There is something really-really abnormal going on with the marketing at Pepsico.
After Pepsi MAX, they have yet again come up with a flop cola and with that endangering again the positioning of the mother brand.
The marketing echelon at Pepsico have deemed Pepsi Atom as their second 'mainstream' cola. They claim that the product was INNOVATED (like we don't know whats a jaljeera) to suit the Indian palate.
I discern a consumer research veering in a terribly wrong direction.
The Indian soft drink is a 14000 crore market. The cola segment is being dominated by Thums Up, gorging in approximately 15% market share since its inception.
A brand so successful, so strong, that Coke(the owners Thums Up) had to make an exception in their global policies to accommodate Thums Up.
The essence to successful branding is undoubtedly consistency. And Thums Up has "consistently" maintained its rough, rugged and brawny masculine positioning.
Now, this "second mainstream" cola is essentially being targeted at Thums Up, by titling it as the 'Josh Cola'.
Its overtly visible that Pepsi has terribly underestimated the might of Thums Up's entrenched positioning.
Thums Up has had the first mover advantage, it has been consistent, but more importantly it has been successful in garnering "acceptance".
Any Cola which tries to challenge that massive positioning will have to struggle, struggle a lot! It would require each and every aspect of the offering to be in complete harmony with each other and sadly, Pepsi Atom does not stand a chance.
I did a survey as to how the people found the taste of Pepsi Atom. Well, its hopelessly pathetic! Many are giving a similar response that it tastes like some ayurvedic medicine, chyavanprash to be precise. So, on the product aspect the offering falls flat on its face.
They should have conducted a better consumer research before wasting resources on this product. They claim it Indo-vation, innovation for India. Its very sad that even after spending two decades in India, the company could not understand the Indian psyche.
Yes, Jaljeera is a traditional flavor enjoyed by Indians. But, the occasion, frequency and usage of jaljeera is entirely different from that of a Cola! just because masala flavored chips are a hit, you can't extrapolate the same to a cola.
Its often claimed that FMCG sales are driven by heavy marketing, promotion and branding.
So, to push this flop product the marketers face a formidably daunting task. And what they have come up with, can in no way push this product for long. It may at max sell as an ephemeral fad because of Pepsi's brand power.
The positioning is vague and struggles between brains of sprite and brawns of Thums Up. The company is trying to make this bunny of a product fight with a lion like Thums Up.
Thums Up has India's biggest star power on its side, Salman Khan and Akshay Kumar. Why would the company chose a new comer, so new that he has only one movie that too not as a sole lead to his name, to compete with the star power of the big daddies of Bollywood.
So, the promotion and branding is also nothing over a prosy mediocrity.
Overall its going to be a flop product combined with a flop branding which the company has deemed as its 'BIG' launch and have declared to spend heavily on distribution and marketing on this inconsistency.
I can foresee some cash burning.
Feel free to express your opinion.
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Take care :)
Sanmeet im in lucknow these dayz and also travelling to kanpur....here the company actually recalled its ATOM stock 2 days back as people did not like it....(as said by the vendors here)
ReplyDeleteI guess it has started correcting there mistakes...
nice article sanmeet.. reminds me of the same situation of coke-vanilla nd pepsi blue.
ReplyDelete@Atish , thanks for your input buddy. Its good that the company is not wasting its precious resources on this product.
ReplyDelete@Amit, thank you for your appreciation. BTW pepsi blue was never intended as a regular product, it was launched during some major cricket event to exploit the fad.
I think the negative reactions and bad press would in turn fuel a Succès de scandale.. its notoriety is attracting attention and experimental consumption might help clear existing stock and a little more.. maybe Pepsi could use the negativity and 'power' it to some extent to reap the cost of sowing.. ;)
ReplyDeleteNicely Written Sanmeet. This product is surely a waste of resources.
ReplyDelete@akshay, anyway in the food and beverage category initial trial rate for a brand like Pepsi is considerably decent. Though, repurchase might not happen. They might be able to clear the stock, but its difficult to recover the marketing expenditure done so far.
ReplyDeleteMoreover, they have employed the costliest media platform for the launch - IPL. Thanks for the response bro.
@Amandeep Thank you very much mate.
Cokes are well partnered with chips especially lays , i have tried pepsi atom with lays…..”the green one” it make the whole experience of combination pathetic …………
ReplyDeleteThis piece is so true! I too surveyed some people for their feedback on Pepsi Atom (me included) and surprisingly the word chavanprash was spoken by many.This product is a flop already, big big waste Pepsico!
ReplyDeleteWhat amazes me is that if we with meager resources and common sense at our disposal can make out the response for the product, how can a Goliath like Pepsi could not do it. May be they are too over confident with their brand value
DeleteThanks for the comments
as far TVC is concerned...they mean to say, "hosh se kaam lo" (macho banane se pehle socho man!)....
ReplyDeleteand their tagline goes contrast -> The Josh Cola !
so completely agree with your comment..."struggles between brains of sprite and brawns of Thums Up" :)
Nice article!!
haha, nice observation prashant. Thanks for the comment.
DeleteI got Atom on the very first day and the drink lasted for more than 5days before it had to be dumped into the garbage can still half empty. I would imagine this to be a marriage between a filthy product and an unharmonious campaign. Well written Sanmeet.
ReplyDeleteHahaha ..good 1 pinaki :)
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