I spied the store below on my wanderings around Bangkok. It was a diversification strategy I had missed.
From what I can decipher from various websites, said jeans have been on the market in Europe for a number of years, and were launched in China and Japan in 2007. Interestingly, there is no effort made to market them in Pepsi’s home, the US of A.
It’s not a brand association I make easily, but I guess if Pepsi is viewed as a symbol of youthfulness and Western rebellion, then jeans are a natural fit.
What next? Fanta pants?
Tags: diversification, Pepsi, Pepsi jeans, Strategic management, unrelated diversification
International BS Blog 
January 17, 2010 at 5:15 pm |
(From Hacker News)
Having grown up in the UK, and having spent much time in France, and a fair amount of time elsewhere in Europe, I’ve certainly never seen pepsi brand jeans before.
Where I lived, Pepsi was difficult to find, and I believe the area of the UK I lived in actually had one of the youngest demographics, which is allegedly Pepsi’s target audience. I’ve been throughout France, from Paris through to remote rural villages, and I’ve barely seen Pepsi there either.
It wasn’t until I moved to Canada that I really saw Pepsi everywhere. Where food courts alternate between Coke and Pepsi products. In the UK, the only place I ever saw selling Pepsi products was KFC.
Supermarkets carried pepsi products, however they might only have a tenth of the stock compared to Coke and the local drink manufacturers. Quite surprisingly Irn-Bru usually had similar stocking in the 2L bottled sections. When it came down to cans and bottles, Lucozade usually had double the stock of Pepsi, and Coke obviously dominated.
Edit: In my local convenience store, I believe Pepsi actually lost out to Dandelion and Burdock.
http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1058014