Bisleri is making hydration cool: Tushar Malhotra

Bisleri International is synonymous with bottled water in India. The company was also the manufacturer of one of independent India’s earliest entrants in the fizzy drinks market, way back in 1951.

Lately, the company is creating waves in the carbonated beverages segment with its fruity offerings, especially Limonata which has onboarded actor Aditya Roy Kapur to deepen its bond with Gen Z consumers.  

Tushar Malhotra, Director of Sales and Marketing at Bisleri International spoke about how the brand is working on making hydration cool. “Hydration is important for one’s mental as well as physical health. It is not just about quenching thirst. To drive home this point, we have had a lot of campaigns in the recent past,” he said. 

The brand has had the #DrinkItUP campaign featuring Deepika Padukone. They also have built one of the most robust sports marketing campaigns, becoming the official hydration partners of five teams in the Indian Premier League, six teams in Indian Super League, ultimate table tennis, National Games and many marathons. “We are happy with the acceptance within the sporting community as well as the consumers as India’s iconic water brand gets its rightful place as the drink of choice for sportspersons,” said Malhotra.

What works very well for the brand is its presence in the Indian market for more than five decades. It is trusted for its quality and has a very big distribution network being available at more than 300,000 outlets across the country. Their creative marketing efforts over the years have also added to the iconic characteristic of the brand. 

Big shake-up in the fizzy drinks category

Malhotra says that the carbonated drinks category is seeing a big shake-up. “It is no more about just colas. The gen Z prefers flavours like lime, lemon, mint and jeera. They want their soft drinks with a unique taste and good imagery,” informs Malhotra. He also points out that their product portfolio is in accordance with this evolving taste and preference of the gen Z consumers. 

He adds that in a world of lemon or lime drinks, Limonata stands out as it offers two flavours in the same drink. This duality is aptly depicted through the use of colours in the advertisement. Chunky Pandey as a cool beach shack owner brings a fun duality in Aditya’s monochrome life by introducing him to Limonata.  

Digital-first campaigns 

The campaign for Limonata is slated to be a digital first one, targeting channels like Instagram, YouTube and connected TV keeping the content consumption patterns of the Gen Z in mind. Besides, they also plan to be present on-ground at experiences like college fests and music festivals. The campaign will also be broken during the T20 World cup on television.  

Malhotra says this has been done with the intention of reaching the places where the target audience spends most of their time.