Indian Market of Soft Drinks vs Pepsi Atom

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The project gives an overview of the Indian soft drink market various players, new entrants etc. The highlight of the project is to understand the launch of PepsiCo’s new drink Pepsi Atom and its market acceptability.

PepsiCo’s drink didn’t appeal to masses. In spite of the innovative ideas, 360 degree marketing and a grand product launch the product didn’t do well.

PepsiCo being a huge company launching such a product can be questionable. One of the motives could also be that the huge campaign could help brand recall.

Pepsi Atom was target with consumers who need stronger drink. It was to attack the market share of Coca-cola’s Thums Up; however it failed.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I wish to express my gratitude to all those who have helped to make this project a success. I would like to thank my project guide, Prof. Rajesh Vyas without his guidance and support this project would not have been possible.

Also I would like to thank our director Dr.

Get quality help now

Doctor Jennifer

Verified writer

Proficient in: Cola Wars

5 (893)

“ Thank you so much for accepting my assignment the night before it was due. I look forward to working with you moving forward ”

+84 relevant experts are online

Hire writer

Kalim Khan who has provided us with the necessary infrastructure and guidance in the course of the project. Also I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the teaching as well as non-teaching staff for their continuous help and support.

INDEX
Sr. No.
Particulars
Page No.
1
Introduction

1.1
Industry Overview : Food & Beverage
6
1.1 A)
Indian Soft Drinks Market – Detailed Report
7
1.2
Company Overview : PepsiCo Inc.
12
1.3
Pepsi Atom – The Josh Cola from Pepsi
20

2
Research Methodology
22
2.1
Research Design
25
2.2
Tools for Data Collection
25

3
Data Interpretation & Analysis
26

4
Findings
40

5
Recommendations
43

6
Annexure

6.1
Questionnaire
36
6.2
Bibliography

Introduction

1. An Overview of Indian Food and Beverage Sector

The Indian food and beverage sector is huge and highly competitive in nature. The industry comprises of several sub-sectors such as fruits & vegetables, meat & poultry, dairy, marine products, grains and consumer foods. Snack is
one of the major segments of the packaged food division, which comes under the broad category consumer foods. Though the snacks market in India is dominated by the unorganized sector, the organized sector has shown remarkable growth in terms of market share in the last few years.

The report provides a snapshot of the Indian snack industry which has witnessed several changes since 1995. In the initial years, the market was dominated by two players - traditional snacks player Haldiram and 'Uncle Chips' manufacturer Amrit Agro. Later on, with the entry of global beverage and snacks player PepsiCo, the market dynamics changed completely. Now, the market is dominated by PepsiCo with its wide range of product portfolio. The other major players include Parle Agro, ITC, Parle Products, Balaji Wafers and Parle Wafers among others. A number of regional players have also entered the market in the last few years and are giving tough competition to the big players.

In 2012 India's soft drink market grew about 23% to 435.54 million rupees ($7.29 billion) from 353.77 million rupees, while the carbonated drinks business grew 13% to 179.51 million rupees from 158.71 million rupees in 2011, Euromonitor data showed.

1.1.A. Indian Soft Drinks Market – Detailed Report

1970’s and early 80’s—the entry and exit of Coke

India has proved to be perhaps the toughest battle ground for the Cola giants. Coca-Cola was the 1st international soft drinks brand to enter India in early 1970’s. Indian market was dominated by domestic brands, with Limca being the largest selling brand. Cola was the largest selling flavor with market share of 40%, Lemon drinks 31% and orange drinks only 19%.

Up till 1977, Coca-cola was the leading soft drink brand in India. But due to norms set by the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act (FERA), Coca-Cola left India and did not return till 1993 after a 16 year absence from the Indian beverage market. FERA needed Coca-Cola to reveal its secret concentrate
formula as well as reduce its equity stake which was not acceptable.

Pure drinks, Delhi launched Campa-Cola, to take advantage of Coke’s exit and by the end of 70’s, were the only Cola drink in the Indian market. In 1980, Parle, another major Indian player launched Thums Up, the drink which till date is most popular soft-drink in India. Pure Drinks strongly objected to Thums Up being called a “soft” drink as it felt its taste is too strong. For over a decade, Parle led the Indian soft-drinks market, with its market share reaching a peak of 70% in1990.

