Revamping Rasna - A Marketing Overhaul Saga

"At Rasna we are constantly looking at new innovations and strategies. Today, the per capita consumption of Rasna is 15 glasses and our vision is to increase the per capita consumption to 100 glasses by 2005 and to reach out to one billion Indians every year."

- Piruz Khambatta, Chairman and Managing Director, Rasna Ltd., in March 2002.

No More 'I Love You Rasna'

Pioma Industries Ltd. (Pioma) is perhaps not a familiar name for the average Indian consumer. However, Pioma's brand 'Rasna' is very well known. In fact, the name Rasna is almost a generic name for soft drink concentrates (SDC), a segment that had been created and nurtured by the company in the Indian beverages market. Rasna's extremely popular advertisements with the tagline, 'I love you Rasna,' had become an integral part of the Indian advertising folklore. In March 2002, Pioma announced a radical overhauling of its strategies for the Rasna brand. This development was rather unexpected, as the brand had been lying dormant since long.

Company sources revealed that these developments were in line with a restructuring program that had been conceptualized in mid-2001. Keeping in line with this plan, Pioma launched two new brands, Rasna Utsav (Rasna Festive) and Rasna Rozana (Rasna Daily) in March 2002.

The launch was accompanied by a multi-media advertisement campaign, for which the company allocated Rs 160 million. The television campaign that ran across all major national and regional channels featured a 'song' exclusively composed for the new launches. A notable feature of this commercial was the fact that it was voiced by one of the country's most well known singers, Asha Bhonsle, who had never sung for any commercial before.

Pioma soon released music cassettes and CDs featuring remixes of old, popular Hindi songs and the new Rasna song. In addition to this, the company sponsored musical events across the country. Industry observers were however, viewing the above developments as Pioma's desperate attempts to infuse fresh life into Rasna. There were apprehensions regarding its success given the fact that previous attempts in form of brand extensions had failed to have any significant impact on Rasna's growth prospects. And unlike the late 70s, the average beverage consumer in India had a host of other options, such as colas, fruit juices, iced tea, tetrapacked juices and other soft drinks.

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Case Details

Case Code : MKTG025
Themes: Marketing Mix
Case Length : 11 Pages
Period : 1995-2002
Organization : Pioma Industries Ltd
Pub Date : 2002
Teaching Note : Available
Countries : India
Industry : Food, Beverages and Tobacco

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