A Tale of Tastebuds & Long Summers written playfully by the most renowned beverage brands. The battle for beverage supremacy has intensified with Pepsi, Coca-Cola, and Fanta launching strategic campaigns to align their products with popular meals and snacks. Pepsi’s “Better with Pepsi” campaign spotlights summer barbecues, suggesting that grilled foods are best enjoyed with a chilled Pepsi. Fanta’s “Fnack” campaign, featuring actor Kartik Aaryan, promotes Fanta as the ultimate snack companion, while Coca-Cola’s Thums Up positions itself as the perfect partner for Indian Biryani, even enlisting Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan for added impact.

These campaigns are meticulously crafted to shift consumer behavior from drinking water with meals to choosing a branded beverage, capitalizing on food consumption trends. Strategically placed advertisements and branded refrigerators in eateries reinforce these associations, aiming to make the beverage a natural choice during specific eating occasions. The effectiveness of these campaigns lies in their ability to form emotional connections with popular foods, thus driving impulse purchases and increasing value-share growth through new pricing and packaging strategies.

Experts like Deepti Karthik and Chandramouli Nilkantan emphasize the importance of aligning beverages with food trends to drive sales and brand awareness. While these campaigns benefit from increased consumption alongside specific foods, they may limit the stand-alone appeal of the beverages. Nonetheless, as these beverage giants continue to embed themselves into the fabric of everyday meals, reaching for a Pepsi, Fanta, or Thums Up is becoming a subconscious choice for many consumers.