Attempt 1: In May 1985, PepsiCo joined hands with the RPG group to form Agro Product Export Limited. It planned to import Cola concentrate and sell soft-drinks under the Pepsi label and in return offered to export Juice Concentrate from Punjab. The government rejected the proposal due to its using a foreign name and importing the concentrate.

Attempt 2: Pepsi decided to play the Punjab Card by promising to invest $15 million in Punjab, establish an Agro Research centre (costing Rs 1.55 crores), a potato and grain based processing unit (costing Rs 8 crores) and a fruit and vegetable processing unit (costing Rs 5 crores). Benefits and proposal included better market for rice, wheat and fruits in Punjab, creation of 25000 jobs in Punjab and 25000 more in other areas. In 1988, government agreed. PepsiCo entered as Lehar Pepsi and by 1991, it was clear that most of its promises were just on paper.

The company did improved the productivity in India, introduced farmers to new technology, established agriculture research centers in Jallowal and Channo (in Punjab) and Nelamangla in Karnataka and invested more capital than promised (by the year 2000, total investment was Rs 18 billion), but the picture on many other aspects was gloomy. The planned operations in Punjab were delayed and as a result, local farmers had to bear a combined loss of Rs. 2.5 Million. Pepsi paid only 0.75 Rs/Kg of Tomato compared to open market price of Rs 2/Kg. Employment was provided to only 783 people as compared to 50,000 promised (although company claimed it to be 26,000 due to direct and indirect operations). It began exporting tea, rice, shrimps, glass bottles, leather products as against fruits and vegetable products. There was an even a show-cause notice to Pepsi by the ministry of commerce. Luckily for PepsiCo, in 1991, the government of India liberated the economy on grounds of severe foreign exchange crisis and Pepsi was freed from all the commitments it had made during entry.

Re-entry of Coca-Cola in 1993

On the 26th of October 1993, Coca-Cola re-entered the Indian market having acquired some of the leading Indian soft drink brands from Parle, namely Thums-Up, Maaza, Limca, Goldspot & Citra. These brands joined Coke’s portfolio of international brands i.e. Coca-Cola, Sprite, Fanta, Schweppes as Coca-Cola India took control of the top soft drink brands in India from the very beginning. From 1993 to 2003, company invested US $ 1 billion in India.

The beginning of Cola War

For the Cricket World Cup 1996, Pepsi was not the official sponsor of the tournament, Coke was. But Pepsi had a whole pool of best players roped in as brand ambassadors from the sub continent and abroad. The ad campaign of “Nothing Official About it” rocked the country and despite Coke being the official sponsor, it was Pepsi which hogged the publicity.

In 1998, with the release of blockbuster movie “Kuch Kuch Hota Hai”, Pepsi took out another ace from its sleeve, featuring Shahrukh, Rani and Kajol in its ad. The punch line was “Yeh Dil Maange More” which was an iconic line and struck a chord amongst the people.

Coca-Cola countered by spoofing the ad, using Sprite, to hilarious effect. Pepsi responded with a spoof of its own, starring Azhar and Jadeja hitting on the Coke line of “Eat Cricket, Sleep Cricket, Drink Only Coca Cola” with the punch line of “More More Cricket, More More Pepsi”. Coke again hit back, this time with Thumbs Up ad. They portrayed the cricketers as monkeys and ended the ad with “Don’t be a bunder (monkey) Taste the Thunder!” Situation turned ugly with Pepsi going to court and finally ended with Coke withdrawing the ad.

The Cola wars went on full-fledged till 2003, when a pesticide controversy forced Coke and Pepsi to fight on the same side in so called “India's New Cola Wars”.

