Mar 7, 2020
Coca Cola consumers will now be able to buy Coca Cola and Minute Maid bottles labeled specially in the Bengali language in West Bengal.
The company assures that this move will be extended with the other states too as part of marketing strategy.
Local division of American beverage brand Coca Cola said it is stepping up efforts to launch regional campaigns and localized packaging for its portfolio of beverage brands starting with the state of West Bengal. The move is taken in the wake of growing trend of localization among consumer goods companies that are monitoring specific shopping habit traits amongst the state-citizens and rolling out products and promotional campaigns suiting best to them.
Consumers in the West Bengal will have Coca Cola and Minute Maid bottles with labels printed in the native Bengali language. Coca Cola has chosen West Bengal to run its trials of what it called its “hyper-localisation” strategy as it seeks to reach more number of consumers pan India.
“West Bengal is the first Indian state where the entire portfolio and marketing initiatives of Coca Cola’s brands have been hyper-localized to resonate with local language i.e. Bengali and suit consumer preferences,” Coca Cola India said in an announcement.
The producer of Sprite, Thums Up, Fanta, and Maaza drinks assured that it will extend this move in other states after it scales up the reach of such packaging in the eastern state that is among its top seven markets in India, T. Krishnakumar, president, Coca Cola India and South West Asia, told media reporters in Kolkata.
“Local languages help us better connect with consumers in the region,” Krishnakumar said.
Coca Cola has issued packaging labels in Bengali for beverages such as Coke, Fanta, Limca, Sprite, Thums Up, Maaza, Kinley and Minute Maid. Each brand will devise a hyperlocal campaign to deepen connect and bring on-ground experience alive for consumers in Bengal, the company said.
“Coca Cola India’s hyper-local strategy will reflect in the marketing mix, packaging, advertising, social media activations and a range of on-ground events across portfolio,” said Shehnaz Gill, senior vice president, operations, Coca Cola India.
Stepping ahead, Coca Cola could look at leveraging Hindi as the next big language, though once its trial pilot in West Bengal sees success and gains sales.