PepsiCo to move money into shopper marketing and digital to maintain sales success

PepsiCo says its will not increase its marketing spend in 2015 but instead hopes to get more “bang for its buck” through a global shift towards shopper marketing and digital as it looks to maintain the sales success of 2014.

In a call with investors today (11 February), PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi said that moving forward PepsiCo will continue to hold its marketing spend at 5.9% of its sales.

She also said that instead of upping investment, it will make a shift towards consumer-facing programs, an effort Nooyi believes will give the company “more bang for its buck” in every part of the world.

This strategy will continue the company’s push into expanding its social and digital presence, but could also see a ramp-up of in-store marketing.

This move comes despite the success of PepsiCo’s 2014 marketing initiatives, which Nooyi largely credited for the company’s recent financial gains.

PepsiCo announced that it has met or exceeded each of its 2014 financial targets, with its latest results showing organic revenue growth of 5% for the company’s latest quarter and 6% organic revenue growth in Europe.

Nooyi says part of this success its due to the investment the company pushed into its biggest brands, such as Pepsi and Lays, in 2014.

Pepsi saw its biggest ever brand campaign in 2014, with a focus around the World Cup despite not being an official sponsor.

The soccer push, titled “Now is what you make it”, tapped footballer Lionel Messi and was the largest global effort yet for the brand and the company, spanning across nearly 100 countries.

Nooyi says the company has seen this investment translate to tangible results.

In the UK, sales for the Pepsi brand rose 5.9% to £126.5m year on year to 6 Dec 2014, while volume sales rose by 3.4% to 162.4 million, according to data from IRI.

In an effort to continue this sales success, the company launched a digital-first global campaign in January for the brand, which looked to appeal to the social-media saavy 16 to 25 age group.

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