The Controversies

Presence of Pesticides: In 2003, the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) findings stirred the beverage industry in India. CSE claimed to find dangerous levels of pesticides in all the 57 samples of 11 soft drinks brands collected by the organization from 25 different manufacturing units of Coca-Cola and PepsiCo spread over 12 states. The study found a cocktail of three-five different pesticides in all the samples - on an average 24 times higher than norms laid down by government-run Bureau of Indian Standard (BIS). Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat and Kerala banned the sale of Colas in schools, colleges and government departments, and other states also took adversarial measures.

The day after the CSE’s announcement, Coke and Pepsi came together in a rare show of solidarity at a joint press conference. The companies attacked the credibility of the CSE and their lab results, citing regular testing at independent laboratories proving the safety of their products. They promised to provide this data to the public, threatened legal action against the CSE while seeking a gag order, and contacted the United States Embassy in India for assistance. They roped in major film stars to explain their purity to public. Despite all these measures, sales dipped by as much as 80% in some regions. The soft drinks industry took over a year to get back on the growth track.

Ground Water Crisis: Coca-Cola was recently accused of ground water depletion in many areas of the country. Coca-Cola’s bottling operations – which extract hundreds of millions of liters of water from the groundwater resource – have significantly worsened the water crisis as groundwater levels have dropped sharply since Coca-Cola started its operations. The company was also accused of indiscriminately dumping its toxic waste into the surrounding areas – polluting the water as well as the land. The Coke reiterated its commitment to trim down water usage and take steps towards environment sustainability and farmer’s welfare. However, activists retort that Coca Cola is in the business of water usage and wasting, creating a luxury product largely for the middle class. They are unlikely to put water concerns over profits, until they are forced to.

The road ahead
Amidst various allegations and controversies, the soft drinks industry in India, supported by its booming economy, strengthening middle class and low per capita consumption, is growing at a cruising pace. The focus has shifted from carbonated drinks to Fruit drinks, with both the companies launching Lemon drinks in 2009-10. In the next few years, the fruit juice category is likely to carry the growth flag forward as consumers become more health conscious. The companies are likely to take more steps to deal with environment sustainability. But the Cola wars are here to stay. We as customers can be assured of superior products and hilarious ads in the process. And are we complaining?

1.2 About PepsiCo Inc.

PepsiCo is a global food and beverage leader with net revenues of more than $65 billion and a product portfolio that includes 22 brands that generate more than $1 billion each in annual retail sales. Their main businesses – Quaker, Tropicana, Gatorade, Frito-Lay and Pepsi-Cola – making hundreds of enjoyable foods and beverages that are loved throughout the world. PepsiCo’s people are united by their unique commitment to sustainable growth by investing in a healthier future for people and our planet, which they believe also, means a more successful future for PepsiCo. They call this commitment Performance with Purpose: PepsiCo’s promise to provide a wide range of foods and beverages from treats to healthy eats; to find innovative ways to minimize our impact on the environment by conserving energy and water and reducing packaging volume; to provide a great workplace for our associates; and to respect, support and invest in the local communities where we operate.

Headquarters: Purchase, New York U.S.
Area Served: Worldwide
Key People: Indira Nooyi (Chairman & CEO)
Core net revenue: $65.492 billion
(Source: Balance sheet of PepsiCo Inc 2012)

PepsiCo India

PepsiCo entered India in 1989 and in a short period, has grown into one of the largest and fastest growing food and beverage businesses in the country. PepsiCo India’s growth has been guided by PepsiCo’s global vision of “Performance with Purpose”. This means that while businesses maximize shareholder value, they have a responsibility to all the stakeholders, including the communities in which they operate, the consumers they serve and the environment whose resources they use. They are one of the largest food and beverage businesses in India. PepsiCo India’s diverse portfolio includes iconic brands like Pepsi, Lay’s, Kurkure, Tropicana 100%, Gatorade and Quaker. PepsiCo India has not only grown to become one of the country’s largest food and beverage businesses but has also become a powerful and consistent driver of PepsiCo’s global growth.

