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Food and beverages major PepsiCo India is giving its Trpoicana juice an image make-over, roping in Bollywood actor Katrina Kaif as brand ambassador as part of strategy to double business of the range by 2020.
Apart from focusing on smaller cities, rest of urban (RoU) and rural market expansion, the company is also looking at packaging innovations to enhance reach of the brand.
Given the fact that juice is a really under-penetrated category in the country, we want to be participating in the penetrative growth,” said PepsiCo India Vice President – Nutrition Deepika Warrier.
She said Tropicana is one of the fastest growing brands of the company and PepsiCo India has laid out “a pretty ambitious plan that we want to double Tropicana business by 2020”.
At present, the Tropicana master brand, including Slice and other sub-brands, is over Rs 1,000 crore, she added.
Now the company will target youth, making Tropicana “an enabler in lifestyle for the time-pressed millennials who find their own health and nutrition hacks and to suit their individual lifestyles”.
On the distribution front, she said PepsiCo India has a redefined strategy through its strategic partnership with bottling partner, Varun Beverages Ltd (VBL) for sale and distribution of Tropicana range of juices along with Gatorade and Quaker Value-Added Dairy in north and east India announced in January.
“The north and east regions together account for 80 per cent of the juice market in India,” Warrier said, adding VBL’s reach will help the brand more than double the distribution reach in these regions, with a focus on rest of urban (RoU) and rural market expansion.
In south and west India, Tropicana will be sold through PepsiCo’s system for core carbonated beverage.
The target for Tropicana is to reach 2.5 lakh outlets in 330 towns from one lakh in around 80-100 towns at present, she added.
Warrier also said PepsiCo India could consider smaller pack sizes for Rs 10 as compared to the current entry level size of Rs 20 as it looks to penetrate deeper in the rural markets.
Besides, innovations like transparent packaging in order to convince consumers that the juices don’t contain preservatives may be looked at, Warrier said.