One of Dr Pepper's early slogans was "Drink a bite to eat at 10, 2 and 4," to help prevent the low energy that some felt hit at 10:30 a.m., 2:30 p.m. and 4:30 p.m.
But to Sullivan, the slogan may as well have been the doctor's orders. She even drinks Dr Pepper in the morning.
“People try to give me coffee for breakfast," she told the station. "Well, I’d rather have a Dr Pepper.”
For her 104th birthday, Sullivan was given a cake shaped like a can of of Dr Pepper and plenty of soda, along with a gift basket from Dr Pepper Snapple Group CEO Larry Young.
The retired math teacher gets around with the help of a cane, but still lives in her Fort Worth home. Last year, after her 103rd birthday, Sullivan told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram that she thought people would want to die by the time they reached their 80s or 90s. Instead, she found herself having more fun than ever once she hit 90.
Sullivan said at the time that her medications were limited to a single pill a day. She didn't say what she used to help swallow it, but it would be fitting if it were one of her three daily Dr Peppers.
ATLANTA --Coca-Cola Co. has brought back Sprite 6 Mix by LeBron James with a new name a new packaging.
The NBA superstar's limited-edition Sprite flavor has evolved into Sprite LeBron’s Mix.
Formulated in collaboration with James and first introduced in 2014, the LTO combines the refreshing taste of traditional Sprite with a splash of natural cherry and orange flavors. The new packaging features a bold red color base with James' initials in the background. Crown iconography and dashes of gold symbolize the NBA star's most popular nickname: King James.
“Since Sprite began its relationship with LeBron in 2003, we have worked together with the goal of creating fan experiences no other brand can offer,” said Kimberly Paige, vice president, Sprite Brands and Flavors, Coca-Cola North America. “Sprite LeBron's Mix is a true reflection of our mutual desire to constantly innovate and connect with fans in authentic and original ways."
Sprite LeBron’s Mix is now available in 20-oz. and 2-liter bottles, as well as 16-oz. cans, in convenience retail, value and mass retail locations nationwide.
"This collaboration with Sprite was all about showing gratitude to my fans by sharing one of my personal favorites, Sprite with cherry and orange,” said James. "I’m excited to continue my partnership with Sprite and bring it back this year, because sometimes things are even better the second time around."
Tiësto is mentoring a new era of EDM superstars while building new frontiers of dance music.
45-year-old Tijs Michiel Verwest, better known asTiësto, stands at the precipice of a complete cultural takeover by the EDM world, one of the most prominent names in the unstoppable dance music revival of the 21st century. A two-decade scene veteran, Tiësto straddles the bridge between dance music’s underground history and a new era of EDM superstars like Avicii, Calvin Harris, Martin Garrix and beyond. He was a major influence in the rise of the latter, mentoring the young spinner and others like him, including Hardwell, as he offered them opening slots on tours and aided their navigation through the industry’s notoriously treacherous waters.
On his latest album,A Town Called Paradise, Tiësto hybridized trance euphoria with infectious pop structures to massive success. For a deep lather of icing on the year, he won hisfirst ever Grammylast month for a remix of John Legend’s “All of Me,” further concreting his status as an industry mainstay and top figure in the genre. As for social media? He’s killing there too, with over 3.4 million Twitter followers and 20 million Facebook fans.
The social accolades don’t pay bills, however, but low production costs and a staggering quarter-million average set fee keep Verwest in luxury. With lucrative brand partnerships, sponsor deals and over 100 shows in the past year, he tied with Avicii for #3 on Forbes’ World’s Highest Paid DJs list at $28 million. And this year, thanks to the expansion of his ownAudioFly/ClubLifeproducts and a $30 million deal with soft-drink giant 7-Up, he may very well reach #1.
