Why Sprite (a fizzy drink) is thriving in Indian market : an insider's perspective

In India, the non-alcoholic Beverages market is $5 million which might not beat the health drink market ($300 million) but pretty decent to deep in. As revealed in the survey, the beverages consumption is steadily raising.

Recently, was reading an article at Open magazine which claims that the success of Sprite, a non alcoholic fizzy drink (which has beaten home grown Thumbs Up and mega brands like Coke) is due to its ‘cool and straight forward non fizzy advertisements’! the article states “All said, Sprite’s success bears an edge of differentiation that’s reckless no less than competitive”.

Let’s cut the crap! Sprite is selling faster than any other brands due to it’s quality of being a great mixer for Vodka. This alcoholic beverage is growing in India at the rate of 25% every year! Vodka is particularly popular among the youth and ladies as it doesn’t smell (like whisky) or gives a tummy (as Beers do). Also, vodka never gives a kick as any other brown drinks (hence, it’s difficult for the parents to guess what happened in a ‘house party’). DIvansh Burman, a consultant in the Indian retail liqueur industry stated “in my opinion, gender flexibility has a lot to do with this increased consumption. Studies show more women prefer vodka over men and with Indian women getting a voice over booming economy, the raise in vodka sales seems real”.  While interviewing few peer leaders the INgene team found that Vodka mixing itself is a 'cool' way to attract peers. Akash (21) jovially said "oh ya, mix gets me fix!"... later, we found that 'fix' means dates.

The transparent sweet fizzy Sprite is the best companion for transparent Vidka. In every office party, college fest, all girl’s meet, this mix works fabulous. It’s competitor Mountain dew has much less rack presence throughout the country. This mix also allows to experiment with the drink as DIY (Chilli vodka, Lime mix, Mint vodka and so on).

Hence, though the ad/ media agencies are trying hard to prove their worth through advertisement, the reality is the powerful ‘blending capability’ and rack presence of this otherwise non benevolent drink that’s making it fly high in Indian subcontinent.

Rest is bakwas, anyway.