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<ul><li><keyword id="133159" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Parle-Agro">Parle Agro</keyword> launched a new product this week called <keyword id="10127022" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="B-Fizz">B-Fizz</keyword> and earmarked Rs 40 crore for its marketing campaign solely for this calendar year. </li><li>On the back of a strong marketing and pricing strategy, Parle Argo is aiming to make B-Fizz a ₹1000-crore-brand in the next couple of years.</li><li><keyword id="235731" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Nadia-Chauhan">Nadia Chauhan</keyword>, Joint Managing Director and CMO, Parle Agro spoke to us about the whole process of launching a product from researching to shelving, idea behind on-boarding two different brand endorsers for different markets, target audience, larger vision for the company and much more. </li></ul>When it comes to coming up with innovative, industry-first beverages, Parle Agro has been the frontrunner. With its latest launch, B-Fizz, a malt-flavoured carbonated apple drink, the company envisions becoming the number one beverage player in India eventually. Parle Agro currently dominates the fruit plus <keyword id="10153209" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="fizz-drink-category">fizz drink category</keyword> by over 90% market share with its flagship brand <keyword id="6374490" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Appy-Fizz">Appy Fizz</keyword> and now, with its foray into malt-flavoured drinks, it is confident that it will be able to accelerate the category’s growth significantly and bring it to up to Rs 10,000 crore from Rs 1,500 crore in 10 years. In the past, the brand has tried to expand its presence with Mango <keyword id="10153208" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="flavoured-frooti-fizz">Flavoured Frooti Fizz</keyword> and Grappo Fizz, which did not last for too long. So, this time, the brand is playing safe and smart by piggybacking on the popularity of Appy Fizz for the newly-launched B-Fizz, which is a marriage between apple and malt. Another reason why the brand believes in this category is because it has seen a consistently increasing trend of consumers moving away from synthetic beverages towards fruit-based beverages. Parle Agro is therefore going all out to promote its new product launch. It has invested Rs 40 crore in a high-decibel 360 degree campaign, on-boarded Priyanka Chopra Jonas for the Indian market and Jr. NTR for the Southern India. B-Fizz will also be the sponsor for a few select marquee television properties and air its TVC during IPL to get the ball rolling. In just two weeks since its launch, the drink is already present in 500,000+ outlets. With a uniquely positioned product and strong marketing strategy, Parle Agro is confident of making B-Fizz a ₹1000-crore-brand in the next couple of years. We caught up with Nadia Chauhan, Joint Managing Director and CMO, Parle Agro, to understand the research process, pricing strategy and goals for this calendar year. Excerpts: Q. What were some of the factors that pushed you/influenced you to launch B-Fizz? As part of our growth strategy, we invest in R&amp;D to introduce innovative new products to the market; products that will appeal to consumers and take our business further. B-Fizz is one such product that our team developed a few years back. After conducting successful trials we were waiting for the right moment to launch it. As we went through various phases of unlock, we noticed a phenomenal performance in our sparkling fruit-based drink category with our brand, Appy Fizz. We thought it was a great opportunity to expand that category further with the launch of B-Fizz which is a sparkling malt flavoured drink with apple juice. We were able to commercialize B-Fizz in less than 30 days from the time we made the decision to launch it. The timing of the launch worked perfectly for us in several ways. As the country underwent the last few phases of unlock, retailers who were earlier operating under numerous constraints during the lockdown, have now opened up and are operating at almost 100%. Consumers are also getting back to some sense of normalcy. Additionally, the second half of the year is not just the festive period where there is typically an upswing in demand, but it also sees a second summer in the month of October across the country. Since the season also plays a large role in the <keyword id="1453601" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="beverage-industry">beverage industry</keyword> it was a great time for us to launch B-Fizz. Q. What is the marketing strategy for your new product launch? What is the marketing investment going to be? We are investing Rs 40 cores in a high-decibel 360 degree campaign across various media for B-Fizz. We have launched two new TVCs, one featuring global icon, Priyanka Chopra for national media and the other featuring Jr. NTR exclusively for southern markets. The TVC campaign will be supported by innovative print, mobile and digital activations. B-Fizz will also be the sponsor for select marquee television properties. The campaign will also be aggressively promoted across IPL on Hotstar and YouTube. We have also been looking to deploy OOH for higher impact across 96 cities as of now. Q. What would your distribution and