| Cola wars are passé, it’s things like mobile phone services that are the real competition for Coke products, said Neville Isdell, chairman and chief operating officer of Coca-Cola, the world’s largest beverage company.
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| In India, strategy is no longer about competing with global rival PepsiCo or other local soft drink brands. Instead, it’s about influencing consumer choice away from such purchases as rock-bottom pre-paid mobile cards to buying a Coke product.
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| “What you are fighting over is the money in the pocket of the consumer. Our competition is not as narrow as people think — it we are in a broad competitive set,” said Isdell, who is in India on a personal-cum-official visit.
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| Meanwhile, the Atlanta-based beverage company is also planning to enter the packaged tea market — that is, launch offerings from its global offerings either in cans or bottles — though it did not divulge when.
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| The company has a global tie-up with Nestle to distribute its Nestea brand of canned and bottled teas. Its own portfolio for tea includes Gold Peak, Hi-c-Tea, Love Body and Enviga, the last three essentially health drinks.
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| “Tea is a very high-growth area for us. We are number one in Japan in packaged tea. And there is a potential for the product in India,” Isdell said, adding the caveat that it would not be a major category in India considering the price difference between a packaged tea product and the chaiwallah on the street.
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| On the criticism that the company faced in India following controversies over contaminated water, Isdell said: “We have allowed ourselves to be a target, when we should not be. Diet Coke is a healthy product, Coke Zero has been our most successful launch in 25 years and we are working on natural sweeteners to replace artificial sweeteners.”
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| Responding to lessons he learnt from the controversy in Kerala over drawing groundwater resources, Isdell said: “The lesson was that we need to engage with society. It is only then that we will have a level playing field in any debate.”
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| Isdell also said Coke is making money in India even though it is not one of the most profitable markets because the company was reinvesting in India.
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| Coke has already invested $1.5 billion in the country and it will be putting in another $250 million over two or three years for its expansion and growth in India. |
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