Limited-edition pagalpanti

T he summer is right here and, to borrow a catchword from PepsiCo’s orange soft drink Mirinda, it's time again for some ‘pagalpanti’. To build excitement around the brand, Mirinda recently launched two new variants, Orange Mango and Orange Masala, priced between Rs 25 and Rs 27. The company says these two flavours are being offered as limited edition and will be available for the next few months only.

The company says the new flavours aim to build a stronger connect for the brand Mirinda among consumers, while they continue to perceived of Mirinda as an innovative brand that can spring pleasant surprises on the consumer. The two new flavours of Mirinda will also add ‘local familiarity’ to the ‘global brand’, says the company.

Ruchira Jaitly, executive vice-president, marketing, PepsiCo, beverages (flavours), says, “Mirinda is known for innovating with fruit flavours and we have received great consumer response in the past with innovations like Mirinda Apple and Mirinda Strawberry. Our recent launches, Mirinda Orange Mango and Mirinda Orange Masala, are developed keeping in mind the local Indian palette. We did extensive homework, starting from the base flavour options to the amount of mango or masala twist to the original orange taste, besides working on the packaging.”

The limited editions will be supported by a 360-degree campaign including television, radio, outdoor, online, on-ground activation and an innovative consumer engagement programme called the ‘Taste Twister Challenge’.

The television ad features Bollywood actress Asin. The clip shows Asin indulging in some fun with a rude chief guest at a college function, going “breathless” in three different avatars, inspired by the three Mirinda flavours.

“In the social media also, we are encouraging interactivity and conversations around the new flavours with the breathless campaign on Facebook and Twitter,” adds Jaitly. Replicating the ‘flash mob’ idea, Mirinda’s ‘tweetmobs’ engaged with consumers on Valentine’s Day. There were a total of 2,220 tweets in nine hours and @MirindaIndia gained 200 followers in just three days before the campaign culminated into the tweetmob.