pricing strategy be? Will it be available on e-commerce and delivery platforms? B-Fizz is a product that we have launched with a mass distribution strategy in place. We’re today at 500,000 outlets with more than 3000 towns covered. We have launched B-Fizz at a competitive price point of Rs. 10 which is a critical part of our strategy. We believe this price point will enable us to scale up distribution for the brand across both rural and urban markets and make it more accessible to consumers. And yes, we will be available across various platforms, not just traditional retail but also modern trade and e-commerce. We expect B-Fizz to become a ₹1000-crore brand in the next couple of years. Q. The product is priced at Rs. 10 for 160 ml SKU, so how environmental-friendly is the product's packaging? Or will that be a focus later on in brand's journey? It’s an incorrect assumption to say a product available at a lower price point is indicative of a compromise in the quality of packaging. Parle Agro has a reputation built on quality, trust and has always ensured products which are best in class to deliver a superior consumer experience. Our ability to price a product at 10 rupees, an extremely competitive price point, is based on our strategy of creating economies through scale. The 160 ml packaging is a pack that is manufactured on a mass scale for Appy Fizz, the same is being applied for B-Fizz through various technological innovations in designing the preforms. These innovations are created and manufactured in-house as well, which is also how we’re able to achieve this kind of competitive price point. Q. Since the packaging and TVC is quite bold and colourful and positioned as a drink 'for the bold', are you looking at targeting millennials? Who will be the core target for B-Fizz? We are primarily targeting the youth between the age groups of 15-30 years for B-Fizz. Nevertheless, the unique taste of B-Fizz will appeal to all age groups. Q. Since consumers are becoming very conscious of their health and avoiding cola-based drinks and people are still at home and snacking more, have you seen an increase in demand of your products in the last few months? Our entire product portfolio focuses on fruit based beverages and has gained huge traction over the years. We have seen a consistently increasing trend of consumers moving away from synthetic beverages and more towards fruit-based beverages. This is perhaps, one of the big growth drivers for our category as well and a reason for why we have grown as much as we have. Q. What kind of trends did you witness during the lockdown? Did you cut down on your ad spends for this year? What will your larger marketing strategy be for the rest of the year? When it comes to business trends during the lockdown, companies had to adapt, on a daily basis, to the constantly changing rules and regulations being implemented across different parts of the country. Pro-active planning became a critical approach to maintain continuity of supply and distribution to tackle the challenges in mobility that emerged during the pandemic. We also witnessed the growth of the ecommerce platform. Though the e-commerce channel is still very small for the FMCG industry, there has been an acceleration in the adoption of this channel by consumers and brands alike. We have also on-boarded numerous ecommerce players and are continuing to do so. With regard to consumer trends, the lockdown has led consumers to become more conscious about their food and beverage choices. We foresee consumers spending a lot more on products that are natural versus those that are synthetic. For instance, fruit-based drinks like our products with natural ingredients, will be the preferred choice of drink over synthetic ones. Through the lockdown, we halted most of our marketing spends since majority of the retail stores were shut and with restrictions in mobility, people weren’t allowed to go out unless absolutely necessary. But now, as we move towards the last few phases of unlock, our budget allocations are back on track. We are investing Rs 40 crores for the marketing of B-Fizz which is until the end of the calendar year for 2020. Next year, we will be back on track with our regular marketing budgets of about Rs 250 to 300 crores across all our existing brands. Q. Why did you decide to get a separate brand face for the southern market? Is that one of your strongest markets? In southern markets, the influence and affinity for regional cinema and celebrities is very strong. Thus, to drive greater brand resonance with the audiences in the south as well as generate higher brand recall for B-Fizz, we chose a separate ambassador for the southern markets. Jr. NTR is a great brand fit and just like for Frooti we have Allu Arjun, we have Jr. NTR for B-Fizz in the south. Q. Parle Agro currently has a brand turnover of Rs. 6500 Cr. With a new addition, what are revenue goals for FY 2021-22? Parle Agro currently dominates the fruit plus fizz drink category with Appy Fizz with over 90% market share. With the launch of B Fizz, the target is to build the Fruit plus Fizz category to Rs 10,000 Cr. by 2030. We believe we will end the calendar year with 5-10 per cent growth over the previous year with B-Fizz being one of the contributors to that growth. Q. What is your overall vision for Parle Agro? Our vision is to make Parle Agro the No. 1 Beverage Company in India.

