: There is no way you would have missed it.

PepsiCo’s new “Aamsutra”

Flip to another channel and you might catch Coca-Cola’s “Maaza Lao Aam Ki Pyaas
Bujhao” that’s decidedly less in-your-face. Rather churlish, as a petulant father begs for
mangoes from a fruitless tree, from the fruit vendor, until his imaginative son flips open a
bottle of Maaza for him.

The difference in the approach of the two cola companies is not surprising, given that
Coca-Cola’s strategy has always been to cut its appeal across to the whole family. Proper
to the core, unlike the more pesky PepsiCo.

And therein hangs the tale. Of the two cola companies once again at each other’s necks
but with a markedly different segment in mind. This time the fight is over a slice of the
non-carbonated, packaged mango drink market that has been growing at 25% (in volume)
over the past few years.

The Rs 1,500-crore juice market (includes juices, nectars and fruit drinks) in India,
according to industry estimates, logs sales of 600 million cases every year. Of this,
almost 90% is consumed out of home. Only 10% of this 600 million cases (that is, 60
million cases) are sold in bottles and tetrapacks. The rest, 90% of the juices, are sold
loose.

Looking at the market from another perspective, Indians consume nearly 120 billion litres
of beverages every year, out of which only 4% are ready-to-drink packaged beverages.
This is true for both sparkling and still beverages, including fruit juices. Undoubtedly,
this represents a huge opportunity for the ready-to-drink (branded) segment.

The potential for growth is so vast that recently, Coca-Cola launched Minute Maid Pulpy
Orange, an orange-based pulpy drink to extend its portfolio in the fruit juice drink
segment. The same year, it introduced Maaza in a 250-ml PET bottle priced at Rs 15, and
a 200-ml tetrapack of Pocket Maaza priced at Rs 12, implying a saving of another Rs 3
per carry bottle.

Slice, meanwhile, is available in 250-ml (Rs 10) and 200-ml (Rs 8) returnable glass
bottles, besides 200-ml tetrapack (Rs 12) and 500-ml (Rs 22) and 1.2 litre (Rs 48) PET
bottles. In 2008, rising to the mango bait, Slice decided to increase its stake in the game.
It came out with a new 3D mango logo and brought Bollywood actor Katrina Kaif on
board, thereby upping its ante in positioning Slice as a serious contender to category
leader Maaza.
The battlelines were drawn last year when Maaza launched a campaign that positioned
the drink as the “Bina Gutli Wala Aam” (seedless mango), to make Maaza synonymous
with mangoes, a la “Thanda Matlab Coca-Cola”. Thereafter, although Leo Burnett’s
“Maaza Lao Aam Ki Pyaas Bujhao” was thought of as a powerful metaphor for the
irrepressible mango craving in most Indians, the general consensus is that in execution at
least, JWT’s Kaif commercial is more sensual, if not more memorable.

Conceding to this erotic posturing, Homi Battiwalla, business head, juice and juice
Drinks, PepsiCo India, says, “Slice has seen powerful consumer momentum post the
relaunch of 2008. The new formulation and the clutter-breaking positioning around
Aamsutra has driven strong disruption in the juice and juice drink category.”

Meanwhile, a lot is happening in the rival camp as well. The spokesperson for Coca-Cola
India claims the company managed to deliver its 10th straight quarter of growth in India
with unit case volume increasing almost 28% in the last quarter of 2008. Slice and Maaza
have to also contend with Dabur’s Real Mango juice and Parle Agro’s Frooti, though
they operate in a different category. PepsiCo also has Tropicana and Tropicana Twister
(in the health portfolio) in the pure juice category.

The stakes are high for both Coca-Cola and PepsiCo. In terms of consumer preferences,
85% of the 60 million packaged juice cases (that is, 50 million) are mango-based juices,
nectars and drinks with Coca-Cola’s Maaza claiming a market share of 40% (of the 50
million cases) and Parle Agro’s Frooti and PepsiCo’s Slice, trailing not too far behind.
The domestic processing capacity of mango is 12,000 tonnes per day during the fruit
season, according to market estimates.

