Market sources confimed that PepsiCo India has shorlisted three PR firms for the communications mandate. These include Cohn & Wolfe Six Degrees PR, Weber Shandwick India and Edelman India. Market sources said that the current agency Genesis Burson-Marsteller did not pitch for the business.

PepsiCo India has 22 brands in the country incluuding Pepsi, Quaker Oats, Getorade, Kurkure, Lays and Tropicana; making this one of the largest consumer PR mandates in the country.

It is reliably learnt that two agencies will be hired, one for corporate communications and CSR and the other for brand based PR. These two mandates are separately led within the PepsiCo structrure. Cohn & Wolfe Six Degrees PR is widely reported as one of the front runners for hire. 

Any PR mandate for PepsiCo will also need to take into account the strong trends towards healthy eating. PepsiCo has made a committment to cut sugar, saturated fats and sodium from many of their products over the next decade. In India, PepsiCo recently rolled out an intensive campaign around Quaker Oats featuring healthy recipes in collaboration with celebrity chef, Vikas Khanna.