MAM
Pepsi, HUL launch Lipton Ice Tea
MUMBAI: The year marks the coming together of two FMCG giants, PepsiCo India and Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL).
They announced the launch of Lipton Ice Tea in the Indian market. Lipton Ice Tea is made of tea leaves, real sugar, and natural fruity flavors that promise to refresh naturally. It is targeted at the 16–29 year urban affluent healthy hedonists- young-minded people who enjoy life but also understand the importance of healthier choices.
PepsiCo India executive director – innovation Geetu Verma said, “Today’s urban young adults are looking for a drink that is delicious, but also healthier. Tea is a familiar and preferred beverage option in India and ice tea is fast gaining popularity amongst the young consumers. Lipton Ice Tea is a global product that offers a combination of great taste and refreshment on the go. We are confident that the product will resonate strongly with our target audience.”
HUL GM beverages Arun Srinivas said, “While tea drinking is an entrenched habit among the Indian consumers, the youth in India are looking at more contemporary formats and healthy offerings. Ice Tea ticks both the boxes and it can get the youth into the tea category. Lipton’s tea expertise coupled with its strong equity places it in the pole position to service this emerging consumer need. We strongly believe that PepsiCo’s strengths in QSRs and Hindustan Unilever’s strengths in MT and Family Grocer channels will help grow this nascent category.”
PepsiCo India has launched the Ready to Drink Lipton Ice Tea in the PET format in the Delhi NCR Region and the company plans to introduce the product in other markets across India in a phased manner.
Priced at Rs 25 for a 350 ml PET bottle, Lipton Ice Tea will be available in two variants: Green Tea in Mint and Lemon flavour and Black Tea in lemon flavour.
HUL is launching the PET bottle in Modern Trade in the top 28 cities across India. HUL will also be launching the product in the tetra and powder formats.
The powder will be priced at Rs 85 for the lemon variant and Rs 95 for the Mint and Lemon variant for 250g. Besides this there will also be a sampler pack priced at an introductory offer of Rs.15 in both the variants. The Tetrapack will be priced at an introductory offer of Rs.70 for the Black tea in lemon flavor and Rs.75 for the Green tea in Mint and Lemon flavor.
PepsiCo India and Hindustan Unilever have launched the product in India under Pepsi Lipton International, a 50:50 joint venture between Pepsi and Unilever to manufacture and markets Lipton Ice Tea variants in 67 countries.
With the launch of this ‘naturally refreshing’, ready to drink ice tea, PepsiCo India has further strengthened its health and wellness product portfolio along with other brands like Quaker Oats, Aliva, Nimbooz, Tropicana 100 per cent and the recently launched Lehar GlucoPlus.
The Lipton Ice Tea launch will be supported by a 360 degree marketing mix. Both the companies will drive trials there will be large scale experiential sampling across malls, multiplexes, corporates and colleges. In-store visibility will be driven through customised Lipton Ice Tea chillers.
Brands
GUEST COLUMN: Beyond layoffs, India emerges as creative-tech hub
Shift in hiring and AI-led workflows is reshaping global media and marketing
MUMBAI:The global narrative around layoffs in media and technology may suggest contraction, but a deeper transformation is reshaping how creative and tech capabilities are built and deployed. For Sanjil Zaveri, general manager – India at Brandtech+, this shift is less about decline and more about redistribution, one that is positioning India at the centre of a new global operating model. In this piece, Zaveri explores how integrated workflows, AI-powered production, and evolving talent demands are redefining the creative-tech ecosystem, why India is emerging as a strategic hub for global content and innovation, and what this means for the future of media, marketing, and talent.
The global headlines around layoffs in technology and media continue to dominate industry conversations. From platform restructuring to reduced marketing spends, the narrative suggests a slowdown across the creative and digital ecosystem.
But beneath these headlines, a different shift is underway, one that is quietly redefining how creative and technology work is delivered globally.
Hiring is not disappearing; it is being redistributed. And India is increasingly at the centre of this transition.
