China Herald: Pepsi beats Coke at Shanghai Disney

PepsiCo has beaten Coca-Cola as the only coke supplier at the Shanghai Disney park, breaking a decades old alliance between Disney and Coca-Cola. The question is now whether Pepsi can leverage the tie-up outside the resort, says retail analyst Ben Cavender to Reuters.

Reuters:

The deal is only a tiny segment of China's 421 billion yuan ($68.74 billion) soft drink sector, but marks a blow for PepsiCo against Coke in the highly competitive market, where both brands are coming under increasing pressure from Chinese rivals and changing consumer tastes for local flavors.

"I wonder what kind of message it sends to Coke globally. Even though the Disney park is only one small thing, China has massive room to grow for the Disney brand. Tying up this deal could mean good things going forward," said Ben Cavender, Shanghai-based principal at China Market Research Group...

The key question for Pepsi is if it can leverage its tie-up with Disney outside the limits of the resort, said Cavender.

"If they can do more Disney-themed adverts elsewhere I can see this benefiting them a lot, and the fact Disney switched from Coke to Pepsi here could mean big things for the years ahead in other markets too," he said.

More at Reuters.

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