Pepsi plans Slice in cartons; mulls variants  ( November '2,2001, HBL)

IF all goes according to plan, next summer will see Pepsi Foods laying out a spread for fruit freaks.

First, Pepsi Foods is planning to extend Slice, its one-decade-old mango-based soft drink, to another packaging format. The Slice brand, currently available only in glass bottles, will now be sold in cartons as well.

Speaking to Business Line, Pepsi Foods' official spokesperson said, ``The extension of Slice to cartons is likely to happen very soon, within the current calendar year itself.''

According to Pepsi officials, the company had been studying the possibility of extending the Slice brand beyond glass bottles, to cartons and PET bottles for a while now.

Meanwhile, the grapevine has it that Pepsi Foods may be extending its Slice brand to other fruit-based flavours.

Declining to comment on the same, the spokesperson said, ``Market studies are on as a routine practice. But no decision has been finalised on the same. If at all we do decide to extend Slice to variants other than the flagship mango-based flavour, it will be under the umbrella brand Slice.''

While the Pepsi officials maintained that the extensions are not likely in the foreseeable future, according to industry sources, the new variants of Slice may hit the market within the next six months.

While they declined to mention the possible variants Slice could be extended to, these are likely to be grape and strawberry, among some others, sources said. Industry watchers also added that keeping in tune with industry trends, the Slice brand could be pegged on the health platform.

Mangola, the other fruit-based beverage in the PepsiCo stable, has a healthy presence in Maharashtra. Mangola, originally a brand of Duke's, was acquired by Pepsi Foods when it officially stepped into the domestic market.

While Mangola's distribution is restricted to Maharashtra Slice is available in all other markets.

Earlier this year, Slice was advertised heavily through a high-profile communication exercise with a dabaa ke piyo (relish and drink) tagline.

Meanwhile, Tropicana packaged fruit juice, also from PepsiCo, has garnered a healthy 40 per cent share of the Rs 100-crore fruit juice market.