Pepsi India's marketing head resigns
By siliconindia   |   Friday, 11 June 2004, 19:30 IST   |    4 Comments
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NEW DELHI: In a sudden move, Shashi K Kalathil, the head of marketing of PepsiCo, has put in his papers. Sources say the chairman of PepsiCo India, Rajeev Bakshi, has been attending all the advertising and brand communication related meetings with its agency JWT for sometime now. Kalathil put in a short two-and-a-half-year stint, while his predecessor Vibha Paul Rishi had headed the marketing division of the cola company for 14 years. Before heading Pepsi’s marketing division (in charge of carbonated drinks which includes the Pepsi brand), Kalathil, an IIM-B alumni, was executive vice-president of PepsiCo India’s south market business unit operations and was based in Chennai. Before joining Pepsi, Mr Kalathil had worked with HLL and RPG Group’s Cellular operations in Chennai. Sources say that Vibha Rishi, the erstwhile high profile marketing head, has been reviewing the advertising of the Indian arm from Pepsico’s headquarters in New York, where she is currently based. When contacted, the Pepsi spokesperson confirmed Kalathil’s resignation. According to sources, Kalathil was on a weak wicket due to slipping standards of advertising and some faux pas that Pepsi had made in recent times. The latest one being the “Pakis Khallas, ab aur badhi hai pyaas” ad, which irked many Pakistanis, including the Pakistan Cricket Board, during the recently concluded Indo-Pak cricket series. Before that there were problems with an ad featuring Shah Rukh Khan, Preity Zinta and Saif Ali Khan. The commercial was slated to be released on Valentines Day, but was launched later than the planned schedule. This is the second high profile exit for the Cola major in the past six months after the HR head Jeswant Nair had put in his papers.

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