio in the western market before it withdrew them in 2004 to focus on national brands.
Pepsi launched lemon drink Nimbooz two years ago and has been pushing the brand, banking on its familiarity with homemade nimbu pani. But it still isn’t a match for citrus-flavoured drinks. Experts say Pepsi’s strategy with Duke’s could help it gain more volumes. “Since it’s a relaunch, it is a good move to launch variants to get more volume out of one brand,” says brand consultancy DY Works president Alpana Parida. The variants should, however, relate to the core equity of the brand just as Fair and Lovely variants retain the-“fairness” proposition, she said.
In the lime and lemon flavoured fizzy drinks segment, Pepsi’s rival Coca-Cola India is the market leader. In the first half of this year, Coca-Cola brand Limca’s market share by volume stood at 18% and Sprite’s 11%, according to market research agency IMRB. In comparison, Pepsi’s 7UP has a 4% market share and Mountain Dew 5%.
No comments:
Post a Comment