A structural shift in the creative-tech ecosystem
The media and marketing landscape is undergoing a fundamental reset. Brands today are moving away from fragmented agency models and siloed teams toward more integrated, agile structures.
Creative, technology, and media are no longer operating in isolation. Campaigns are now built through connected workflows, where ideation, production, and optimisation happen simultaneously.
This shift is forcing organisations to rethink where and how teams are built. Increasingly, the focus is on capability, speed, and scalability, rather than geography alone.
India’s emergence as a creative-tech hub
India’s role in this evolving ecosystem has expanded significantly.
Traditionally positioned as a backend execution market, India is now playing a far more central role in global campaign delivery. Teams based here contribute not just to production, but also to strategy, content development, and performance optimisation.
This is particularly relevant in a market where content velocity has increased dramatically. With the rise of digital platforms, OTT, and always-on marketing, brands require high volumes of creative assets without compromising on quality.
Industry insights from Ernst & Young point to India’s growing strength as a global content hub, while NASSCOM continues to highlight the scale and depth of the country’s digital talent pool. Together, these factors create a compelling case for India as a foundation for more efficient, integrated content ecosystems serving global markets.
A global company’s perspective on India
At Brandtech+, this shift is already shaping how we operate.
As a global organisation working across creative, marketing, and technology, our talent strategy is increasingly driven by capability rather than location. India has therefore become a key market for both scale and strategic talent.
In the first quarter of this year, we have significantly accelerated hiring in India across creative, technology, and operations roles, moving well ahead of plan and continuing to build strong momentum. We are actively hiring across multiple functions, with India playing a central role in delivering integrated creativetech solutions for global brands.
These signals reflect a broader change in how global companies view India, not as a delivery centre, but as a hub for connected creative, data, and technology capabilities.
“While much of the global narrative is centred on contraction, what we are seeing in India is a different kind of growth,” says Sanjil Zaveri. “As a global company, we are investing in talent that can work across creative, data, and technology, because that is where the future of marketing is headed.”
AI and the new content economy
Artificial intelligence is playing a critical role in enabling this transformation.
In today’s media environment, the demand for content has scaled exponentially. Brands are expected to create, adapt, and optimise creative assets across multiple platforms in real time. The scale of this demand would be difficult to sustain through traditional production models alone.
AI is helping make this possible.
Rather than replacing roles, AI is streamlining workflows, automating repetitive tasks, accelerating production timelines, and enabling faster experimentation. This allows creative and strategy teams to focus on higher-value outputs.
“AI removes the mundane and elevates the meaningful,” says Zaveri. “It allows teams to focus on ideas and storytelling, while technology drives efficiency.”
For media platforms and advertisers, this is redefining how campaigns are built, moving from linear production cycles to continuous, data-driven content creation.
What this means for media talent
For professionals across media, advertising, and digital, this shift is redefining skill requirements.
The traditional boundaries between creative, media planning, and technology are blurring. Content creators are expected to understand performance metrics. Media professionals are working more closely with data, platforms, and automation. Collaboration across disciplines is becoming a core skill.
This is creating demand for hybrid talent, professionals who can operate across disciplines and adapt to rapidly changing workflows.
India’s talent ecosystem is particularly well suited to this environment. With strong capabilities across content, design, engineering, and analytics, the market offers a unique combination of scale and versatility.
Importantly, global exposure is no longer tied to relocation. Professionals in India are increasingly working on international brands and campaigns, collaborating with teams across markets in real time.
Looking ahead: India at the centre of the reset
What we are witnessing today is not a temporary phase; it is a structural reset in the global creative-tech ecosystem.
Layoffs may continue to shape short-term narratives, but they do not capture where long-term growth is being built. That growth lies in new operating models, integrated workflows, and markets that can deliver both scale and innovation.
India is firmly at the centre of this transformation.
As global media and marketing organisations continue to evolve, India’s role will only become more critical, not as a support market, but as a strategic hub for content, creativity, and technology-led innovation.
The future of creative-tech will be defined by collaboration, speed, and adaptability. And increasingly, it will be shaped from India.
Note: The views expressed in this article are solely the author’s and do not necessarily reflect our own.
