PepsiCo to make Nimbooz available nationally by October end

Rahul Kapoor - Televisionpoint.com | New Delhi
In India, where about 55 per cent of the population consumes nimbu paani (lemon water), the launch of Nimbooz in the North and West markets in February this year seems to reduce the calculated risk by PepsiCo India, a leading food and beverages company,

PepsiCo India plans to scale up distribution and the presence of Nimbooz, its packaged lemon juice drink and aggressively drive trials to popularise the product. Now, with scaled up supplies and aggressive marketing initiatives, PepsiCo will strengthen the brand's share in the existing markets and capture new ones.

PepsiCo India intends to make Nimbooz available nationally by end of October by covering remaining markets like Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Orissa and coastal India. It was launched in West Bengal on Monday.

Alpana Titus, executive vice-president, flavours, PepsiCo India, says, "West Bengal is a priority market for us. In markets like North, West and South India, we are already generating great scores on awareness trials and repeat purchases."

According to Titus, with Nimbooz, the company has created a different playing field. While declining to give projected sales targets, she said, "We want to gain a share from the unpacked category, which at 1 billion eight ounce cases, is about twice the total CSD (carbonated soft drink) business."

Titus added, "We need to be innovating and be present in more businesses relevant to the Indian customer. We have plans to scale up capacities and even launch variants in the future. But for now, we intend to drive trials very aggressively. We are planning to use the Puja as a platform to carry out more sampling activity."

PepsiCo is also very strong in its outdoor marketing strategies. For instance, it has focused around Ramzan, the month-long Islamic religious observance, members of the community refrain from eating and drinking from dawn till sunset and break their fast at a stipulated time.

Nimbooz has conceptualised the idea and installed a giant Nimbooz branded billboard with a programmable digital clock that displays the daily, city specific Iftar (opening of a fast) time, along with a message that reads: 'Jab ghadi Iftar ka waqt dikhaye, ekdum refreshing Nimbooz ho jaye!'.

The specific Iftar time for each day is adjusted every morning and is displayed throughout the day. Iftar takes place in a group with other members of the community, with people gathering right after Maghrib or sunset time. The billboard thus urges the audience to commence Iftar with Nimbooz and has been strategically executed in the Jama Masjid area of Old Delhi.

The Ramzan campaign will continue till the festival of Eid, to be celebrated on September 21. The campaign has been created by BBDO India and executed by Platinum Outdoor, the OOH (out of home) division of Madison Media.

In August, to celebrate the Independence Day in the 'ekdum asli Indian' way reminiscent of Nimbooz' positioning, PepsiCo distributed two lakh kites and maanja (threads) to kids belonging to Arya Orphanage and also well-known NGO (non-government organisation) HumSafar in Delhi and NCR.

Also, these NGOs joined hands with PepsiCo for distribution of the kites to school children in Municipal Corporation Delhi, government and semi-government schools and in slum areas. Actor Jas Arora was roped in by the company for distribution of kites and threads at the NGOs.

The campaign was amplified on radio and outdoor. As part of the outdoor campaign, billboards had the picture of a Nimbooz bottle and cut outs of kites placed on both sides. These were connected with a thread and the copy read 'Ho Jaaye Independence Day. The Asli Indian Way!'.

The radio spot invited listeners to come to the Nimbooz sampling stalls and take away free kites and threads. The focused areas for sampling were west, central old Delhi and some key locations in the NCR.