Fruit beverage brands, which have so far been avoiding the digital advertising medium, are catching up fast.
Take market leader Frooti, which had virtually no presence online till recently. The Parle group beverage brand, which went through a major revamp with its new tetra pack and ‘Why grow up’ campaign, is now shedding its initial reluctance. To begin with, Frooti will have a microsite focused on its new campaign. “The brand will take these fresh initiatives to avoid staleness,” Raj Kurup, chairman and chief creative officer, Creativeland Asia, the advertising agency for Parle Agro’s brands like Frooti and Appy, says.
Even Maaza, the premier juice drink brand, is working on a strategy to leverage the online media. Currently, the brand’s communication is limited to the mass media advertising, out-of-home (OOH) media, point of sale merchandise and on-ground initiatives. “We are constantly evaluating innovative options to connect with our consumers and a recent example of that is our clutter-breaking Out-of-Home initiative in Kolkata, which is a personification of a billboard into a tree which bears the Maaza tetra packs. As far as online media is concerned, it is an evolving space but one that can offer significant advantages in enhancing consumer connect. We have plans to leverage the online media in the Maaza brand strategy and are already working towards it,” a Coca-Cola spokesperson said.
Similarly, post the relaunch of Slice last year with Katrina Kaif as its brand ambassador, PepsiCo too has begun to engage with its audience and consumers on-line. It has set up a micro-site www.mangoslice.com and offers exclusive content on Katrina, including wall-papers and photo-galleries on the site.
“There is a lot of user-interest and excitement around us online. Going forward, we have plans to increase our presence on the web and leverage the net for building stronger connect and engagement with our audience,” says Homi Battiwalla, business head, juice & juice drinks, PepsiCo India.
Not everybody is as gung-ho, though. Rasna, for example, had experimented with the online medium two years ago and spent Rs 50 lakh for space on some of the popular sites like Yahoo. But the experiment didn’t succeed, as Rasna has decided to stick to the traditional advertising space.
Phiruz Khambatta, chairman and managing director, Rasna, feels the online medium is more effective for auto, telecom, finance sectors where one needs to do research to take a decision.