ABillboard interviewrevealing Tiësto’s perspective on his fame and the future of music was a telling testament to the man’s dedication to raising the status of the entire scene. In discussing his landmark sponsorship deal with 7-Up, Tiësto explained the pivotal role 7-Up’s support played in the exposure of new artists he’s been working with.
“Last year, for example, I signed seven new DJs — seven guys who, in one year, became a lot bigger because of [7UP’s] support,” he explained. “I think that’s where brands have a real potential to build something lasting. When I think about the Club Life brand, that’s how I think about it. It’s more than a label, it represents a lifestyle, my lifestyle on the club circuit.”
As for the future of dance music? Tiësto isn’t studying tea leaves, but he’d like the rest of us to stop the hand-wringing over terminology.
“It’s hard to predict, and I try not to bother. What can you do?” he asks. “What do those genres even mean? EDM used to be a term for all of electronic dance music, but now it just means all the music that you’re not supposed to play. It became the new trance. It got popular, so now we’re all into deep house. And soon we’ll be over that. You can’t win. I wish we could have just stuck with EDM, honestly, because we finally had a term that captured everything in one big family, like jazz. But, no. We had to be hip.”
Genre-labeling issues nonwithstanding, Tiësto is an undeniable force in the music world. Catch his set this month at theUltra Music Festivalin Miami.
A mouth-watering, fresh and natural re-branding for Honest Tea byBeardwood & Co.. Honest Tea is known and loved by an army of health-conscious, natural tea drinkers, but non-users saw the brand as too serious and less flavorful than the bevy of new tea competitors coming to market. Hence, the opportunity of appealing to a broader range of consumers- while staying true to its roots- became the key driver in the brief from Coca-Cola (owner of Honest Tea) to Beardwood & Co.
“We redrew the logo in a friendlier font to help the brand feel more approachable, and embellished it with a small leaf sign-off. We also moved the tagline to the top of the bottle for greater emphasis: "Just a Tad Sweet" has always been the Honest Tea reason-for-being that differentiates the brand from its sugar-loaded competition. Hyper-real imagery highlights the organic, fresh ingredients and adds mouth-watering appetite appeal. Elements of the imagery break out of the T shape to add dimensionality and dynamism.” comments the agency.
The final design grabs attention on shelf, highlights flavor appeal and differentiation, and reinforces the brand mantras. The consistent T shape with two leaves is an iconic element across all products, reinforcing the natural essence of the brand.
PURCHASE, N.Y.,March 14, 2015/PRNewswire/ –Today, Pepsi Beverages North America kicks-off its seventh consecutive year as the official carbonated soft drink partner of South by Southwest (SxSW), the music and film festival held annually inAustin, Texas. Activating across multiple brand platforms, Pepsi®, Mountain Dew®, Brisk® Iced Tea and Lipton® Iced Tea will offer event attendees a host of interactive experiences designed to drive consumer engagement.
“South by Southwest is the epicenter of music, technology and innovation and we are honored to be partnering with the festival for the seventh year in a row,” saidSimon Lowden, Chief Marketing Officer at Pepsi Beverages North America. “We know from past experience that South By Southwest is a great space for brands to connect with and learn from consumers. In addition to fun and refreshing sampling experiences throughout the entire festival, this year, we are turning over the reins to festivalgoers by offering interactive brand experiences designed to engage consumers on a new level – from helping Pepsi to shape future of the music festivals to thrilling virtual experiences fueled by Mountain Dew.”
Pepsi, Mountain Dew, Brisk and Lipton Iced Tea will infuse theAustinmarket with innovative, engaging activities fromMarch 13-22, including:
Pepsi ActivationsPepsi SoundboardPepsi will invite the SxSW crowd to step into testimonial booths and sound off on their favorite music fests, festival enhancements and offer new ideas to evolve the space and shape the #FutureoftheFest in 15 seconds.
Interactive Vending Fortune TellerAn interactive vending machine will engage users through Kinect technology with a 3D fortune teller that surprises and delights consumers. In addition to giving out witty fortunes and delicious Pepsi , the machine will also offer users a chance to win VIP invites, Pepsi prizes or access to exclusive experiences.