Parle Agro is confident of making B-Fizz a ₹1000-crore-brand in a few years

<ul><li>While the ad industry has a lot of womentoday, many drop out by the time they reach mid-management levels, primarily due to the lack of flexible hours, or the flexibility to work from home.</li><li>The women leaders we spoke to believe organizations need to prioritize training more women, to prepare them for leadership roles, and this should be a part of the company’s culture.</li><li>There is also a need to relook at the way employee’s performances are evaluated, coming up with newer ways of assessing talent in a time where the way of doing business has seen a complete overhaul.</li></ul> In late 2019, a report by Credit Suisse stated that women’s representation in boardrooms in India increased only by 4.3% between 2014 and 2019. The report further stated that the current female representation on boards is only 15.2% which invariably led to dialogues around the conspicuous lack of women leaders in the upper rungs of the corporate world. Having said that, the world of advertising, marketing and media is one industry that has seen a lot of women in roles of leadership. While we are still far from an equal man-woman ratio in the industry, it is heartening to see more and more women take the top spots. Conversations with most women leaders from the industry led us to believe that this is an industry that welcomes women to be a part of the workforce. However, it is during their mid-career levels that a lot of women drop out of the workforce, leading to a dip in women who take up higher positions. We reached out to some of the most influential women in the industry currently, to gauge what are the reasons for these drop-outs, and what needs to be done, as an industry as well at individual organizational levels, to ensure that women are retained, and even if they drop-out, are encouraged to rejoin the workforce. We received an overwhelming response to our queries from across the sector from women who made some really compelling points. These women who feel passionately about the subject laid their hearts bare, telling us ways they think the industry can evolve, to become more inclusive. Here are some of the most prominent voices. Building a culture of inclusivity It is often noticed that while a lot of women are joining the workforce, many of them take the decision of quitting once they decide to get married or decide to have children. Many find it difficult to come back, due to the lack of flexible working hours at their workplaces, or even due to a certain amount of judgment where people look at them a little differently after they come back from a long break. Most of the women leaders we spoke to believe that the work culture needs to evolve a little, to make way for such women, giving them the flexibility that many of them need, once they start a family. <keyword id="4356726" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="srija-chatterjee">Srija Chatterjee</keyword>, Managing Director, Publicis Worldwide, India shared that while a few corporates have started giving some assistance to women, the ad industry hasn’t yet started doing that actively. “As an industry, we have woken up to women leaders and we are trying to make things happen for women, to make sure that they don't jump off from the workforce. However, there's still a long way to go. The biggest reason women stop working is when they get into that life stage of having children. A lot of corporates are today providing strong support, through office crèches or flexi-timing options. That has not yet happened in our industry. From a business perspective, the size of our agencies might not be that big, which makes implementing this a bit of a challenge. But the more and more we get into a group structure, and offices become more centralized, it will enable organizations to look at shared resources to help women pursue their passion. This is something that could be done, but has not been done yet.” A lot of times, there is also a lot of judgement involved when women come back to work after a long break. Delving deeper into the need for a change in attitude, Pallavi Chakravarti, Executive Creative Director, Taproot Dentsu said, “You’ve been out of the scene way too long - you can’t expect the salary that you do after the kind of leave you’ve taken - but won’t your attention be divided now?” These are just some of the things women hear when they are seeking to make their way back into the workforce, post a long gap. Of course, this is not a blanket statement - times are changing, mindsets are changing, as are corporate policies. But if companies truly want to be gender-neutral then statements and questions like the ones I’ve cited above would never be heard again. Additionally, flexible working hours, working from home, working on time-bound projects are all steps that more and more organisations can adopt to ensure equal opportunities. And when I say equal, I mean that these options should be made available to both men and women. Shedding some light on how OLX is working on retaining some of its women, Sapna Arora, Chief Marketing Officer, OLX India said, “Setting the right example of favourable work culture much suited to women, not just in terms of facilities and infrastructure, but also in terms of broadening our thinking within an organization across various levels, is the key to inspire women working population to join the workforce and perform better. OLX, as an organization, is working on taking baby steps in creating empowering workplace for women. A couple of years ago, we at OLX embarked on a journey to evaluate the gender diversity ratio