PepsiCo Appoints New CMO for India and South Asia Beverage Business

PepsiCo Inc. just appointed its new chief marketing officer for its beverage business operations in India and South Asia. The food, snack and beverage manufacturer made the appointment by promoting a company veteran.

PepsiCo named Tarun Bhagat as the new CMO of the said regional unit. Prior to his promotion, he was working in the company as the senior director of marketing for international beverage brands - Mountain Dew, 7UP, and Mirinda. As per Campaign Asia, he first joined the company in 2008 and started as assistant brand manager for Tropicana and Pepsi drink brands.

Before moving to PepsiCo, the newly-promoted CMO was the group product manager at Kingfisher Beer, an Indian brewery group. Tarun Bhagat’s corporate career spans more than 19 years, and he was revealed to have also worked at LG Electronics at one point.

CNBCTV18 reported that Bhagat was a product manager for refrigerators at LG Electronics. He managed overseas sales and marketing while in this position. He built a great career in the said South Korean company, and throughout his tenure, he successfully climbed up the corporate ladder to reach higher posts. He eventually became a communications manager for LG Electronics’ air conditioner business division.

He left the electronics firm and slowly moved to the beverage industry. He moved to United Breweries Group, the parent company of Kingfisher Beer, and served as a group product manager.

From there, he joined PepsiCo and focused on the management of the Pepsi brand in India. He also managed other brands later on, which include Aquafina and Gatorade.

Meanwhile, the executive shared the good news of his promotion through his LinkedIn profile and said that he is very happy to take on a new role at the company’s India and South Asia units.

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