Within 2 decades, the company has been able to organically grow eight INR 1000 crore plus brands in India, which are household names trusted across the country. A growing portfolio of enjoyable and wholesome snacks and beverages PepsiCo’s portfolio reflects its commitment to nourish consumers with a diverse range of fun and healthier products. The portfolio includes several healthier treats like Quaker Oats, Tropicana juices, multigrain Aliva range which is baked, rehydrator Gatorade, Tata Water plus, Lay’s baked range and Lehar Iron Chusti fortified extruded snack with superior quality iron & B-vitamins.

Model partnership with over 24,000 farmers: PepsiCo has pioneered and established a model of partnership with farmers and now works with over 24,000 happy farmers across nine states. More than 45 percent of these are small and marginal farmers with a land holding of one acre or less. PepsiCo provides 360-degree support to the farmer through assured buy back of their produce at pre-agreed prices, quality seeds, extension services, disease control packages, bank loans, weather insurance, and the latest technological practices.

Global leader in water conservation: 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 and has been Water Positive since then. The company made this possible through innovative irrigation practices like direct seeding, water recharging, and by reducing the consumption of water in its manufacturing facilities. PepsiCo is lauded for its efforts for water conservation.

Care for the environment: PepsiCo is focused on reducing its carbon footprint. Nearly 30 percent of its energy is today generated from renewable sources such as rice husk boilers and wind turbines. Initiatives such as reduction of use of chemicals, eco-friendly packaging initiatives and efficient waste management help reduce load on the environment. PepsiCo India’s award-winning Waste to Wealth recycling program reaches 465,000 families.

Exemplary employment practices: PepsiCo India presently employs 6,400 people and provides indirect employment to almost 2,00,000 people. The company believes in providing employment and growth opportunities to local talent. Its ‘College of Leadership’, ensures early identification of talent, and employees’ focused development through critical experiences. The company emphasizes “Winning with Diversity and Inclusion” and has a significant number of women in the leadership team in India. PepsiCo India has won the prestigious Hellen Keller Award from the National Centre for Promotion of Employment for Disabled People (NCPEDP).

Brands of PepsiCo in India

PepsiCo India has various brands under its umbrella the food and beverage industry in India. It enjoys second position in terms of market share, at 34.1% in an aerated drinks industry which is valued at Rs. 14k Cr.

Foods

PepsiCo’s foods division Frito-Lay is the leader in the branded salty snack market. All its products are free of trans-fat and MSG. It manufactures Lay’s potato chips, Cheetos extruded snacks, Uncle Chipps and traditional snacks under the Kurkure and Lehar brands. The company’s high-fibre breakfast cereal, Quaker Oats and low-fat and roasted snack options like Aliva increase the number of healthy choices available to consumers. Aliva

Cheetos
Kurkure
Lay’s
Lehar Namkeen
Quaker Oats
Uncle Chipps

Beverages

PepsiCo India’s expansive portfolio includes iconic refreshment beverages Pepsi, 7UP, Nimbooz, Mirinda, Slice and Mountain Dew, in addition to low calorie options such as Diet Pepsi, hydrating and nutritional beverages such as Aquafina drinking water, isotonic sports drink Gatorade and fruit juices such as Tropicana and Tropicana 100%. 7UP

Aquafina
Duke's
Gatorade
Mirinda
Mountain Dew
Nimbooz
Pepsi
Slice
Tropicana

PEPSI

Brand History

Pepsi is a hundred-year-old brand loved by over 200 million people worldwide. The largest single selling soft drink brand in India, Pepsi is ubiquitous on just about every social occasion. Youngistaan loves it. 200 million people worldwide love it. But what has made Pepsi the single largest selling soft drink brand in India is actually a formula concocted a century ago in a faraway continent. 1886, the US. Caleb Bradman, a man with a plan formulated a blockbuster of a digestive drink and decided to call it Brad’s drink. The potion was to become Pepsi Cola in 1898, and eventually, Pepsi in 1903. Since its inception, Pepsi has always been at the forefront of the beverage industry and has come up with revolutionary concepts such as Diet Pepsi, 2l bottles, recyclable plastic cola bottles and the enviable My Can.

