New Delhi: Coca-Cola India has fired the opening salvos of its summer campaign with the launch of two new variants of Maaza — Maaza Pineapple and Maaza Orange. The variants will come in 125ml packaging (single serve), designed to tap the rapidly growing juice drink market in India.

The company says that it has launched the pineapple and orange variants after extensive R&D and test marketing of formulations, which have been created especially to cater to the Indian palate and taste preferences.

The existing Maaza Mango, which enjoys more than thirty per cent of the juice drink market, is also being introduced in an innovative sleeve packaging in large family pack PET bottles which will target home consumers.

Vikas Gupta, Vice President, Marketing, Coca-Cola India said, "We continue to evaluate the evolving consumer needs and the new innovations, both on the flavour and packaging fronts, are a result of an extensive research and will provide a wider choice to our health conscious consumers."

He added, "With the launch of PET bottles we plan tap the home consumers in a big way as ninety per cent of all beverages are consumed at home today".

The new offerings will be rolled out in the key metros to begin with, namely Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Chennai, and will be made available in other markets across India in a phased maaner. Maaza Mango, Pineapple and Orange will be available in 125 ml tetra packs for Rs6. Maaza Mango is also available in 200 ml and 250 ml glass bottles for Rs7 and 8 respectively and in the new metallic half sleeved internationally designed PET bottle (1 litre+200ml free) for Rs36.

The tetra-packs, popularly known as Chotu Maaza, are being promoted as a lunch accompaniment for school-going children and will be available with Donald Duck, and Pluto puzzles.

The latest initiatives for brand Maaza are supported by an integrated marketing and communications act including a new TV commercial that comes on air this week across all Hindi mainline channels. The mainline launch will be followed by regional channel launches in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.

The new TV commercial, conceptualized by Leo Burnett and directed by Deven Khote of UTV Productions, extends the successful Yaari Dosti, Taaza Maaza campaign, to the entire family. It shows the kids'' asking their mother for Maaza as a bribe in return of their efforts to perform the daily chores for her. The commercial this time features the entire family including father and grandparents enjoying a moment of togetherness with Maaza to promote the family pack.

Coca-Cola India serves millions of consumers throughout the country with a varied range of beverages, including Coca-Cola, Diet Coke, Thums Up, Fanta, Limca, Sprite, Maaza, Sunfill, Georgia, Georgia Gold, Kinley and Kinley Club Soda through a network of more than one million outlets. The company has invested more than US$ 1 billion in its Indian operations, emerging as one of the country''s top international investors and employs approximately 6,000 people in India.