MAM
Pepsi dominates social media conversations during IPL6
MUMBAI: Pepsi‘s aggressive Rs 1.5 billion marketing pitch around the Indian Premier League (IPL) seems to be paying rich dividends. The food and beverage major is not only scoring over other IPL sponsors and advertisers on-ground and television but also on social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter.
According to MEC-GroupM IPL6 Social Media Update report, Pepsi leads the conversations with 93 per cent share primarily driven by #PepsiIPL on Twitter.
In terms of chatter around TV commercials of sponsors, Pepsi‘s Ranbir Kapoor and Oh Yes Abhi ads dominate with 62 per cent share of conversations. Vodafone‘s Zoo zoos follow with 22 per cent while Godrej (Aamir Khan) and Samsung are distant third and fourth at 4.3 per cent and 4.1 per cent respectively.
Powered by GroupM‘s Social Hub, the weekly update will present analysis of the social chatter around the IPL. The study covers the complete spectrum of social media – Twitter, Facebook, blogs and message boards.
MEC India MD T Gangadhar said, “Multi-screen engagement is a reality today and social media chatter is a terrific indication of how invested we are in premier TV events like the IPL. This study throws up interesting insights with regard to teams, players and brands and can be enormously useful for advertisers seeking to ride the IPL wave.”
When it comes to IPL franchises, Mumbai Indians dominate the conversations with a 22 per cent share of buzz, followed by Chennai Super Kings (CSK) with 19 per cent. IPL champions Kolkata Knight Riders has just 5 per cent share of the conversations on Twitter.
When it comes to player buzz, CSK skipper MS Dhoni leads the popularity chart with 22 per cent share. Three out of the top five most discussed are foreign players Kieron Pollard (15 per cent), Chris Gayle (11 per cent) and Dale Steyn (9 per cent).
At fourth position is Rajasthan Royals skipper Rahul Dravid with 10 per cent share followed by Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar with a 7 per cent share.
The report says that the IPL 6 got off to a tepid start on until the CSK Vs MI which just 43 per cent of IPL chatter that week (April 2 to April 7) happened on the day of the CSK-MI game.
MEC national director – Social Media and Insights Karthik Nagarajan said, “In India, prime-time television is becoming prime time for social media as well – with sports, news and reality television driving maximum chatter during ‘air time‘. Nothing demonstrates this more than IPL6, where platforms like Twitter and FB are becoming conversation capital and virtual stadiums during the game. The opportunities for advertisers to join these conversations organically are priceless.”
MAM
How beverage brands are rethinking marketing strategies for weather-led demand
SLMG Beverages Private Limited joint managing director Paritosh Ladhani.
MUMBAI: As Sun climbs up the hemisphere, summer has clearly arrived in India. On 7th March 2026 Delhi registered a maximum temperature of 35.7 degrees Celsius which is the highest reading logged for the first week of March in the last 50 years. Climate Change has been prolonging summers by causing earlier spring warming, delayed autumn cooling, and more frequent, intense heatwaves that persist for much longer periods.
In an endeavor to stay ahead of the curve, Beverage Brands are shifting from fixed seasonal marketing tactics to weather responsive strategies backed by data-driven insights, flexible campaigns, and diversified portfolios to capitalize on unruly temperature spike. In 2025, India’s beverage market experienced a massive, heat-triggered surge with carbonated drinks and ice cream volumes spiking 20–25 per cent in the March quarter itself on the back of hottest February in 125 years.
Clearly campaign timelines are being advanced to reap the seasonal shift in line with the jumping mercury. In the Indian context where Cricket is nothing short of religion, big ticket tournaments like T20 World Cup, Indian Premier League, ICC Champions Trophy provide plethora of opportunities to calibrate marketing campaign designs and associated business strategies to associate refreshment with community viewing both outdoor and indoors. A new trend that has taken the world by storm is that of booking the theatres for bonhomie viewing. It has also opened avenues for joint marketing initiatives by the Multiplex and Beverage Brands.
Price disrupting small potions and value packs tend to drive significantly higher volumes owing to volumetric flexibility and affordability to the consumers. Ramping up of cold supply chains for transit and at point of sales (POS) are strategic business imperatives that again define success of beverage brands.
In the era of AI and Big Data it is easy to track and calibrate messaging based on daily or weekly weather changes. Geo-targeted digital advertisement campaigns are also being run during heatwaves to make the business and marketing imperative very contextual. These pre-emptive strategies fueled by real time data and technology immensely help beverage brands to adjust supplies to the areas that are likely to generate more demand.
Novelty brings premium to the FMCG Sector and Beverage Brands are no exception. Newer SKUs build up excitement in consumers besides imparting the scope of frequent revitalization of brand marketing campaigns. Ensuring continuum of supply chain across material suppliers, logistics providers, distributors/wholesalers, and retailers become a strategic business strategy imperative for beverage brands during peak season.
Carbonated drinks among other beverages including packaged mineral water sell like hotcakes in summers, a period where holiday season gives big impetus to sales volumes. Tying up with air carriers railways, amusement parks, malls, convention centers for inclusion in the onboard beverage deck also holds a big window of opportunity for brands.
Limited period diversification into special summer categories entailing juices and functional beverages to capture the broader hydration market is also a business cum marketing imperative that beverage brands eye on. This also brings to fore the responsible side of the brand placing the compass on wellness of consumers.
Seasons are cyclic, hence summers are inevitable. Further, due to anthropogenic climate change, summers surely have been staging prolonged appearance that keep bringing beverage brands on to their drawing boards frequently for strategizing business and marketing campaigns that are agile, refreshment-focused, visually dominant in retail, affordable, and optimally promoted through seasonal campaigns in above and below the line media.