Fest Rest LoungeFestivalgoers can recharge at the Fest Rest Lounge and participate in “Fest Rest Chats” to explore the intersection of technology and music. Fast Company will be on site to share insights and key trends from the daily Pepsi Soundboard submissions.
Pepsi Presents: The Future of the FestPepsi will host a “Fast Talk” to explore the intersection of technology, music and brands. Confirmed speakers include:
Simon Lowden, Chief Marketing Officer, Pepsi Beverages North America
Russell Wallach, President – Media and Partnerships, Live Nation
Jack Antonoff, Musician and Singer
Moderator:Teressa Iezzi, Editor of Co.Create
Pepsi Soundboard Launch PartyFollowing the “Fast Talk,” Pepsi will host a launch party featuring a DJ set by Jane Doze, a SxSW/Pepsi Soundboard highlight reel and a presentation from Pepsi and Fast Company on key findings gleaned from festival goers.
Out of the Blue BusFromMarch 18-22, Pepsi will deliver “Out of the Blue” moments to music fans inAustinas part of the brand’s recently launched music platform. “Out of the Blue” aims to unite fans around unbelievable, once-in-a-lifetime music experiences that they can only get from Pepsi. The “Out of the Blue” bus will hit the streets ofAustinto ask artists and fans to “Pass the Mic” and lay down one verse of a rhyme. The best performances will be captured in an original music video.
2015 mtvU Woodie Awards and MTV Woodies FestivalAgain this year, Pepsi will be an official sponsor of the 2015 mtvU Woodie Awards, the annual event at the forefront of breaking some of the biggest names in music.
Mountain Dew ActivationsGreen Label LiveMountain Dew will bring its youth culture platform, Green Label, to life with an immersive consumer experience calledGreen Label Livefeaturing music, action sports, film, fashion, technology, food and beverage innovation onWednesday, March 18.
Green Label Live ConcertMountain Dew’s in-house record label, Green Label Sound, will host a concert with live performances from A-Trak, whose song with Milo and Otis “Out the Speakers feat.Rich Kidz,” was the beat that brought the brand’s recentSuper Bowl commercial for Mtn Dew Kickstartto life. In addition, former Green Label Sound artists, Joey Bada$$, and MNDR will perform, as well as the winner of theGreen Label Sound: Open Callcontest in partnership with SoundCloud, Kelechi.
Virtual Reality ExperiencesConsumers can test Mountain Dew’s new live action 360-degree virtual reality experiences,Dew VR SkateandDew VR Snow, and meet professional skateboarding athletePaul Rodriguez.
BevLabMountain Dew will invite attendees to sample new variations of the one-of-a-kind citrus beverage, such as Mountain Dew flavored ice cream, which will be churned on-site using a state-of-the-art cement mixer. Fans can also opt for new Mountain Dew flavor bursts, which use molecular gastronomy to produce frozen spheres of fans favorite flavors.
PinTrill Pop-up ShopPinTrill’s first pop-up shop will offer attendees unique street wear such as a custom, collectable Mountain Dew Green Label line of pins.
One-of-a-Kind ArtworkGreen Label is teaming up with new Swedish startup Onehundredforty, an art experiment that merges smart programming and meticulous design to make personal art prints using words from Twitter. In a first-of-its-kind public display, they’ve transformed tweets from the Green Label community and Mountain Dew family into one-of-a-kind design prints that will be shown onsite at Green Label Live. Fans are also invited to view artwork curated by a localAustinskate influencer.
