Asin is Miranda's brand ambassador

Chennai, Mar 1 (UNI) Actress Asin is the new brand ambassador of Mirinda for South, PepsiCo India Executive Vice President Pratik Pota said today.

Making the announcement at a press conference here, Mr Pota said the actress had been selected to endorse the brand as she resonated the brand values of ''mischief and vivaciousness.'' Mr Pota said the company was a ''leader'' in the Rs 1,000 crore orange segment. ''Mirinda appeals to all income groups and across all strata.'' Outlining the 2006 task for the brand, PepsiCo India Executive Director Venkat Shankar said the aim was to ''translate leadership into dominance, build on the brand's taste strength and enhance connect with youth.'' All this meant a ''package of initiatives,'' which included new packaging, new positioning and a new brand ambassador, he said elaborating on Asin's selection.

With an increasing need for ''self expression'' among today's youth, the new positioning sought to ''connect'' with this insight while remaining true to the brand's core strength. Hence, the tag line ''use your mouth well.'' Tamil Nadu was the largest orange market in the country and the only market to have customised advertisements in regional language.

He said the offtake in the orange segment was between 60 and 75 million cases per annum, pegging the national market of this segment to be around 13 per cent.

Mr Pota claimed that Mirinda had two-third share of the orange market.

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