Brand Advantage

Pepsi has become a friend to youth and youth culture. Over generations, youngsters have grown up with Pepsi and have shared an emotional connect with it unlike with any other cola brand. Be it parties, hangouts with friends, or just another day at home, a day is never complete without the fizz of Pepsi! Pepsi has always fuelled youth passions like cricket, Bollywood, music and now football. Youth icons like MS Dhoni, Ranbir Kapoor, Didier Drogba, Virendar Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar, Priyanka Chopra and Deepika Padukone have endorsed Pepsi since its launch in India.

Pepsi Changed the Game during the 2011 cricket world cup by challenging convention, celebrating the unorthodox and by becoming the official sponsor of everything that was unofficial about the sport! Change the Game even as a thought has gained enormous popularity and generated tremendous buzz. Taking the same theme forward in 2012, Pepsi changed the game yet again by taking the lead in celebrating the exciting new platform of football. Having brought the biggest international football stars and pitching them against the mighty Indian cricketers in a classic faceoff for Pepsi – is something which only a brand like Pepsi can deliver.

Quick Brand Facts

Flagship brand of PepsiCo.
100 year old brand loved by over 200 million people worldwide. An iconic youth brand in India.
The single largest selling soft drink brand in India.

1.3 Pepsi Atom – Josh cola from Pepsi

Created for the Indian market, in collaboration with Pepsi-Co's global innovation team, it is a result of extensive flavour development and consumer testing in the country. The cola, the latest addition to the fast growing branded beverage market in India, is available across the country. It comes in a bold black and blue packaging including a 250 ml My Can at an introductory price of Rs 15 and a 500 ml PET bottle at Rs 25. 200 ml returnable glass bottles (RGB) are also available in select markets at Rs. 10. Introductory prices, however, may vary slightly in different markets.

Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput is its brand ambassador.

See beyond senseless stunts and exaggerated action.
Get ready to get real with the Pepsi Atom, the Josh cola from Pepsi. Piyo Josh Mein. Jiyo Hosh Mein

PepsiCo India vice-president (beverage marketing) Deepika Warrier said Pepsi Atom addresses the consumer need for a stronger, fizzier cola with a sharp taste hit. “From robust distribution to large-scale sampling; high-visibility launch at Pepsi IPL to an insightful and relatable campaign, we have aggressive plans,” she added

PepsiCo spoofs Thums Up with its Atom campaign

The Atom commercial reminds us of the old Thums Up ad. The launch campaign of Pepsi Atom brought spoof advertising back to the cola war turf after years. For at least 10 years, Thums Up has been showing extreme daredevilry in its advertising, through actors such as Akshay Kumar and now Salman Khan. The Atom ad shows a macho man getting slapped by a woman after he mistook her husband for a thief and then the smart guy comes and offers him Atom.

Pepsi’s new ATOM to fizz over TOOFAN

With an estimated market share of 15%, Thums Up aka TOOFAN is the undefeated champion in the Rs. 14000 cr. Indian soft drinks market. The local brand from the house of Parle Agro was sold to Coca-Cola and then started a journey the buyers never dreamt of.

Coca Cola apparently tried to kill the brand once they got hold of it. But, they misread the market and had to channelize the brand in a whole new avatar. The Indian Youth of 80’s and early 90’s were more flaunting in nature and Thumps Up added the zing to this macho era.

But with the launch of Spicy Pepsi, there can be a tough completion. PepsiCo the title sponsors of IPL who have bagged the pouring rights for the event, spent approximately Rs. 160 cr. over a span of 50days. ATOM is launched into the markets as internal completion to Thums Up. High Carbonation is the only difference that makes Thums Up a leader in it segment. With the huge failure of Pepsi Blue, this new variant looked a lot promising.

Some questions that will be answered towards the end of the report: 1. IPL has started to lose out in terms of viewership, is it safe to put money in this platform? 2. Yougistan was much appreciated, but are they on the right move with their ‘OH YES ABHI’ act? 3. Spicy gives it a Desi Kala Khatta effect, so is it positioned right? 4. It’s hard to play with Consumer Taste Preferences, is the right move taking the approaching summers into consideration?

2. Research Methodology

What is Research?

