?MangoSip's strategises to compete strongly with Coca-Cola, Pepsi

Manpasand Beverages (P) Ltd established as the leading brand of Delightfully Mango Juice in India, known as MangoSip.

MangoSip is one of the country's largest selling mango drink. For the year ended March 31, 2016, the company reported sales of Rs 557 crore. It has managed to build a network of over 2400 distributors and over 2 lakh retailers.

Abhishekh Singh, the company's promoter, said, "We are managing the entire business very personally. On a daily basis we host 10 of our distributors with their families at our main plant where we've built an apartment for them. Other companies don't do that. Instead they have huge global conferences where distributors feel uncomfortable and awkward. Like I felt when I entered Shopper's Stop. When I go to my provision store, the person will ask me 'saab aap kaise ho' but at Shopper's Stop I have to tell him 'saab, mera bill bana do'."

What also helped was the fact that its flagship product MangoSip was designed to look and feel like Frooti. Says Singh, "It made life easier. We didn't have to explain the product. All we said was 'this is like Frooti but costs less, so you're getting more margin'."

Marketing consultant Jagdeep Kapoor, who was instrumental in building Frooti, says being a me-too is limiting. Especially now since Manpasand and MangoSip need to shed the "rural" tag. According to Kapoor, so far the brand has been catering to the "perspirational segment". But in order to reach the "aspirational segment" it will need to do the following:

Turn up its perceived value. "It's like Balaji wafers versus Lay's", he says, Balaji is an over Rs 1000 crore brand but Lay's is higher up on the perception ladder.

Not just focus on distribution but retail with classier visibility in general and modern trade.

While brand ambassador Sunny Deol has worked well for the audience it has been addressing, the company will have to rethink its choice of ambassador for MangoSip. (It recently hired actor Tapsee Pannu for the Fruits Up range, a 'Make In India' product).

Strengthen its positioning in segments it already has a sturdy foothold in, like railways, which contribute 20% to its business, and fill in some gaps. For instance hotels, restaurants and caterers, canteens, schools, colleges, etc. Kapoor says, "If you want to be a complete national brand you have to be sipped by the entire nation. Otherwise it's not MangoSip, it's MangoTip."