Whether it’s getting M S Dhoni and his boys to play a game of cricket with young fishermen in the backwaters of Kerala to promote ‘My Pepsi, My Way’, or constructing checkdams and recharge ponds in Paithan to create a recharge potential of over 700 million litres of water and promote its ‘sustainability’ strategy, PepsiCo India is doing it all. In an interview with Leslie D'Monte & Shahana Joshi, PepsiCo India Chairman Sanjeev Chadha explains the roadmap as the company is close to completing 20 years in India. Edited excerpts:
How has the journey been so far?
I am with the company since its inception in 1989 and have seen it grow into one of the largest beverage and snack foods company in the country. This year, in particular, has been outstanding. Our foods business has been growing the fastest, and so has our beverages business. Our investment in India has crossed $1 billion, and it's just a matter of time before the additional $200 million investment is cleared by the government. Our company has around 5,000 direct employees currently and nearly 150,000 people including suppliers and distributors.
What has worked for you?
We are not just Pepsi but PepsiCo, which means we not only have beverages but also a wide variety of food categories — right from Aliva, which is a baked cracker, to Quaker (Oats). This also signifies that we not only cater to the youth but also to families and older people. From our surveys, we have discovered that many people over the age of 40 eat Quaker.
So you plan to sharpen your focus on the health segment too...
Yes. Currently, around one-third of our portfolio comprises what we term as healthier choices. We hope to expand these categories soon, which will account for 50 per cent of our portfolio.
What about rural markets?
We believe there are two Indias -- one which wants to stay healthy, and one which does not have enough to eat. For the first India, I have explained our strategy of healthy choices. For the other India, PepsiCo is planning to launch Project Aasha, to address micro-nutrient deficiency in children. So PepsiCo aims to manufacture low cost ready-to-eat and drink foods and beverages for which we are exploring tie-ups with NGOs and state governments. We may not make money initially, but it's fine with us. We want the programme to be sustainable.
What about the use of new media in your campaigns?
This October, for instance, Pepsi launched the Pepsi ‘What’s Your Way?” campaign where Youngistaan gives cool solutions to tricky day to day situations which often land them in a fix. Whether it is engaging with the 30 million youth on the internet or connecting with 250 million youth on their mobiles, the ‘What’s Your Way!’ campaign, is a conversation between the Youth & Pepsi in an enviro-nment where they are most comfortable.