Brisk Iced Tea ActivationsThis year Brisk Iced Tea will be out at SxSW in a whole new way – unleashing its artist-created package designs acrossAustinto launch its new campaign, “Kinda Out There.” South By Goers will see characters (sharks, llamas, lemons etc.) from Brisk’s package designs coming to life out in the streets, at events, in retail locations, and in live cameos, giving those who Spot and Tag them to social media (#ThatsBriskBaby #Entry –visitdrinkbrisk.com/sxswfor more details), the chance to win epic, instantly redeemable prizes. Attendees can also hit up the Brisk Sampling Truck to enjoy an ice cold can of bold Brisk flavor – it’s Kinda Out There.
Lipton Sparkling Iced Tea ActivationsTo celebrate the launch of Lipton Sparkling Iced Tea, Lipton will be bringing the official #TinyBubbles Outdoor Lounge to SxSW onMarch 20– 22. Consumers can drop by the lounge to sample great-tasting peach, lemonade and raspberry flavored iced teas infused with light, crisp tiny bubbles for a refreshingly uplifting taste experience. Festival goers can also jump into the #TinyBubbles ball pit, pose and post their pic at the interactive GIF booth and take home #TinyBubbles goodies.
About PepsiCoPepsiCo products are enjoyed by consumers one billion times a day in more than 200 countries and territories around the world. PepsiCo generated more than$66 billionin net revenue in 2014, driven by a complementary food and beverage portfolio that includes Frito-Lay, Gatorade, Pepsi-Cola, Quaker and Tropicana. PepsiCo’s product portfolio includes a wide range of enjoyable foods and beverages, including 22 brands that generate more than$1 billioneach in estimated annual retail sales.
At the heart of PepsiCo is Performance with Purpose – our goal to deliver top-tier financial performance while creating sustainable growth in shareholder value. In practice, Performance with Purpose means providing a wide range of foods and beverages from treats to healthy eats; finding innovative ways to minimize our impact on the environment and reduce our operating costs; providing a safe and inclusive workplace for our employees globally; and respecting, supporting and investing in the local communities where we operate. For more information, visitwww.pepsico.com.
Pepsi wants to sell you a feeling, with a little soda on the side.
This year marks the 40th anniversary of the soda giant's famous "Pepsi Challenge" campaign, which asked people to do a blind taste test to see if they preferred Pepsi or Coke. To celebrate, the company isre-launching the challenge, complete with celebrities like Usher and Serena Williams, as well as Vine and Snapchat sensation Jerome Jarre. But instead of picking Pepsi or Coke, the new campaign asks fans to take part in sports, tech, design and music challenges.
The modernized challenge isn’t completely devoid of images of Pepsi cans, and there will be a taste test component in some markets. But the ad push centers largely around creating an emotional connection with the Pepsi brand and less on lauding the taste of its cola.
That's because the company's ethos is about more than just a bubbly drink, said Brad Jakeman, the president of PepsiCo's Global Beverages Group.
“This is a brand that has stood next to major cultural moments all around the world; it’s a brand that always operates in the consumer zeitgeist,” Jakeman said. “The brand is much bigger than a product concept, and actually that has allowed us to do a lot of interesting things with this brand beyond soda.”
It makes sense for Pepsi to minimize the campaign's focus on soda because the sugary, carbonated drink isfalling out of fashion. Americans in particular are opting more often for energy drinks and enhanced waters as the nation becomes more health-conscious. PepsiCo’s snack division, Frito-Lay,has helped buoy the companyamid sluggish soda sales in recent years.
The decline in millions of liters of soda sold in the U.S.
The Pepsi Challenge was first imagined as a direct provocation to the company's main rival, Coke. At the time, Coke was a big-time national brand, while Pepsi was mostly popular regionally. As a result, Pepsi had to focus on innovations -- plastic two-liter bottles and aggressive marketing -- to make a dent in Coke’s lead, according to former Pepsi CEO John Sculley.
“Everything that I was expected to do at Pepsi was about competition with Coca-Cola,” said Sculley, who is also the author ofMoonshot! Game-Changing Strategies to Build Billion-Dollar Businesses.
