Mirinda continues with its ‘Pagalpanti’ agenda with a social twist

Exam time is pressure time, not just for the students but the entire family. This exam season, some brands are addressing this serious issue through their campaigns. Earlier this year, Mirinda, the orange-flavoured beverage from PepsiCo, lent its voice to the cause that matters to Indian teenagers. Frayed nerves and tension take centerstage in the daily lives of teenagers during exam time. 

Keeping this in mind, Mirinda launched the ‘No More Pressurepanti, Only Pagalpanti’ campaign in February this year. The campaign kicked off with a moving digital film featuring real letters written and read by teenagers to their parents. 

The brand rolled out the lastest phase of its campaign in April in its typical fun and playful manner. In contrast to the earlier TVC, this ad is a ‘Pagalpanti’ take on the way parents act with teenagers during exams and highlights the importance of taking a break while studying to release the pressure, reiterating ‘Pagalpanti bhi zaroori hai’. 

With an aim to continue conversations around the same and to urge more people to pay attention to the critical issue, Mirinda introduced a set of  11 million bottles recently, where the labels of each feature an open letter written by teenagers across the country. The labels also carry a number for people to call and pledge their support to the cause. 

The digital film crossed 35 million views in just three weeks of the launch and the brand has been highly appreciated for taking up a cause that a majority of teenagers in India have to deal with. The engagement on Mirinda’s social handles went up dramatically and people are still applauding the brand. 

Campaign insight 

Throwing more light on the campaign, Gaurav Verma, Associate Director, Flavours Marketing, PepsiCo India, said that team Mirinda met with teenagers in the age group of 15-18 years to know what the stress points in their life were. “There was one common theme in what all of them said – the pressure they face during exam time. Thus, the brand’s brief to the agency was – how do we bring this issue to light and drive a change in attitude towards expectations from students during exam time?” 

Elaborating on the creative thought process behind the campaign, Josy Paul, Chairman and Chief Creative Officer, BBDO India, said, “We believe that in today’s world context is everything. The pressure to perform in exams is a huge thing for today’s 14-to-18-year-olds. Parents put so much pressure on kids about grades that it makes them bottle up and not communicate with the parents. Mirinda is a playful beverage that believes short fun breaks amid the stress help students perform better. That’s why, along with the inspired team at PepsiCo, we created Mirinda #Release the Pressure. It’s not a campaign, it’s an invitation.” 

Campaign objective 

Reiterating the fun quotient of Mirinda, Verma said that at the core, Mirinda is a fun brand that drives sociability, and at PepsiCo, the aim is to drive purpose and positive behaviour change through the brands. He added, “With April being the time of year when teenagers go through a lot of exam pressure, and pressure to perform, the campaign fit perfectly into the equation for brand Mirinda’s Pagalpanti quotient and with the new campaign, Mirinda is looking to bring about a new, more purposeful meaning to what the brand stands for. While the campaign aims to create awareness about the serious issue of exam pressure, it also gives a very realistic solution that a break amidst the stress can go a long way to release the pressure.” 

Josy Paul attributes the success of the campaign to being emphatic, resolving a conflict and its high reliability. He remarked, “Empathy is a universal currency. That’s why the idea circulates so quickly. The #ReleaseThePressure film, featuring real letters written and read by teenagers to their parents got more than 35 million views in just one month. By creating a platform to discuss and debate this issue, Mirinda is playing a useful role – something that progresses society and our target audience.” 

Marketing strategy 

With the onset of summer and soaring temperatures, the April-June period is crucial for the beverages industry to revive growth and uplift their sales and Mirinda plans to leverage the season by communicating the brand philosophy with its ‘No More Pressurepanti, Only Pagalpanti’ campaign, albeit through a different lens. 

The brand has rolled out a 360-degree marketing plan, which encompasses digital, on-ground activations, radio, print and television. The campaign kicked off with the #ReleaseThePressure digital film and a microsite, releasethepressure.in. The video on Mirinda’s official YouTube channel has garnered over 2.4 billion views so far, while over 15.7 million people have supported the cause on the microsite. In the second phase of the ‘No More Pressurepanti, Only Pagalpanti’ campaign, Miranda focused on driving awareness around the issue. To further amplify the communication, the brand brought on board credible, influential voices of film critic Anupama Chopra and her daughter Zuni, cricketer Virender Sehwag and actors Malaika Arora and Rana Daggubatti, wherein they all pledged to #ReleaseThePressure and also called upon their followers to do the same. 

Battling competition 

India has a highly underdeveloped soft drinks market, with limited product categories and poor modern retail penetration. India, which is expected to overtake China as the world’s most populous country by 2025, is a very promising market for long-term growth. But with increasing health consciousness among the Indian consumers, there is growing demand for functional drinks like packaged juices, compared to carbonated drinks. 

So where does Mirinda stand in the battle of fizzy/ aerated beverages vis-a-vis fruit juice drinks? Gaurav Verma believes, “Mirinda’s great orangey taste and positioning of uninhibited fun sets it apart in the market.” The brand enjoys a unique position among consumers in the 14-18 age group and the drink’s bold and vibrant orange colour and sparkling bubbles allure teens to have a sip or two with their friends.