and actively worked to encourage more women in roles such as data scientists, engineers, front line sales and more. This is a conscious choice we have made under our global diversity and inclusion programme which seeks to improve the gender ratio across STEM and leadership roles.” Talking about the need to prioritize diversity in leadership, Emrana Sheikh, Enterprise HR Head for India and South Asia – Johnson &amp; Johnson said, “Today, companies are increasingly equating their C-suite diversity to competitive advantage for their businesses – and rightly so, it leads to robust dialogue, richer decisions and the empathy to design good, and human-centered solutions. For organizations looking for a paradigm shift in their work cultures, C-suite diversity sets an example for the rest of the team. At the basic level, it can be a source of inspiration that resonates down to the front-line staff. This is only possible when diversity in the leadership is prioritized and its long-term implementation is ensured at all levels through intentionality and focused talent management. Internal platforms such as Diversity &amp; Inclusion Council and Employee Resource Groups further drive culture strategies from a variety of lenses, championing inclusivity as a collective goal across levels. An inclusive culture transcends barriers, bias and bureaucracy, and makes the employees truly feel that they belong. All around, women are a critical mass of consumers, influencers, stakeholders and communities. Hence, reflection of the same in organizations is a business imperative.” Sharing a similar sentiment, Neena Dasgupta, CEO and Director, Zirca Digital Solutions added, “Organizations need to ensure that women in the workplace are respected and recognized.For women to thrive in the workplace, organizations need to ensure an environment that is rooted in equal opportunity and a culture that is geared to assist women achieve their goals.” Sharing some tips on a few things that can be done at the organization level to help women continue to be a part of an organization, Ayesha Ghosh, General Manager, Taproot Dentsu added, “Younger women need to see older women in positions of influence. Flexible working hours and working from home might be a challenge in an industry that’s made a virtue of unreasonable working hours but we ought to be non-negotiable about starting early, cutting idle chatter, short lunch breaks and everything else that helps finish work early so that parents (and everyone else, really!) get to spend some time with their families. Ingraining fundamental values will go a much longer way than making token gestures. Enforcing paternity leave, for instance, so that the onus of child-rearing is not on the mother alone. When a parent, regardless of gender is expected to manage time such that they are responsible for their work as well as for their families, everyone will automatically spend less time on idle chatter and work a lot more efficiently.” An organization's culture also needs to have empathy at its foundation, shared Oindrila Roy, Head of Strategy, India, Essence, to make a difference. "As with any type of workforce integration, empathy should be the edifice on which workplaces are designed to integrate and retain both women and men more seamlessly. For women, it starts with stepping into her shoes, evaluating challenges from her point of view and arriving at solutions which are conducive. For example, an online survey conducted by JobsForHer found that 38% of women do not return to the workforce after giving birth, due to the lack of good day care for children. If that is the challenge, companies need to think of solving this problem innovatively - can the organisation collaborate with a nanny service provider to avail reliable childcare options to its employees? Reassured and empowered parents are likely to stay in the workforce longer." Modifying existing performance benchmarks Rubeena Singh, CEO, iProspect India believes that there is a need to relook at the performance benchmarks on which employees are evaluated. “In the middle years, I often see that we are trying to evaluate people on certain benchmarks. The criteria for these performance indicators have been put in place years ago when it was a largely male-dominated workforce. Things like 8 hours of work, or work in office, or if you want a senior position, you should have worked in different geographies etc. But sometimes, for women, it becomes very difficult to be mobile and move to different parts of the country, especially once they get married. As an industry, we really need to re-evaluate the criteria. We should look for quality now, if people are curious, if they are team-players, how innovative and out-of-the-box can they think. If these changes are brought about, a lot of women will find it easier to catch up from where they left, even if they are coming back after a long break.” Treating both men and women as equals at the workplace A lot of women leaders feel that there is an immediate need to start looking at both men and women as equals in the workspace and not differentiate on the basis of gender. Lara Balsara Wajifdar, Executive Director at Madison World said, “We need to look at women leaders as leaders first and not as women leaders. Don’t differentiate us on the basis of our gender, but differentiate us on the basis of our work! Our industry is always hungry for good talent and if the talent is good, the agency will always accommodate personal requests as long as the work is not affected.” Many also feel the starting point is to start a conversation, where both the genders are treated as equal participants. “<keyword