The start of the summer season as well as a new edition of the Indian Premier League can only mean one thing for the cola category. It’s hot out there. Add to the mix a revamped Campa Cola which is back in the market with a new look and feel. Arnab Roy, vice-president, marketing, Coca-Cola India, and Southwest Asia feels that if there is more competition in the category, the importance of the category and the excitement in the category will actually go up. “India’s per capita is so small that there is an opportunity for a lot of players,” he adds. Roy spoke to Storyboard18 exclusively about the cola major’s plans specifically for the south market and bringing back Coke Studio as Coke Studio Bharat.
Summer Season is here, cricketing season is on. What are the big plans to Coca Cola for the coming weeks?
Summer Season is important but it is not just about summer anymore. If you are seeing the quarterly numbers, every quarter is becoming very important for us. But having said that, next two or three months are important and we are investing in our key passion points for our sparkling brands, so that’s going to continue. We are invested in IPL. There is a lot of activation on ground with assets like Coke Studio, there is activation around our brands Mazza and Minute Maid Pulpy orange. So overall it is going to be important.
It is also the time when a lot of brands eye the South Markets. What are the plans there?
South Markets are important for us. In the state of Tamil Nadu for example we have Coke Studio Tamil activated, we have a partnership with Chennai Super Kings. It is probably the first time that we ae doing a partnership with them. It is going to be an important activation plan overall. Plus, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana are big markets for us. There we have strong plans on our two main brands – Thums Up and Sprite.
Last time we spoke you mentioned how in the face of inflation and global headwinds you are playing with the pack mix. How has that helped and how have the events of the past year made you evaluate and re-look at your marketing strategies?
Affordable packs will continue to be very important. India is a very price conscious market and affordable price points like Rs. 10 price point or Rs. 20 price point is going to be important. The premium price point range, I think there you can do some good pack mix interventions and I think your overall profit pool remains at a level. The last few quarters have been outstanding. They have been some of the best we ever had in the history of India. And we continue to feel very bullish in spite of the global macro headwinds which may come from the second half.
Campa Cola revival – is it a threat?
This is one of the best things to happen.
If you have more competition out here, the importance of the category, the excitement in the category hopefully will actually go up. And India’s per capita is so small that there is an opportunity for a lot of players. And overall towards the end of the day, the competition is going to keep us on our toes and overall per capita of India in terms of sparkling consumption is hopefully going to go up and that is good news for a lot of brands. So, at the end of the day, it is important for us that we should not be distracted and ensure that our strategies are all in place. And if your brand is healthy and is strong then there is enough room in India for everybody.
Are you suggesting that aerated Colas as a category was stagnating? Was this excitement needed in the category?
No, it was not. For the last few years the numbers in this category have been very good. On the contrary to a lot of perception that media and marketing industry have that this is a stagnant category – you have the numbers, this has been the fastest growing sub categories in the overall FMCG. But again, as I said, the penetration is still so low. It is very important for us to ensure that we have lotmany players and all of us do the work to go and drive the habits and then improve the per capita. Because it will help all of us.
February 2023, Coke Studio returned to India after an eight-year break and rebranded itself as Coke Studio Bharat, tell us your thought behind reviving this property?
Coke Studio had to come back in India. It is one of the most powerful assets that we own worldwide. Music is one of the most important passion points in our core target segment. For me it had to come back, it was a no-brainer. I think we needed to identify the right way and the right model to comeback. We started off launching Coke Studio Bangla last year and it was an experiment, the results were very strong. It encouraged us to expand it and go even further. That is the reason why we also launched Coke Studio Tamil – the second regional Coke Studio. And then Coke Studio Bharat. The ‘Bharat’ idea came in after a conversation with our partners we work very closely with, Ankur Tiwari. And the insight is very simple – thanks to digital, the music production scene in India has changed. You have a lot of young kids coming in from small town India and they are all very good. If you look at Indian economy, the growth of India is not going to come from the Mumbais and Delhis of the world. The growth in India whether it is economic growth or cultural growth is going to come from small town India. That’s where Bharat is at its core, that’s where Bharat lives. And we thought it is very interesting out there. And most of our singers are going to be from small towns and we feel that the music that will come will not just be appealing in India but at an international stage.
With Coke Studio Tamil already present are you planning to take this to other regions of India as well?
India has got so much music diversity across many states that you can actually have a Coke Studio in every state. But the challenge is that where do you have the right infrastructure and workout the right business model. We were speaking to a lot of music producers and I think Coke Studio Tamil happened for multiple reasons but also because of the fact that the Tamil music industry is very well advanced and I thought there is a great opportunity out there.