Coca-Cola: Down the milky way

Coca-Cola is stepping into the tricky segment of dairy products that would put it at loggerheads with the likes of Amul and Danone. It is testing waters with a mango pulp-based milk drink called Milky Delite, which is an extension of its popular mango drink, Mazza. At present, Milky Delite is being sold in packs of 200 ml for Rs 15 in Kolkata. After two months of testing, Coca-Cola would take the drink to the rest of the country. The company is said to have slotted Rs 65 crore in the production of fruit beverages.

To extend its portfolio into milk products, Coca-Cola is sprucing up its supply chain — milk-based drinks need cold storage both in transit and at stores. Milk solids, one of the key ingredients in the product, will be sourced from Karnal in Haryana. Mango pulp is being sourced from Maharashtra. Milky Delite will be processed in one of the company’s bottling plants in Kolkata. Coca-Cola has also worked on establishing a cold chain from the plant to retail stores. It has trained sales teams and retailers on product handling — storing the product below 30 degree Celsius and so on.

Over the next two months, Maaza Milky Delite would be retailed across 3,000 outlets in Kolkata. Once it reaches about 1,000 outlets, Coca-Cola will launch its promotion campaign. The test phase will see a TV and outdoor ad campaign, besides consumer activation on the retail front. There will be road shows for sampling, while the TV ad will be aired on the leading channels in the city. Kolkata with its distinct vernacular preferences in TV channels will let Coca-Cola gauge audience conversions through advertising in regional channels without it spending heavily on media. The campaign, with its tagline “Sharing not possible”, has been created by Leo Burnett.

Even though the product will allow Coca-Cola to leverage Maaza’s brand image, it will be up against stalwarts such as Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation’s Amul, which is the market leader in the Rs 250-crore flavoured and value-added milk market. Amul Kool tops the segment with 60 per cent market share. Regional players like Saras in Rajasthan, Verka in Punjab and Nandini in Karnataka are also strong in this segment.

Danone, the French dairy major, offers Choco Plus, a chocolate smoothie, at a price range similar to that of Milky Delite. Most players in the category have offerings priced between Rs 13 and Rs 18 for 175-200 ml packs. While Britannia scalded its fingers with Zip Sip a few years ago, it has re-entered the market with Actimind. It has upped the stakes by adopting HDPE packaging which is more convenient than cartons and has a longer shelf life.

Coca-Cola is not leaving Milky Delite’s success to chance. It was developed at the company’s R&D centre in Gurgaon after extensive consumer research and stability tests to match the taste of Indian consumers. The packs can survive for four months of Indian climate. Globally, Coca-Cola is not new to dairy products: It has products such as SuperMilky in China, Nutriboost in Vietnam, Fanta Lactic in Honk Kong, Macau, Taiwan and the US, and Minute Maid Duofrutas in Spain. In India, there are not many branded mango-milk drinks, with most players banking on coffee, chocolate and thandai-based milk drinks. This gives Coca-Cola a headstart. Can Maaza Milky Delite pass the slurp test?