Coca Cola has decided to add a punch of health to its India portfolio, possibly by early next year.
"We are looking at offering total beverage solutions in the non-alcohol segment. This would include not only carbonated drinks but also juices and health-based products," Coca Cola India chief Atul Singh said in New Delhi.
Looking at growing health consciousness as an 'opportunity' to expand, Coke, which is striving to reverse the declining sales and profitability, is going to match rival Pepsi in terms of offering a complete spectrum of beverages but says no to snacks, a factor that has contributed to good showing by its competitor.
"We are currently an impulse driven brand, focussed around excitement. Now we would like to enlarge this and appeal on health factors as well," Singh said.
On the timing of the new launches, he said it could be by the early part of next year.
Enlargement of the product basket in the focussed Indian market in tandem with aggressive advertisement campaign for each of its drink and a streamlined distribution and marketing strategy appears to the solution for Singh, who has been brought in from China quite recently to bring back the fortunes for the Atlanta-based cola giant.
The company has formed a health and wellness board for advice on the health products. This includes eminent doctors, dieticians, food scientists and nutritionists.
"The Board will advice us on how to make use of traditional Indian remedies in formulation of health beverages. It will help us identify what are the needs of the Indian consumer in the health sphere like anaemia, iron deficiency, among others," Singh said.
Making clear the company's seriousness on the health front, Singh said, "Coca Cola will go into the juice business very aggressively."
The company, which has invested over $1 billion in the Indian, carries a baggage of accumulated losses and Singh is determined to turn around operations in the next few years.
The company is redefining its marketing, distribution and brand positioning in India and has also decided to go in for an aggressive advertising campaign to corner numbers.
Contrary to advertising strategy focussing on a few products, Coke India is now working for visibility for each of its products through aggressive campaigns, an exercise that necessitated it to cough up nearly 40 per cent more in the last six months. Asked about the provisions for the current year and the next one, Singh indicated that ad-spent could go up by another 40 per cent this year.
Singh said India was a "focussed market" for Coca Cola and the company was not averse to making new investments in the country over and above the recently announced $120 million.
A reason for the renewed strategy for India has been declining sales as the Indian subsidiary saw numbers go down for the seventh consecutive quarter when sales dropped 10 per cent in the three months ending March 31, 2006.
Do you want to discuss stock tips? Do you know a hot one? Join the Stock Market Investments Discussion Group
