Pepsi firms up plans for iced tea

NEW DELHI: PepsiCo India is firming up its plan to launch iced tea in India. According to industry sources, Pepsi may prefer the marketing and distribution joint venture route with Unilever (via its brand Lipton iced tea) to introduce iced tea here.
That’s because the cola major feels it would require too much of investment to launch its own brand as the segment size is considered small.Recently, Pepsi entered into a distribution alliance with Unilever’s subsidiary Hindustan Lever to sell each other’s consumer beverage brands.
However, according to Rajeev Bakshi, chairman, PepsiCo India, the soft-drinks major is still toying with the idea of launching its own iced tea brand from the global platform.
A decision on either route will be taken within next two months, he said. The market for iced tea is still too small and the launch timing is yet to be decided, he added.
Bakshi said that forthcoming cricket world cup would be used for promoting its new introduction Mountain Dew, a leading soft-drink brand of the world. To promote Mountain Dew, the company will launch a high-voltage television commercial (punchline: “been there done that ...have you done the dew�) in the first week of February.
He added that PepsiCo is also getting into bulk drinking water segment (20, 25 litres). Other two existing main brands in this segment are Bisleri and Coca-Cola’s Kinley.
Starting with Delhi, PepsiCo will appoint 6 franchisees by 2003-end in six major cities across the country. Total initial investment in this business will be Rs 25-30 crore, which is to be made by the franchisees. Installed capacity of each plant would be 10,000 jars per day.
Being a late entrant, PepsiCo is banking on a better quality Aquafina to snatch share from dominant players Bisleri and Kinley. “With better quality the segment has enough space to grow.�
Bakshi further said that after the cricket world cup, Pepsi will re-focus on Pepsi Aha, the cola with a lemon tinge.