Research is a logical and systematic search for new and useful information on a particular topic. It is an investigation of finding solutions to scientific and social problems through objective and systematic analysis. It is a search for knowledge, that is, a discovery of hidden truths. Here knowledge means information about matters. The information might be collected from different sources like experience, human beings, books, journals, nature, etc. A research can lead to new contributions to the existing knowledge. Only through research is it possible to make progress in a field. Research is done with the help of study, experiment, observation, analysis, comparison and reasoning.

Research can be conducted by a proper and systematic method. Research methods are the various procedures, schemes, algorithms, etc. used in research. All the methods used by a researcher during a research study are termed as research methods. They are essentially planned, scientific and value-neutral. They include theoretical procedures, experimental studies, numerical schemes, statistical approaches, etc. Research methods help us collect samples, data and find a solution to a problem. Particularly, scientific research methods call for explanations based on collected facts, measurements and observations and not on reasoning alone. They accept only those explanations which can be verified by experiments.

For any research to be accurate and upto the mark, one needs to collect data and information and conduct analysis accordingly. Thus data collection has to be done. Data can be collected in mainly two ways:

Primary data collection
Secondary data collection

1. Primary Data:

The primary data is that data which is collected fresh or first hand and for first time which is original in nature. Primary data can be collected through personal interview, questionnaire, experiments, survey etc to support the secondary data. Primary data can also be collected by observation. Primary data collection gives a personal touch to the data. It also requires field visits. Primary data is not easily available as one has to go for field visits.

2. Secondary Data:

The secondary data are those which are already collected and stored. Secondary data can be easily obtained from records, journals, annual reports, web-blogs, periodicals, magazines. Easily available after the invent of electronic media.

For this project primary data has been collected by questionnaire filling method. Secondary data is also used from company websites, other research websites, books and reference material. Recommendations are given on the basis of personal observations and responses received by asking verbal questions to respondents. Data collected by questionnaire is based on sample method.

Sampling

Sample is a subset of elements from population. It can be better explained as a process of selecting members or elements of a sample from a given population. A bunch of people have been considered, and considered as a universe and sampling is conducted on them.

Probability Sampling Methods – A mathematical chance of selecting respondents. There are number of probability sampling strategies that can be used that vary in their complexity. They are: Simple

Systematic
Stratified
Proportionate
Cluster
Multistage

Simple Random Samples:

Under this method of sampling the potential people you want to interview are listed e.g. a group of 100 are listed and a group of 20 may be selected from this list at random. The selection may be done by computer. Simple random sampling is the most straightforward of the random sampling strategies. We use this strategy when we believe that the population is relatively homogenous for the characteristics of interest.

For example, let’s say you were surveying first-time parents about their attitude towards mandatory seat belt laws. You might expect that their status as new parents might lead to similar concerns about safety measures. On campus those who share major might also have similar interests and values; we might expect psychology majors to share concerns about accesses to mental health services on campus.

2.1.A Research Design
Primary data was collected for understanding consumer preferences Secondary data was used for the competitive analysis.
Data available on the internet was used in the research.

2.1.B Tools for Data Collection:
Primary Data Collection was done through responses collected from questionnaire. The competitive analysis had to be done on the television commercials of the competitors. Secondary data was also collected through various websites.

Data Interpretation and Analysis

Inference:
It can be seen that out of the sample size of 100, 86 people consume aerated drinks. This shows that the market for soft and aerated drinks is huge. The
soft drink market today is estimated to be at 14000K Cr. (July’13 A.C.Neilson report).

Inference:
The awareness about various brands is very well known in the market. All brands are equally known by the consumers. Even the newly launched drink Rio- by Silver Ice Beverages is well known to the masses.

Inference:
The above chart shows that the major reason behind people not consuming soft drinks is that they find it unhealthy. The unhealthy factor could be due to excess sugar, or the way it affects the tooth. Also a major chunk does not like its gaseous effect.

Inference:
PepsiCo did a high visibility launch of the product in IPL. PepsiCo roped in Kai Po Che star Sushant Singh Rajput as their brand ambassador. Pepsi Atom has a huge brand recall.