id="6372584" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="gender-equality">Gender equality</keyword> is not just a women’s issue, it’s a human rights issue – that extends to all realms, including the workplace. To encourage equality across all lines of command in the workplace and have more women leaders, we need more men to be equal participants in the conversation around gender equality. Having the male workforce as partners can bring empowerment and equal respect among all genders. Global change-making initiatives like the UN’s ‘He for She’ Movement, of which I am a strong advocate, have been setting strong examples for people of all genders to take bold steps in solidarity and are working towards a gender-equal world,” said <keyword id="235731" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Nadia-Chauhan">Nadia Chauhan</keyword>, JMD &amp; CMO, Parle Agro. Pointing out to some things that need to be done at an organizational level, Rishika Lulla Singh, CEO Eros Digital at Eros International said, “There needs to be a cultural shift and change at workplaces to eradicate gender inequality and retain women employees. It is about time that companies consider deserving women for higher level positions and evaluate their performance sans bias. If there are more women leaders out there at the top positions, it gives a sense of confidence to the global sisterhood with strong role models. It is essential that companies organize mentorship programs to break the stereotype of what a man and a woman can or should do. There are several ways to retain a woman employee at work, but we also need to encourage more women to join the workforce. Equal pay, ensuring all voices are heard and feeling valued, creating safe work environment, etc. are all the least we can do.” Pooja Jauhari, CEO, The Glitch put it rather succinctly in her three-point recommendation on how to retain women. She said, “Firstly, treat your entire talent base with gender blindness. Best person for the job. Without over-thinking their family, marital, ‘emotional’ status. Just get the right person for the job. Secondly, allow your talent to align personal and professional goals and build a support system for them to come back to the same position at work after a break (marriage| child birth) and lastly, stop saying a certain gender matters more, prove by example by showing gender balance across functions.” Training young employees to think of themselves as leaders There is also a need for seniors to build an environment of motivating young women while also making them aware of their potential as future managers, shared Sujata Dwibedy, Group Trading Director, Ampilifi India. She said, “This question is asked to mostly senior women but ideally, both senior men, women and the entire team should be equally responsible to motivate the young, efficient women. The entire organisation gains if they can train and then retain competent women leading up to a management role. It is critical to show them advancement opportunities and their growth path. Policies might have to be tweaked but if it benefits all, it should not matter. Building an inclusive workplace, an organisational environment that values diversity not just for the sake of appearances but for the competitive edge that comes with access to multiple perspectives would make a difference.” There are a lot of internal barriers that women have to cross and training them to believe in themselves could help in ensuring they make it to the top. <keyword id="346168" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Lulu-Raghavan">Lulu Raghavan</keyword>, Managing Director, Landor Associates said, “Even before thinking of getting more women leaders, we have to think of how we can create a better working place holistically. Secondly, you have to ensure that women at the top, doing good work get the visibility. It starts with the leadership, company philosophy and culture. You’ve got to find them and put them on the top because deserving women do exist. You can’t give us an excuse that there aren’t any women relevant for the top positions. A lot of training has to be done with women themselves; there are a few external barriers such as company policies, work environment, how other people behave towards you, and there are internal factors, which we women have set up through the years. It is the lack of self-confidence, self-doubt and imposter syndrome. We women have to be trained to be leaders. It should be different from the overall management chain because it is decades of social conditioning that companies have to break when women join them. “ Anita Kotwani, Senior Vice President, New Business, Mindshare added, “The industry needs to first acknowledge that Woman leaders can deliver as well as their male counterparts for senior-level roles. The grooming required should be done for the role and not the gender. If that happens you will see the necessary shift with more woman leaders leading the mantle.” Sharing her optimism about the future where she envisions more and more women to be on the top, Kranti Gada, COO Shemaroo Entertainment said, “A few years ago, I participated in a program called ‘Tanmatra’ organized by IIM Bangalore, to help develop and groom fellow women counterparts for about 9 months and the stories I heard about the differences in opportunities shocked me a little. I was happy to be at Shemaroo, where we have seen women in key roles leading from the front and managing the core business with ease and expertise. While the ratio of women is a little skewed in the industry, the gender gap is narrowing, and we will see more women taking charge in future in every field.”