The Indian yearning for the continental fruit however is so strong that PepsiCo had to roll
back its other fruit variants launched under the Slice umbrella in 2002. These extensions
cost the brand in terms of both market and consumer mind share. While competitors
Maaza and Frooti concentrated on the mango flavour, Slice frittered its energy into
reworking the Slice portfolio.

Observers contend that the promotional investment behind the brand was never consistent
with the proposed goal. Slice didn’t stick to a consistent positioning either. While Frooti
and Maaza touted themselves as drinks based on ‘real’ mangoes, Slice sold itself as a
purveyor of joy—“Simple Joy ka Raas’’—something that didn’t really give it a strong
positioning platform.

By 2006, when PepsiCo realised the need to build the equity of Slice more aggressively,
Maaza had created a strong position in the market along with leader Frooti. Slice was
relaunched in 2008 in a new avatar. At last, Slice anchored itself as a mango drink. The
brand launched a very smart campaign—Aamsutra.

Commenting on the new competitive positioning of the two cola companies, Samit Sinha,
managing partner of Alchemist Brand Consulting, says, “To me, Slice appears to be
gunning for a relatively older—late teens and above—audience, while Maaza seems to be
targeting children.

In addition, Maaza is trying to position itself as the real mango drink, a perfectly
acceptable and convenient alternative to eating fresh mangoes, thus adding an element of
innocent, good fun and humour. Slice, on the other hand, is attempting to eroticise the
fruit and turn it into a sexy brand.”

“In short, as always, Maaza is going the safe route—low risk-low gain, while Slice has
decided to take a higher risk and a more radical approach, the relevance of which, I’m not
entirely sure of,” adds Sinha.

The jury is still out on this one.

Fruits of labour

Maaza was launched in 1976 in India. The Union Beverages Factory, based in the United
Arab Emirates, began selling Maaza as a franchisee in the Middle East and Africa in
1976. By 1995, it had acquired rights to the Maaza brand in these countries through
Maaza International Co LLC Dubai. In India, Maaza was acquired by Coca-Cola India in
1993 from Parle-Bisleri along with other brands such as Limca, Citra, Thums Up and
Gold Spot. Parle-Bisleri still owns the Maaza brand in select markets (such as the US)
through Maaza Beverages Inc. Maaza has a distinct pulpy taste as compared to Frooti and
tastes slightly sweeter than Slice.

Slice was introduced in India in 1994. Over the years, the brand has launched several
distinct ad campaigns. Building on its positioning of “Pyaar Ho Jayega”, last year, it
signed on Bollywood’s leading siren Katrina Kaif as its first brand ambassador.
Incidentally, she will also be the face for Slice Mangola, the mango drink of Mumbai.
Last year, Slice associated itself with Bollywood movies and tied up with Yashraj films’
Jhoom Barabar Jhoom. In 2008, Slice relaunched with a new logo and a catchy tagline
“Absolutely Mangoluscious.”

Vodafone and Airtel

Vodafone and Airtel are both co-sponsors of the IPL 2009. Vodafone’s zoozoo ads and
Airtel’s Lovebirds ad campaign has charmed viewers, so much that the breaks do not
seem agonizing anymore. While Vodafone’s zoozoo ads are exciting and fun, Airtel’s
Madhavan-Vidya series of ads are soothing and romantic.

Each of these Vodafone zoozoo ads highlight various services and offers of Vodafone
like phone back up, dating tips, beauty tips, stock tips, star of the match etc. The cute
white figures with oval shaped heads have caught the fancy of many people. Are
Vodafone zoozoo characters humans or animation? Find it out here.

While Vodafone has gone for the cute zoozoo entertainment, Airtel has targeted the youth
segment with its ‘love birds’ campaign. Airtel ads have Madhavan(who was initially the
brand ambassador of Airtel down south) opposite Vidya Balan in different scenarios,
where they cuddle against each other or chat casually. Madhavan subtly gives a romantic
and endearing touch that flatters Vidya Balan by the end of ad.

Airtel has adopted a subtle stand for the ad, it does not advertise in loud tones: the
signature tune, the characters and the chemistry is enough to bring in the revenues. So
which ad has the right amount of resonance with the consumer: Vodafone Zoozoo ads or
Airtel lovebirds ad?