by Umran Beba
Editor’s Note: This blog post by PepsiCo Asia Pacific president Umran Beba was shared this morning with associates in the region.
One of PepsiCo’s great strengths has always been brand-building, and many of our mega-brands not only offer up great products, they are household names. At PepsiCo, we make sure our brands meet the needs and the aspirations of all of our consumers, wherever they are in the world. Take Korea. Yesterday, in Seoul, PepsiCo’s determined and dynamic Korea team had the chance to showcase to Indra Nooyi all the many ways in which they have taken the essence of some of PepsiCo’s mega-brands and ‘glocalized’ them for the Korean consumer.
Let’s start with Pepsi. Koreans love music and are incredibly proud of their K-Pop stars. And globally, music is one of brand Pepsi’s key platforms. So in Korea, brand Pepsi has teamed up with range of high profile K-Pop stars — such as the girl band 2NEI – and in September, Pepsi will be hosting a big music concert in Seoul with lots of K-Pop stars singing and performing. It’s all part of Pepsi’s “Have a Fun Time” campaign.
Gatorade is another example of the way PepsiCo makes sure that its brands have local relevance. Based on insights that showed that Koreans care a lot about color and flavor, PepsiCo recently introduced Gatorade Red and Gatorade Blue into the marketplace. But the Gatorade team is also running a series of promotional campaigns connected to baseball – the most-loved sport in Korea. It’s an ideal way to alert the Korean consumer to the benefits of Gatorade, and PepsiCo’s sports drink expertise.
Of course in Korea we don’t do this alone. We have a great partner in Lotte, with whom we have been working for more than 20 years, and with whom Indra met while she was here. Did you know that when we re-launched Doritos into Korea earlier this year, Lotte had so much faith in the success of the project that they committed over USD$5 million to put a new manufacturing line in place? Not only do the new Doritos taste great – they are crispier than before, the triangles are larger than before, and Korean consumers are flocking to buy the product.
As a result of these factors, our Korean business has been experiencing growth that is ahead of the industry in the categories in which we compete. The team has done a great job, and I am delighted that Indra was in Seoul to hear about our progress, meet with our Lotte partners, and to offer her suggestions on how to drive the business even more strongly forward.