Inference:
Pepsi Atom’s first commercial was released on 1st May’13. The commercial was shown during all the breaks during the IPL matches, the frequency was huge. Thus the highest level of awareness about the product was created by TV commercial. Apart from this, their facebook page also gave them a good engagement ratio.

Inference:
Out of the entire sample 86% people said they consume soft drinks. Out of this only 47% people have tried Pepsi Atom. These are mostly the first time buyers. After the huge media spends and the kind of buzz created this ratio could have been better.

Inference:
Pepsi Co. launched Pepsi Atom as a strong drink to compete with Coca-cola’s Thumps Up which has a standalone market share of 15% in the Rs.14000 cr. soft drink market. The commercial was an direct attack to Thums Up ads which shows macho men doing high end stunts. But the following research shows that this was not very much appreciated by the masses. The ad couldn’t even create an interest for consumers to try Pepsi Atom.

Inference:
The following data analysis clearly shows that people were dissatisfied with the taste of Atom. Almost 50% found its taste to be bad. Pepsi Atom was an innovation by PepsiCo which was targeted at the Northern region, which demands a stronger fizz. But Pepsi Atom couldn’t satisfy the taste buds of Indian consumers.

Inference:
The fizz content of Pepsi Atom was more than satisfactory, which is a added advantage for the product. Even then huge chunks of approximately 33% were not satisfied with the level of fizz.

Inference:
The colour of the product is like any other black colour drink; hence not much could be said about this parameter.

Inference:
The packaging of the bottle is very stylish, agreed almost 50% of the respondents.

Interference:
The product is priced according to industry levels. The product is available in tetra packs as well as returnable glass bottles and is priced same as PepsiCo’s other beverages or Coca-Cola’s other products.

Inference:
PepsiCo had invested huge amount in the distribution channel of Pepsi Atom. Also spent a lot of amount in its marketing, thus it can be seen that the availability was very good.

Inference:
The SKU of Pepsi Atom was on par with other industry players. This can be seen in the above bar diagram.

Q.9 How different is Pepsi Atom’s taste from other products? This question was answered by individuals by mentioning how they actually found the taste. A snap shot of the same is given below:

Inference:
72% repondents denied making a repurchase of Pepsi Atom. If there are no repurchaes it will certainly affect the brand Pepsi as an entity.

Inference:
PepsiCo conducted a sampling and engagement exercise for Pepsi Atom with over one million consumers across key centres. It said the new brand was in line with its commitment to the Indian consumer. In spite of this 50% of the respondents found the taste to be inappropriate. The market research could be faulty in this case.

Findings:

Taste: The taste of Pepsi Atom did not touch the tongues of people. Pepsi Atom tastes like cinnamon cola; people preferably do not like taste of cinnamon into cola. It actually feels like one is having some spicy cola. I had also come across a random opinion which mentioned Pepsi Atom tastes like liquefied chawanprash. This chawanprash type taste can certainly lack acceptability to people who like to consume Pepsi along with their meals.

Branding v/s Reality: The branding of Pepsi Atom did very powerfully keeping in mind all the factors: Brand Ambassador like Shushant Singh Rajput, a powerful event campaigning and above all positioning it as ‘Josh Cola From Pepsi’. Since it was supposed to be positioned against ‘Thumbs-up’, it campaigned it as Josh Cola. Positioning a spicy cola as Josh cola is merely nothing but an exaggeration. Josh cola builds a perception that it’s an energy drink which is not the reality.

Product Innovation: Its time when people are getting health conscious. Since cola drink are not considered healthy to consume, Pepsico could have thought of drink with combination of Cola and some energy ingredients making it a real energy drink for Machos (Young Adults). It would have been best way to shoot thumbs-up.

Recommendation:

The product should be discontinued immediately and sent back to R&D department. If not this than at lest the advertising spends on this product should be stopped with immediate effect. Pepsi Atom’s packaging was very much appreciated by the masses; PepsiCo can use this packaging on other product or on some new product which it may launch in future. Coca-cola has reduced the prices of their product which has helped in increasing the sales. PepsiCo can also adopt this strategy. Coca-cola reduced their advertising spends and all that cash was used here. PepsiCo has received a huge brand re-call during this IPL span; hence advertising now is not very much needed.

