PepsiCo India and PVR renews strategic partnership!

PepsiCo India, country's leading food and beverage company and PVR Limited country's pioneer multiplex chain and leading entertainment company have announced the renewal of their strategic partnership today. As part of this 5-year partnership, PepsiCo India will be the official "Pouring Partner' for carbonated soft drinks, health drinks and juice based drinks, beverages, packaged juices and water at all 166 PVR screens spread over 22 cities across India. With this, PepsiCo India strengthens its position as a food and beverage player in the organized multiplex category.

Over the last 15-years, the partnership has evolved from a traditional supplier relationship, acquiring new scale and dimension with the launch of integrated marketing programmes around the likes of the 2011 Cricket World Cup and the recent Change the Game campaign. This partnership also pioneered the "Pepsi + Popcorn" combo for cinema-goers with its own separate communication developed by the brands. The partnership will help strengthen PepsiCo India's efforts in garnering consumer insights, feedback and trials for new product development and engagement ideas.

Ajay Bijli, Chairman and Managing Director, PVR Ltd. said, "The fifteen years of association with PepsiCo have been truly fruitful and we aim to take it to the next level by announcing PepsiCo as official "pouring partner' for carbonated beverages, packaged juices and water at all our outlets across India. The range of beverages that PepsiCo offers is vast and at the same time it is popular amongst the movie aficionados. With popularity of the brand across target audiences, we see this partnership as a long and successful one".

According to Praveen Someshwar CEO India Beverages, PepsiCo India, "Our association with PVR has only grown manifold over the last fifteen years. With more than 25 million footfalls in 2011-12 and an increasing pan India presence, this association further consolidates our presence across the organized multiplex category. PVR is a valued strategic partner and will play a pivotal role in building scale, visibility and greater consumer engagement opportunities for our beverage brands. We look forward to working with PVR to help the combine, garner an increasing revenue share of the category over the next five years."

A pioneer of the multiplex category, PVR is a major player in key markets across India including Delhi-NCR, Bangalore, Punjab, Mumbai and Maharashtra and is set to scale up its screen presence to 500 by 2015 across India. With Food & Beverages being the most profitable business for the organized multiplex channel and PVR seeing close to 25mn footfalls in FY 2011-12, the partnership is well poised to take a clear head start in leveraging opportunities for further consolidating their leadership of the market. PVR patrons can continue to enjoy a range of beverages from PepsiCo India that include brands like Pepsi, Mirinda, Mountain Dew, 7UP, Nimbooz Masala Soda, Lehar Evervess Soda, Slice, Gatorade and Aquafina.

The partnership also gives PepsiCo India the opportunity to create greater opportunities for innovative, interactive engagement with its consumers. The on-going Pepsi "Change the Game' promotion has already had PVR patrons win exciting merchandise that included T-shirts, footballs among others and there will be many more to follow.