Why is PepsiCo dropping the popular Pepsi Twist?

Question

PepsiTwist is one of the favored colas. We need to have it back on the store shelves right away.

Answer 1

probably because its not hugely profitable - it's big business that's all they care about

Answer 2

If it were favored, they wouldn't be losing money on it and pulling it from the shelves.

Answer 3

I guess its not as favored as they thought it was going to me. I think it tastes terrible.

Answer 4

Wasn't popular enough...

Big businesses don't keep making what don't sell!!

Answer 5

Pepsi's World cup super six
Shuchi Bansal
ATCH a cricketing icon, bundle in a brash movie star, add a dash of irreverence and PepsiCo has got a nation hooked. For the past few years, the company's men in blue have been churning out advertisements that are almost instant superhits. And PepsiCo's latest campaign featuring idols Shah Rukh Khan and Sachin Tendulkar has been a winner, despite India crashing out of the World Cup. Recently, ad agency FCB Ulka checked out viewer recall of the major World Cup campaigns in Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderbad and Kochi. The Sachin-Shah Rukh ad scored a 61% recall rate among the 400 adults who were contacted, compared to 9% for Coca-Cola's `Refresh Ho Ja' ad featuring Karishma Kapoor. In fact, further research showed that all of Pepsi's ads put together enjoyed a recall of 72% versus 22% for Coke. Gulp!

Yet, these statistics do not surprise Pepsi. Sipping coffee at PepsiCo's plush headquarters at Gurgaon, near Delhi, executive director Vibha Rishi cheerily admits that the outcome of the Sachin-Shah Rukh advertisements doesn't surprise her. "The moment we saw the ad, we knew we had a winner."

That should come easily to Rishi now. For the past few years, Rishi and her seven-member marketing team has been consistently besting rival Coca-Cola in the advertising wars. Pepsi campaigns such as `Yeh Hi Hai Right Choice Baby' and `Nothing Official About It' are almost part of Indian advertising's Hall of Fame. Yet, Rishi doesn't fit the image of the competitor-chomping marketing executive. No thunderous statements, no aggressiveness. Rishi is extremely soft-spoken and very media-shy. In fact, she hates talking about herself. "It's not me, it's the team," she says.

Sure, Pepsi's success in India is not due to Rishi alone. Chairman P.M. Sinha, who has headed Pepsi for the past seven years, has played a very significant role in charting PepsiCo's strategy here. So has the cola company's hugely efficient retailing machinery led by Chitra Talwar which ensures that its soft drinks are within arm's reach of the consumer. But these days, thanks to Pepsi's advertising, and perhaps to Rishi's discomfiture, it's the contribution of her team that's in the limelight.

So, why is Pepsi's advertising a hit? Hindustan Thompson Associates (HTA) associate vice-president Rohit Ohri feels that it works because it has the uncanny ability to put the thoughts of youth on film. "The line `Yeh Dil Mange More', expresses the feelings of the youth," says he. Sure, since Ohri heads the Pepsi account at HTA, you may wish to take his comments with a pinch of salt.

But Ohri's not the only one who thinks that Pepsi has caught the attitude of the young. Says an industry observer: "Coke's slug-lines don't impact; Pepsi's slug-lines reach out and touch you."

For Rishi and her team, they're the outcome of a lot of hard work and brain-storming. Yet Rishi says she cannot understand the concept of strategy meetings. "I can't understand how you suddenly decide that now I will think. Strategising is a continuous process." But former colleague and the current head of Tefal India, Saurav Adhikari, notes: "Vibha had the habit of dropping in unannounced with a cup of coffee to pick your brains."

To be sure, the team has also to coordinate closely with PepsiCo's global headquarters in New York. Ironically, the cool attitude that's today synonymous with Pepsi has been determined by lots of research done internationally. Sometime back, PepsiCo kicked off market research in 25 countries to figure out what makes today's youth tick. The findings of the research suggested the young today are restless as they are looking for more from life -- more success, more entertainment and more glamour. "What our generation dreamt of, they have already got. So now they want more, more from life as well as from themselves," explains HTA's Ohri. The critical insight that this research provided: the consumer asks for more. "And if this is the attitude, the badge you wear is Pepsi because Pepsi is also like a craving," explains Ohri. Thus was born Pepsi's global baseline, `Ask For More'. That's when Rishi and her team kicked off all the activity here.

Says Rishi: "HTA presented us with only a single line for Ask For More and that was -- `Yeh Dil Maange More' and we approved it. Interestingly, even before Pepsi USA could launch its new commercial, we had found the line for India as well as launched the commercial featuring Shah Rukh Khan, Rani Mukherjee and Kajol. We were the first in the world to launch Pepsi's new line."

Coke can barely hide its chagrin. Pepsi's red rival has for some time been trying to get its advertising in place, but hasn't succeeded much. During the 1996 World Cup when Coke was a big sponsor, it came out with a campaign that proclaimed the brand's Indianness. Though beautifully shot, the commercial was a little pompous. Pepsi pricked Coke's pomposity with the delightfully irreverent `Nothing Official About It' campaign that became a hit.

Since then Coke has moved away from ads that preach but still hasn't got it right. It has teen icons like Karishma Kapoor, Amir Khan and Daler Mehndi endorsing the product, but somewhere the ads lack fizz. Most industry watchers say that Coke is still confused; it cannot decide whether Coke is `Pyaar Mohabbat Coca-Cola' or `Take a Sip Refresh Ho Ja'. In other words, there is inconsistency in what it does. Also, Coke has changed its agency (McCann to Chaitra). Pepsi, for its part, has always used HTA. What is more, unlike Pepsi, Coke has many more brands to look after like Limca, Thums Up and Fanta while its competitor needs to concentrate mostly on Pepsi, though it has labels like Mirinda and Slice.

Catch Coke agreeing with all this. Company officials argue that Pepsi ads are more popular because you see them once every hour or more. "At least that's what happened during the World Cup. It is sheer frequency and reflects the money they have spent on the World Cup," says a Coke executive. Coke argues that the 'Dil Maange More' line does not go with all the disparate campaigns of Pepsi. It was used with the Kajol ad, then again with the Sachin mask ad, and now with the Sachin-Shah Rukh one. What is the connection, asks Coke. "Just because it is a good line doesn't mean it goes with everything. For instance, look at our advertising -- `Pyar Mohabbat Coca-Cola' cannot be used in the Karishma ad. Even our lines become a hit -- `Pyaar Mohabbat Coca-Cola' was a hit; so was the `Peeti kya Coca-Cola' in the `Aati kya Khandala 'ad," says a Coca-Cola executive. And, once the World Cup is over, what will Pepsi do?

According to Rishi, lots. "The line 'Yeh Dil Maange More' is yet to be fully exploited; there's lots more activities in the pipeline," she says. For starters, PepsiCo has launched the 500 ml `Pepsi on the Go' in a PET bottle as an alternative to a can. According to Rishi, that's the fastest growing segment in colas today. Then, Pepsi launched its diet cola before Coke launched its version.

Clearly, the cola wars show no signs of abating. However, this summer, Pepsi's clever campaigns have given it an upper hand. Everybody is asking for more. Oliver Twist would have approved.