Evaluating 7 UP's Marketing Communication by PepsiCo

This report provides an analysis of 7 UP's marketing communication strategies under PepsiCo, focusing on the brand's background, product information, and market context. It identifies the target audience as young individuals aged 16 to 25 and discusses the challenges in effectively communicating the brand's unique features to this demographic. The report emphasizes the need for repositioning 7 UP in the market with new products and improved communication strategies to regain its customer base. Key communication objectives include attracting teenagers, enhancing the brand image, and building strong customer relationships to increase global market share. The report also explores various marketing communication tools, such as advertising, social media, and public relations, and suggests strategies like live concerts and online promotions to effectively reach the target audience. Finally, it outlines methods for evaluating the success of these strategies, including analyzing market share, sales volume, and customer engagement metrics.

7 UP -
PEPSICO MARKETING COMMUNICATION

Table of Contents
WHAT IS THIS ALL ABOUT?....................................................................................................................2
WHERE ARE WE?...................................................................................................................................2
WHO ARE WE COMMUNICATING WITH?..............................................................................................5
WHY ARE WE COMMUNICATING?.........................................................................................................5
WHAT ARE WE COMMUNICATING?......................................................................................................5
HOW WILL WE COMMUNICATE?...........................................................................................................6
HOW WILL WE KNOW IF IT WORKS?.....................................................................................................7
REFERENCES..........................................................................................................................................9
1

WHAT IS THIS ALL ABOUT?
Marketing Communication act as an effective channel to reach the desired market for
making the people or target population aware about the brand and build a reputable
position in the market (Shen, et al. 2016). This formative report focuses on the 7 UP brand
idealising the company’s communication for marketing of its products successfully and
rigorously in the market.
WHERE ARE WE?
Company Background
7 UP is a product brand of PepsiCo one of the renowned food and beverage company.
PepsiCo is US brand manufacturing many products such as snack foods, beverages etc. It
has a strong brand image in the global and domestic market due to its variety of products
such as Frito Lays, Diet Pepsi, Tropicana beverages etc. In total, the company is having 22
PepsiCo brands (PepsiCo India, 2018). Currently, PepsiCo is having a lower market share in
terms of selling carbonated drinks with an inferior and weak marketing communication.
[Source: http://www.pepsico.com/About]
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Communication enables to identify and visualise an image of the
Brand outline its product quality and act as a source to aware and
acknowledge people about the different offerings.

Brand and Product Information
7 UP Brand of PepsiCo is a lemon based carbonated drink containing non-caffeine
substances. This is a soft drink which also labelled as a lemon-lime soda containing lithium
citrate and mood-stabilizing drug. 7 UP brand is owned by Dr Pepper Snapple Group in the
United States and PepsiCo. The soft drink is also treated as a cure for upset stomach and in
increasing the glucose level (PepsiCo India, 2018). The 7 UP bottled drink come up with a
slight fizz and replenish fluids acquainted as a carbonated beverage.
[Source: http://slideplayer.com/slide/3465442/]
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Market Context
In 2104 new flavours of 7 UP launched in the market flavouring pineapple and mango
flavour; but failed to succeed in the global market. Some of the other brand products say 7
UP Gold, Cherry, and Ice Cola etc (PepsiCo India, 2018). came into the market but futile in
the international market. 7 Up is making its marketing presence by advertising and
promoting itself with different approaches. For example sponsoring the Jordan Formula
(1991) and commercial advertising featuring an animated mascot and establishing itself as a
cool spot brand (Belch, et al. 2014).
[Source: https://www.slideshare.net/craigdixon/pepsicola-competitive-analysis-1099612]
History and Learning
The 7 UP Brand is created in 1929 and was initially advertise internationally via Fido Dido
mascot in 1992. The brand is positioned in the global market as a cool drink focusing on
youngsters (Wheeler, 2017). In the initial stage, Fido becomes an instant trend visualising
unconventional and laid-back attitude towards life. 7 Up become famous as refreshment
lemon drink with optimistic featuring of contents and adopting a brand Philosophy as "I Feel
Up" envisaging a tagline of "celebrates this irrepressible optimism” (Stealing Share, 2018).
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WHO ARE WE COMMUNICATING WITH?
The target audience of 7 UP is the young population say within the age group of 16 to 25
years. Motivating factors for the target youngsters is the refreshing taste and the energy
contents of the drink. 7 UP is communicating with the youngsters through different
advertising and campaigning, featuring gimmicks like dancing penguins and mascot "the
Cool Spot" (Stealing Share, 2018).
WHY ARE WE COMMUNICATING?
The major issue with the 7 UP brand is in communicating to the young generation about the
propagating features and speciality of the drink. The weak commercials and thoughtless
advertising are making the target audience to deviate from the brand. 7 UP needs to be
repositioned in the market with new products reviving its lost popularity by communicating
effectively and regain the loyal customer base (Wheeler, 2017). This communication will
help the 7 UP brand to potentially build a long-term brand image and aware people about
the new flavours and health drinks of the company.
WHAT ARE WE COMMUNICATING?
7 UP is conveying their products to the teens and young adults by featuring the carbonated
drinks natural ingredients and showcasing concern about their health. The communication
of this brand product is done by making the students and young generation seeking an
energy booster to deal with the fast-paced lives and relieve stress level. The communication
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Main Communication Objective
To attract the teenagers and reposition the brand image and building a strong
customer relationship with increasing the market share globally.