Making the industry more gender-inclusive: Women leaders show us the way

<keyword id="133159" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Parle-Agro">Parle Agro</keyword>'s <keyword id="6552425" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Frooti">Frooti</keyword> has once again become India's second most popular mango drink, by outselling PepsiCo's Slice. The popular mango drink has taken the spot last quarter after nearly a decade, after securing a share of 25.6% in India's Rs 6,300-crore mango drink category. As compared to this, Slice got 23.4% in last quarter, as per researcher Nielsen's data. 
 
The top spot is still occupied by Coca-Cola's Maaza, which has maintained the top spot with a share of 48%. 
 
Bollywood’s superstar Shah Rukh Khan has been endorsing the mango drink for about two years now, as its first celebrity ambassador ever. Ever since then, they have been focusing on PET bottles, made of polyethylene terephthalate, so that it could woo both children and adults. 
 
Also read: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/Indian-consumers-might-prefer-to-stay-away-from-packaged-food-Here-is-why/articleshow/47867493.cms">Indian consumers might prefer to stay away from packaged food. Here is why</a> 
 
"The entire communication was designed to ensure we strike a balance towards retaining our large kid consumer base, but building massive appeal amongst the older consumers and subsequently gain greater market share," said Nadia Chauhan, joint managing director at <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/Ramesh-Chauhan-the-father-of-Indian-soft-drink-industry-is-all-set-to-launch-new-range-of-fizzy-drinks/articleshow/50973316.cms">Parle Agro</a>. 
 
Parle Agro was the first company to introduce tetra-pack in India, almost three decades ago, saying that it was able to build and convert a much larger adult consumer base that liked PET more. 
 
When contacted, a spokesperson for <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/Leadership-lessons-from-PepsiCo-CEO-Indra-Nooyi/articleshow/51597307.cms">PepsiCo India</a> said, "We do not comment on the specific data, but we are delighted with the continued momentum and strong growth of Tropicana Slice in 2016, and its relative position in the mango based drinks category remains unchanged." 
 
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wrC4hinfNAM/VRuECwwWYeI/AAAAAAAAOug/XzYB9Q44PLQ/s1600/ccccxxxx.jpg">Image source</a>

Frooti is once again India’s second most popular mango drink

Days after Maggi fiasco, other food manufacturers like <keyword id="29464" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Parle">Parle</keyword>, KFC, Wendy’s and many others are being dragged into parallel issues by the consumers. A report circulated by the Economic Times suggests that the age-old biscuit maker Parle is receiving a minimum of 5 phone calls each day by its fuming customers. 
 
