Pepsi Seals Insta Deal With Lockdown Hero Sonu Sood

PepsiCo has signed Sonu Sood for its latest Instagram campaign in India to spread the message of contactless greetings in a COVID-19 plagued world.  

The 46-year-old actor has been a real-life hero in recent weeks as he provided food, sanitiser and transport to stranded migrant workers during the nationwide lockdown.

With anxiety levels high across the world, most brands are likely to veer away from vacuous celebritydom to one where great actions of compassion matter more PepsiCo has been quick to resonate on this groundswell with a larger social cause by tapping on the public spiritedness of Sonu Sood.

As for Sood who has about 3.2m followers on Instagram, this is a strong opportunity for him to become a leading brand endorser after toiling for two decades in the industry. Speaking after landing his major deal, “As public figures, it is our responsibility to communicate the importance of ensuring safety for ourselves and others. I am proud to partner with Pepsi on driving the message of social distancing,” said the actor who is part of the cast of Yash Raj production Prithiviraj, which will be released later this year. 

The Pepsi spokesperson said the company wanted to act responsibly. “With social distancing being the new reality, we would need to re-evaluate the way we greet each other,” he added. 

While PepsiCo had declined to comment on the size of the endorsement fee, it’s certain to be a modest one, as Sonu Sood isn’t in the top tier of Bollywood A-listers. Sood’s previous brand associations have been with lesser-known entities such as the government-backed Fit India Movement and fresh fruit importer IG International. 

Sood’s association with Pepsi comes at a time when summer sales of soft drinks have plummeted as Indians have been staying indoors although lockdown curbs are easing. The April-June quarter contributes over half of the packaged beverage industry’s annual sales worth over US$4b, of which out-of-home consumption including sales at hotels, restaurants, theatres and cineplexes and live events account for 80%. While in-home consumption has picked up, the majority out-of-home consumption has been severely impacted.