The key players Coca Cola and PepsiCo actively revived their old brands that were popular in the 1980s in India. Coca Cola revived its old brand Citra within the lime carbonates category. While Coca Cola already had Sprite and Limca in the lime carbonates category, Citrus was priced at 20% cheaper than them. Coca Cola also reintroduced its brand “Rimzim”, a masala soda with cumin and spices. PepsiCo reciprocated by reviving its popular brand Duke in Mumbai, where it is very well known. Duke was launched in four flavours.
Since PepsiCo and Coca Cola have almost similar product lines, companies launched new products and were involved in brand extensions in order to differentiate from the others. PepsiCo’s Mirinda was the answer for Coca Cola’s Fanta in the orange category. Lack of differentiation in the Orange category lead PepsiCo to launch two new varieties of Mirinda- “Mango Orange” and “Orange Masala” in order to gain traction among the consumers. PepsiCo’s launch of 7up lemony bite in Punjab was to counter Limca. Tata Gluco + was launched by NourishCo ( A joint venture between PepsiCo and Tata ), a lemon flavoured refreshing and recharging beverage. Danone and Narang Beverages partnered to launch B’lue, a water-based restorative drink. Companies are constantly innovating to come up with new products with greater benefits that will help the companies differentiate