PEPSICO APPOINTS ZAREEN RATHOR AS HEAD OF CORPORATE COMMUNICATIONS & SOCIAL IMPACT

PepsiCo has named Zareen Rathor as its new Head of Corporate Communications & Social Impact in India. Formerly Executive Creative Director at Red Publicis, Rathor brings creative and strategic storytelling experience as the company strengthens its purpose, sustainability, and stakeholder engagement efforts amid growing expectations around corporate responsibility and long-term brand trust.  

PepsiCo has tapped seasoned communications leader Zareen Rathor as its new Head of Corporate Communications & Social Impact for India, marking a notable leadership addition at a time when the global food and beverage major is sharpening its narrative around purpose, sustainability, social responsibility, and brand citizenship. Rathor, who was previously Executive Creative Director at Red Publicis, brings a hybrid blend of creative agency expertise and strategic storytelling chops that PepsiCo appears eager to harness as communication paradigms evolve beyond traditional brand messaging into advocacy, impact, and long-term corporate trust building.

Rathor’s appointment signals a broader shift in how large consumer brands are recruiting for communications roles. Once dominated by corporate generalists or PR veterans, the function now increasingly favors talent that understands multi-platform storytelling, culture, community dynamics, and the power of participatory influence. PepsiCo India has been particularly active in linking its portfolio of popular consumer brands with long-term sustainability efforts around water stewardship, recycling, plastic reduction, healthier product lines, and social development initiatives. By naming Rathor to a role that explicitly combines Corporate Communications with Social Impact, the company has made that integration both visible and deliberate.

Industry observers note that Rathor’s move from an agency’s creative leadership into a corporate communications seat is both timely and emblematic of wider workforce movements across the communications ecosystem. As brands contend with a media landscape where narratives aren’t simply pushed but continuously negotiated with stakeholders, creative agency experience—especially at the executive creative director level—can provide the cultural fluency, message agility, and multidisciplinary thinking required to build relevance in real time. At Red Publicis, Rathor was involved in campaigns that spanned digital-first storytelling, integrated brand experiences, and public-facing advocacy work, giving her an on-the-ground vantage point into how ideas acquire momentum across platforms and publics.

For PepsiCo, the timing of the appointment aligns with an era of heightened scrutiny on the food and beverage sector. Conversations around nutrition, packaging, emissions, and responsible marketing have become mainstream regulatory and consumer debates. Multinationals in the category are increasingly expected not only to comply with stated norms but to demonstrate proactive leadership in improving public health outcomes, empowering communities, and advancing sustainability. Communications, once a back-end function that handled press statements and media relations, now often sits upstream—informing strategy, advising executives on stakeholder temperature, shaping narrative legitimacy, and connecting corporate purpose with business decisions.

Rathor’s remit is expected to include external communications, reputation management, social impact program amplification, and deeper engagement with policy, industry, and sustainability forums. Those familiar with the matter point out that the dual designation reflects how impact initiatives must now be woven into corporate storytelling rather than treated as standalone CSR appendages. The line between corporate responsibility and brand relevance has rapidly thinned, particularly for consumer goods companies that operate at enormous scale and cultural visibility.

PepsiCo’s decision also mirrors global talent patterns, where storytelling leaders from creative, publishing, entertainment, and design industries are being recruited into corporate and social impact roles because they understand narrative momentum. For a company whose brands exist in popular culture—from Pepsi and Lay’s to Gatorade and Mountain Dew—maintaining that cultural seat while strengthening societal alignment is both a challenge and an opportunity. Rathor’s agency background may help bridge those intersecting worlds.

Within the communications fraternity, the appointment has been read as both progressive and strategic. The sector has long debated the future of corporate comms, particularly in an environment where younger audiences relate more to values and lived impact than to press releases or legacy brand assets. Creative thinking, once perceived as peripheral to corporate messaging, has gained currency as enterprises learn to behave less like institutional monoliths and more like participants in cultural dialogue. This shift is accelerated by social media, where the speed of reaction and the tenor of public sentiment can influence business outcomes almost immediately.

Rathor’s predecessor’s contributions positioned PepsiCo India on a path where sustainability messaging and purpose-led brand efforts gained visibility and structure. Her tenure, however, arrives at a moment where stakeholders expect deeper transparency, measurable outcomes, credible partnerships, and authentic communication that doesn’t merely brandish social responsibility but demonstrates it. PepsiCo’s ongoing sustainability roadmap—including water conservation programs in agriculture, investments in circular packaging systems, and nutrition-focused product innovation—offers a substantive base for such storytelling, provided it is communicated coherently and with impact.

The appointment underscores how competitive the landscape for communications talent has become, especially as organisations discover that narrative equity translates into reputational resilience. For PepsiCo, which operates in a category infused with both nostalgia and scrutiny, the move reflects an understanding that corporate reputation is no longer built through sporadic communication but through ongoing narrative stewardship. With Rathor at the helm, industry watchers will be keen to see how PepsiCo evolves its presence across public, digital, regulatory, and cultural interfaces in the months ahead.