The calls, as mentioned in the report, are by and large about the contaminants being found in the food products. Not just this, but demands of compensation from Rs 5,000 to 5 lakh has also emerged as a matter of concern. What adds more to one’s surprise is the fact that some has also threatened the country’s largest food maker saying that if it doesn't cough up, they'll go to the media and even the regulator. 
 <keyword id="115414" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Ramesh-Chauhan">Ramesh Chauhan</keyword>, a member of the family that runs Parle and also the chairman of <keyword id="140687" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Bisleri-International">Bisleri International</keyword>, said, "Consumers are panicking. Some are raising genuine issues, which is good. But some are taking advantage of the existing environment." 
 <keyword id="120094" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Mayank-Shah">Mayank Shah</keyword>, the company’s deputy marketing manager, also came-up to cover the matter. Shah said, "There are customers who are getting overtly concerned and some want to use the opportunity to make a quick buck." 
 Other food manufacturers like <keyword id="268892" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Yum-Brands">Yum Brands</keyword>, Pepsi, Wendy's, Mondelez and Dabur too are facing similar issues and are fielding alike calls from consumers. 
 There have also been reports that some of the companies have used ‘Make in India’ platform to get their unregulated products passed by the <keyword id="109212" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Food-Safety">Food Safety</keyword> &amp; <keyword id="179673" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Standards-Authority-of-India">Standards Authority of India</keyword> (FSSAI). Those manufacturers who have made it to this list are: Tata Starbucks, Ferrero SpA, Field Fresh Foods, Kellogg's and McCain. 
 
Nadia Chauhan, a member of the Chauhan family and also the joint managing director Parle Agro, which has brands like Frooti and Appy, said, "Companies can only put themselves to ransom by panicking. Globally, no one would entertain such stuff because the awareness level is so high. As a company, you need to settle the matter but paying up is just out of the question."

Indian consumers might prefer to stay away from packaged food. Here is why

<ul><li>Summer started early this year in India and it has been a hot season for cold drink brands.</li><li>Cold drink and beverage brands have amped up their marketing activities, expanded their distribution network both online and offline to meet the high demand this summer, and outreach to consumers across India.</li><li>We spoke to soft drink and beverage brands to find out how this summer has fared for them so far.</li></ul>After going through two consecutive dry summers, 2022 has proved to be promising for beverage and soft drink brands in India. With the mercury touching 45C in several parts of the country, people are looking for ways to beat the heat and stay hydrated, resulting in a massive demand for cool beverages. Two dry summers Unlike other industrial sectors which derive sales throughout the year, beverage sales are heavily seasonal. According to industry experts, the summer period from March to June contributes to more than one-third of the annual business for soft drinks and beverage brands. The pandemic-induced nationwide lockdown had forced restaurants, bars, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/news/theatres-cross-pre-pandemic-gross-revenue-collection-despite-pricey-movie-tickets/articleshow/91839566.cms">theatres</a>, and live events to shut shop. Soft drink consumption in India was predominantly out of home and occasion-dependent then. As a result, the soft drink and beverage industry was severely affected in the last two summers, fizzing out their sales significantly. Pandemic changed consumer, and company behaviours, too As the pandemic forced people to stay indoors, it brought about many changes in consumer behaviour. For the first time, key industry players increased door-to-door deliveries to drive sales. “During the pandemic and associated lockdowns, out-of-home consumption patterns were notably impacted while in-home consumption trends improved significantly. The industry underwent a significant shift in consumer purchase patterns,” shares Sundeep Bajoria, vice president of the India franchise at The Coca-Cola Company. A bright <keyword id="14108454" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="summer-for-cold-drinks" source="Orion">summer for cold drinks</keyword> Early summer brought cheer for cold drink brands this year, reviving out-of-home consumption after two plateaued summers. Soft-drinks giant Coca-Cola India has witnessed a boost in consumer sentiments across product lines and it is upping its marketing activities to increase its reach. “In Q1 2022, we have seen double-digit growth across all categories. As consumers resume out-of-home activities and look towards outdoor entertainment channels, our focus will be on new and innovative ways to get products to consumers through integrated marketing efforts and wider holistic reach,” said Bajoria. “We continue to win market share with transaction growth of more than 3X of GDP growth, and triple-figure growth in e-commerce sales,” he added. Coca-Cola’s Bajoria is optimistic about seeing the non-alcoholic beverage portfolio in India would see immense growth this year, characterised by ‘innovation, fragmentation, and alternate routes to market business models.’ Out-of-home consumption and marketing activities fizz up Parle Agro shifted its marketing gears as the lockdown lifted. It started focusing on in-home consumption and strengthening its e-commerce presence. It witnessed a 14% growth in 2021 over 2019 in terms of volume and grew about 47% in 2021 over 2020. Now that out-of-home consumption is picking up due to sweltering heat, Parle Agro is witnessing healthy growth and demand for beverage brands across the board. A large part of the consumer base for beverage companies consists of people who are on the move, commuting to work, schools and colleges or travelling. During their travel, they look for refreshing and energizing drinks for a quick, satisfying swig to quench their unrelenting thirst. “We see a substantial surge in sales and demand for our out-of-home consumption packs during this season,” says Nadia Chauhan, joint managing director &amp; chief marketing officer, Parle Agro. Chauhan told Business Insider India that the demand for fruit and dairy-based beverages is significantly high. “Additionally, with the growing trend for health and wellness products, consumers are opting for fruit-based and dairy-based drinks over synthetic ones in the beverages category,” Chauhan said. “These factors have led to huge demand and preference for our brands i.e. Frooti, Appy, Appy Fizz, B Fizz and our dairy brand, Smoodh. We are expecting significant growth in 2022 and are targeting a 30-35% growth this year over calendar year 2021,” she added. Parle Agro’s marketing budget for this summer is ₹200 crore, 20% higher than last year. Soft drink major Pepsi is seeing an upward trend in both in-home and out-of-home consumption. “Our beverage portfolio be it Pepsi, Mountain Dew, 7UP, Slice, Sting and Tropicana – all continue to see an uptake in demand across the country and are witnessing a jump in both penetration and frequency. We are also strengthening our distribution both through traditional and e-commerce channels to be able to cater to consumers across urban and rural geographies,” shares a company spokesperson. On the back of a strong marketing plan for all its products and increased consumption revival, a spokesperson for <keyword id="110163" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="pepsico-india" source="Orion">PepsiCo India</keyword> said that the consumer company is optimistic about seeing a good summer season. According to <a href="https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220211005234/en/India-Non-Alcoholic-Beverages-Market-A-INR-1131.52-Billion-Market-by-FY-2027---ResearchAndMarkets.com#:~:text=The%20carbonated%20beverages%20market%20segment,153.33%20billion%20in%20FY%202020.">Research and Markets</a>, the carbonated beverages market segment is expected to reach a value of ₹349.64 billion by FY 2027, expanding at a CAGR of ~15.12% during the FY 2022-FY2027 period. The non-carbonated beverages segment in India is expected to reach ₹781.88 billion by FY 2027, expanding at a CAGR of ~20.52% during the FY 2022-FY 2027 period. The scorching heat this summer has set the ball rolling again for beverages and cold drinks, which are expected to grow significantly in the coming years.