of this brand is positioned as a healthier option for boosting energy with natural and non-
caffeine substances (Stealing Share, 2018). To regain a strong brand image marketing
communication is to be made by the company representing the new health drinks say 7 UP
Buzz, communicated as a naturally flavoured drink available in regular and diet with
antioxidant ingredients.
[Source:
http://www.pepsicoindia.co.in/brands/7up.html]
HOW WILL WE COMMUNICATE?
There are many communication tools that are used by the company’s that aware and inform
people about the brand and its products. 7 UP is adopting various marketing communication
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tools such as commercial advertising, social media, facebook, online sites, public relations
and different advertising campaigns. For campaigning distinctively 7 UP needs to
demonstrate its carbonated drinks say a mix up of 7 UP lemon-lime soda for healthy
cooking. Advertising 7 UP as a trending and improved soft drink and conveying as a healthier
drink rich in natural ingredients. As per the target audience, the best way of communication
is through using the social media platform and distributing online discount coupons etc
(Parente and Strausbaugh-Hutchinson, 2014). To attract and site a large young audience for
communicating about the drink a campaign such as live concert displaying large banners and
distributing on-site samples of 7 UP will be more effective and fast conveying.
[Source: https://assets.econsultancy.com/images/resized/0005/8955/7up_homepage-blog-
flyer.png]
HOW WILL WE KNOW IF IT WORKS?
The key indicators that show the success and growth of a product are the market share,
sales volume, profitability etc. For analysing the effectiveness of the marketing
communication tools used 7 UP can optimise its sites and various online appearance for
diagnosing the number of customers (Parente and Strausbaugh-Hutchinson, 2014). To
analyse the growth, the sales figure of the product from the annual report can be used via
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assessing the financial statements and this will also help the company to gauge its increasing
market share as well.
[Source: https://www.stealingshare.com/pages/what-went-wrong-with-7-up/]
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REFERENCES
 Belch, G.E., Belch, M.A., Kerr, G.F. and Powell, I., 2014. Advertising: An integrated
marketing communication perspective. McGraw-Hill Education.
 Shen, G.C.C., Chiou, J.S., Hsiao, C.H., Wang, C.H. and Li, H.N., 2016. Effective
marketing communication via social networking site: The moderating role of the
social tie. Journal of Business Research, 69(6), pp.2265-2270.
 Parente, D. and Strausbaugh-Hutchinson, K., 2014. Advertising campaign strategy: A
guide to marketing communication plans. Cengage Learning.
 Wheeler, A., 2017. Designing brand identity: An essential guide for the whole
branding team. John Wiley & Sons.
 PepsiCo India, 2018. Brands 7 UP, Home Page. [Online Available at:
http://www.pepsicoindia.co.in/brands/7up.html Last Accessed on: 1 February 2018].
 Stealing Share, 2018. What went wrong with 7 Up? [Online Available at:
https://www.stealingshare.com/pages/what-went-wrong-with-7-up/ Last Accessed
on: 1 February 2018].
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