PepsiCo India President Manu Anand Quits

Manu Anand, region president for India and South Asia at beverage and snacks company PepsiCo, quit the company on Wednesday, 20th June’13. PepsiCo India's overall share in April was lower than last year, with Coca-Cola managing to increase market share in the same period. PepsiCo's market share in April this year fell to 29.7% from 32.1% over the same month last year, Coca-Cola increased its market share to 48.3% from 45.8%.

PepsiCo had been banking heavily on the IPL T20 and spent a record Rs 160 crore on the tournament, but Coca-Cola grew faster in the period was the final trigger for Anand's exit. PepsiCo had paid the cricket board Rs 396 crore to buy title sponsorship rights for five years of the IPL starting this year -- double of what previous title sponsor, real estate firm DLF, had paid. The spend, media buyers, believe, over-estimates the potential of
the controversy-ridden IPL.

What Coca-Cola did?
To match PepsiCo's heavy ad spends in the summer season, Coca-Cola has dropped prices of 200-ml glass bottles to Rs 8 in most markets. Coca-Cola has also been discounting heavily in sales to trade and pushing multi-serve packs such as 400 ml, 300 ml glass bottles and 500 ml PET bottles.

Annexures

Questionnaire

Name: _____________________________________________________

Contact no.: _________________Email id: ______________________

Age group
12 yrs – 18 yrs
19 yrs - 30 yrs
31 yrs – 45 yrs
46 and above

Gender:
Male
Female

Occupation:
Employed
Business
Self-employed
Student
House-maker
Retired
Others ________________

1. Do you consume soft drinks?
a) Yes
b) No
(If yes please skip question no. 3)

2. From the following soft drinks which ones are you aware off? a) Pepsi
b) Coca-cola
c) Fanta
d) sprite
e) Limca
f) Thums-up
g) Mountain Dew
h) Rio
i) Appy Fizz
j) Miranda
k) 7 Up
l) Any Other __________________

3. Please share with us the reason for not consuming soft drinks? a) Its unhealthy
b) Allergic to such drinks
c) Do not like the gaseous effect
d) Do not like the overall taste
e) Do not like the sweet taste
f) Others: _______

4. Are you aware of Pepsi Atom?
a) Yes
b) No
(If yes go to next question, if no please exit the survey)

5. Please share with us the mediums through which you became aware about Pepsi Atom? a) TV
b) Radio
c) Print
d) Outdoor
e) Internet
f) Friends and relatives
g) Others (Please specify) _____________

6. Have you ever consumed Pepsi Atom?
a) Yes
b) No
(If yes skip the next question and go to questions no 8, if no answer next question)

7. Please share with us the reasons why you never consumed Pepsi Atom. a) It was not available
b) The advertisement couldn’t create interest for me to try Pepsi Atom c) Doesn’t find it to be worth the price
d) Loyal consumer of other brand; Please mention the name of the other product ______________ e) Others : ______________

8. Kindly rate Pepsi Atom on the basis of the following parameters, 1 being lowest and 5 being highest a) Taste
b) Fizz
c) Colour
d) Packaging
e) Price
f) Availability
g) Volumes/Sizes
9. Does it have a similar taste to any other product? If yes, please mention the name of the similar product : ________________

10. Will you purchase Pepsi Atom again?
a) Yes
b) No
(If yes exit the survey; thank you for participating. If no then proceed to next question)

11. What is that you did not like about Pepsi Atom
a) The taste was not appropriate
b) Highly carbonated
c) Gives a burning sensation
d) Not worth the price
e) Others ______________

Bibliography

Source
The article is published in the 2010 edition of theAnnual Marketing Magazine titled "MADazine" of VGSOM, IIT Kharagpur.

https://www.facebook.com/pepsiatompepsi
http://www.campaignindia.in/Tag/pepsi_atom.aspx
http://pepsicoindia.co.in
http://www.pepsico.com/