Cold drink brands have a merry summer after Covid-19 fizzed out their sales for two consecutive seasons

<ul><li>2021 is going to be one of the biggest growth years for <keyword id="133159" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Parle-Agro">Parle Agro</keyword> as it is set to release two high impact campaigns for its power brands Frooti, Appy Fizz and B-Fizz simultaneously.</li><li>With combined spends of Rs 240 crore for Frooti and Fizz portfolio, Parle Agro is aiming to dominate the beverage category this summer.</li><li>Nadia Chauhan, Joint Managing Director and CMO, Parle Agro tells us how the brand aims to beat the cola category with its strong marketing strategy and how it would go about spending the earmarked marketing budget of Rs 240 crore.</li></ul>Last week, Mumbai recorded its hottest day of this season and the India Meteorological Department issued a yellow alert with a warning of heat wave. Mercury in Odisha has crossed 44.6 degrees, the highest so far. IMD predicts this year to be the hottest summer in India and it’s only April! To beat this heat, consumers turn to refreshing cold beverages and ice-creams and naturally, summer is the peak season for those categories. For Parle Agro that houses drinks like Frooti, Appy Fizz and B-Fizz, 40% of its overall annual sales come from the summers. Last year, the beverage industry’s business plateaued due to the lockdown. Parle Agro decided to curtail its 360-degree media spends until October and started working on its comeback marketing strategy. So, 2021 is going to be an important year for the conglomerate to revive its business. Sharing her expectations for summer 2021, Nadia Chauhan, Joint Managing Director and CMO, Parle Agro said, “The summer months alone from March to May account for approximately 40% of our overall annual sales. We have witnessed a higher consumption in mango drinks over the Fizz category in summers because Mango is a seasonal fruit hence, a higher intake over the Fizz category which is evenly balanced out year-round.” While the beverage category was struggling in the first quarter of 2020, once the market opened up, Parle Agro launched an innovative product ‘B-Fizz’ and expanded its market share strategically. It is now aiming to grow by 50% over 2019. “Looking at the past year, the lockdown had an immense impact on the beverage and FMCG segment as a whole. Due to mobility restrictions, we focused on reinventing our sales and distribution strategy to cater to the market effectively despite the lockdown. This helped us gain an 8% market share within the category. We avoided a 360-degree brand campaign during the summer months of 2020 as it would not serve the desired purpose due to mobility restrictions. Subsequently, we invested in a strategic marketing strategy in September 2020 when we launched B-Fizz. This year, for 2021, with increased mobility and rise in temperatures during summer months, we are expecting a boom in consumption and are targeting a 50% growth in 2021 over 2019 across all brands,” said Chauhan. However, the lockdown did have a silver lining for Parle Agro after all. The consumer pattern changed and they started preferring fruit-based beverages. Chauhan said, “We have witnessed a consistent increase in consumers moving away from synthetic beverages and more towards fruit-based beverages. Along with that, we also see a demand in products under the good-for-you category. The lockdown has also given consumers an opportunity to spend more time with family and friends. This has resulted in a boost for larger packs for in-home consumption.” <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Marketing campaigns for 2021" text="Marketing campaigns for 2021">Marketing campaigns for 2021</cmsannotation> Parle Agro has launched its summer campaign starring brand ambassadors Priyanka Chopra Jonas and <a href="https://youtu.be/Tmy9ViY2qR8">Jr. NTR</a> for B-Fizz. With marketing investments of Rs 120 crores for the Fizz portfolio this summer, Parle Agro plans on generating tremendous buzz with a multimedia campaign. The TVC will be aired across national and regional channels. <div type="Youtube" id="8X1DT09Je7A" title="All new 2021 Be.Feel.Fizz advertisement with Priyanka Chopra Jonas.#befeelfizz#bethefizz#feelthefizz" thumbUrl="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/8X1DT09Je7A/mqdefault.jpg"></div> On the other hand, its new summer campaign for Frooti starring Alia Bhatt, <a href="https://youtu.be/mfq51l5Auwk">Allu Arjun</a> and <a href="https://youtu.be/oz0_585h1DE">Varun Dhawan</a> aims to accelerate growth and strengthen brand equity. Parle Agro has earmarked Rs 120 as marketing budget for Frooti and Rs 120 for Fizz category. <div type="Youtube" id="kopcKizsMIY" title="Watch Alia Bhatt get her favourite drink in the new 2021 Frooti advertisement. #livethefrootilife" thumbUrl="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/kopcKizsMIY/mqdefault.jpg"></div> The beverage company has increased its marketing budget every year since 2019. Chauhan shared, “Our overall marketing spends for 2019 amounted to Rs 220 crore while our summer spends for 2021 is Rs 240 crores.” Telling us more about the media spends, Chauhan added, “We have an aggressive multimedia campaign charted out for 2021 with the objective of boosting consumption patterns, gaining substantial market share and driving significant growth for Parle Agro in the beverage industry. Our plan includes using strategic mediums and touch points to ensure impactful reach and visibility for our brands via the right audience. This includes Television, Digital and OOH mediums.” To further break through the clutter, the Indian beverage giant will look at enhancing visibility via on-ground branding opportunities at retail outlets, kirana stores and continue investing in e-commerce. A significant amount of its marketing budget will also be spent on the biggest event of the summer season - IPL. Frooti is the official on-air sponsor for IPL in the mango drink category and B-Fizz is the beverage partner for IPL on Disney+ Hotstar. Telling us how important IPL has grown to be for the brand, Chauhan shared, “IPL has been a game-changer for Frooti and our FIZZ range. We started advertising with IPL for Frooti in the summer of 2014 since most of the investment for the brand happens in this season. IPL being the biggest event of the summer months has helped propel visibility for Frooti during this period, ever since we started advertising with the property. The year 2021 is a big year for Parle Agro. To further drive high SOV for our brands during the high consumption summer season, we have associated with IPL. Frooti shall be the on-air sponsor on TV on Star Sports Network. While in the digital space, B-Fizz will be the associate sponsor for IPL on Disney HotStar. If we go by numbers, just these two platforms will drive a reach of over 500 million people.” With combined spends of Rs 240 crores for Frooti and FIZZ portfolio campaigns, Parle Agro is set to dominate the beverage category this summer. It has the lion’s share of fruit plus fizz category and Frooti, too, ranks among the top two mango drinks in India. Elaborating on the beverage company’s expansion plan and current market share, Chauhan said, “For Frooti we have 28% market share in the mango drink category. In the apple-based drink category, Appy holds the largest share with 61% and in the sparkling fruit drink category, our FIZZ portfolio i.e. Appy Fizz and B-Fizz combined, holds the highest market share of over 90%. We are looking to further grow market share and target new consumers by increasing our reach and market penetration. We are already witnessing a massive boom in consumption this season after a slow 2020. Frooti is part of every household, for every social occasion, these indications instil confidence that the product will become a dominant player soon. And with our aggressive plans for Frooti and FIZZ portfolio this year, we aim to further boost consumption and drive significant growth for Parle Agro in the beverage industry.” Apart from spearheading an aggressive marketing campaign this year, Chauhan will also prepare every level of leadership across all teams in her organization who have all been impacted in different ways by the pandemic, to be really prepared and maintain a very positive mindset.

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