Publicis Group grabs PepsiCo’s Indian media business 

By Abimbola Mohammed

Publicis Groupe India has been appointed as PepsiCo Media mandate, following a multi-agency pitch process. The account is estimated annual expenditures of nearly $90 million, according to agency research firm COMvergence.

The win follows the agency’s winning of PepsiCo’s creative and digital duties for India last month, as well media duties earlier this year for the beverage giant in China where it spends nearly $290 million on media, per COMvergence.

The pitch also saw participants from IPG Mediabrands, Dentsu and Omnicom Group.

The long-time India media incumbent was WPP’s Mindshare according to local reports. WPP won a global remit from Coca-Cola last fall, creating a conflict with Pepsi, which reportedly had been a client in India for decades.

In July, Leo Burnett India, another Publicis Groupe company, had won the creative account of the beverage maker. WPP Companies, which held the consolidated duties media, creative and digital for almost three decades, were not part of the process.

According to George Kovoor, senior vice-president, PepsiCo India: “Publicis Media was selected after a very thorough and competitive pitch process. Their expertise in areas such as media, data, digital, analytics, content, commerce and ability to orchestrate and leverage diverse capabilities for seamless brand experiences led them to be our partner of choice. We are confident that this new partnership and their technological excellence will help us reach our consumers in an engaging and impactful manner.”

Similarly Anupriya Acharya, CEO, Publicis Groupe South Asia, said: “Publicis Groupe looks forward to working with PepsiCo India, channeling our full spectrum of media, creative and digital capabilities and driving stronger consumer connections and powerful communications for its brands. We look forward to harnessing and mobilising the best talent, resources, proprietary tools and capabilities from across the Groupe and helping PepsiCo India accelerate and devise consumer strategy.”

In the same vein, Tanmay Mohanty, CEO, Media Services, Publicis Groupe India also said: “We are proud and elated at having been chosen as PepsiCo India’s media agency partner. Through data driven decision-making, new insights and ideas on the category, our teams were able to demonstrate how PepsiCo India could grow its portfolio brands further and leverage the power of integrated communications. PepsiCo India has iconic brands, and we look forward to bringing in media excellence and innovation for them and generating the right business outcomes.”

In India, PepsiCo markets brands including Pepsi, Mirinda, Mountain Dew, 7UP, Uncle Chipps, Quaker and Tropicana, as well as snack food brands like Lays and Kurkure.

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