Forty years later, that strategy doesn’t make sense in a world where Coke isn’t Pepsi’s main problem. Now, changing tastes and smaller upstarts offering a wide array of alternatives to soda are some of the biggest threats to the company.
“If you’re Pepsi, you have to do something,” said Tim Calkins, a marketing professor at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management. “Trends are not going their way.”
This isn’t a problem unique to Pepsi. Legacy companies like McDonald’s and Coke are also searching for ways to give people a warm and fuzzy feeling about their brands even as shoppers eschew their products.Coke’s Super Bowl campaignencouraged viewers to make the Internet a more positive place by adding the hashtag “Make It Happy” to negative tweets, which flagged a bot to turn the text into cute cartoon images. McDonald’s also courted controversy after the chain releasedan ad highlighting messageslike “thank you veterans” and “keep jobs in Toledo” that franchisees often feature on the signs outside their restaurants.
“What you’re seeing now is less emphasis on the product because they find themselves in this situation where the product itself is not that appealing,” said Denise Lee Yohn, a brand consultant who has worked with Burger King, New Balance and other top companies.
It’s hard to say whether creating a halo around a brand actually translates into selling more soda or burgers, Calkins said. It's easier to track the impact of old-school promotion tactics, like giving out coupons, than campaigns based on social media.
Now, the company will wait and see what kind of success it can have with a Pepsi Challenge that relies heavily on people liking it enough to tweet about it or talk about it on Facebook. “The challenge is can they come with something that’s really compelling," Calkins said.
Back when high fructose corn syrup hadn’t yet been invented, the phrase “Mountain Dew” meant something very different. While that name now reminds us of a highly caffeinated soft drink, originally it referred to homemade corn-based booze, or moonshine. Mountain Dew’s new limited-edition product is supposed to evoke moonshine while removing corn from the beverage altogether.
The beverage comes in four-packs of glass bottles, and is clear and vaguely citrus-flavored. So it’s malt liquor, then? No. It’s Mountain Dew. Its trademarked name is Mountain Dew Dew Shine, but it contains no alcohol despite being named after two different classic homemade intoxicants. (Yes. “Dew dew.” We had the same thought.)
What we don’t know yet is whether this sort of Mountain Dew will contain caffeine. If it follows the pattern ofthe previous Mountain Dew “heritage” flavor, Johnson City Gold, in 2012, it will be caffeinated. Dew Shine is packaged like a craft-style soda, and sues cane sugar instead of high fructose corn syrup.
The beverage goes on sale later this month. We do not know how it tastes mixed with whiskey, which was the original purpose of the soft drink invented in Johnson City, Tennessee that eventually became the Mountain Dew that we know and either love or hate today.
Forget the blind taste tests that pitted Pepsi against Coke, a hallmark of the classic, wildly successful advertising campaign that made its debut 40 years ago. This time, Pepsi has signed a crowd of celebrities, including Usher, Serena Williams and Usain Bolt, to recruit consumers to participate in a series of challenges meant for the social media generation. The yearlong promotion begins on Wednesday.
“We’ve taken the DNA of the Pepsi challenge, then reinterpreted it for a new generation,” said Brad Jakeman, president of PepsiCo’s global beverages group. “Now more than ever, we are in a world where the consumer expects to hear from the brands they love in whole different ways.”
Every month, Pepsi “ambassadors” will use social media to issue a new challenge — many of which blend social responsibility with popular culture — that encourages consumers to “do something different.” Later this month, for instance, the fashion designer Nicola Formichetti will present the first challenge from Hong Kong to bring light to poor communities across the globe using plastic Pepsi bottles filled with water and bleach to refract sunlight.
All the challenges will focus on social media in some way, and they could involve technology, music or sports. Over the summer, the singer Usher will participate in a video that involves footage from space. (No, PepsiCo executives said, they are not sending Usher into orbit.)
James Rodríguez, the soccer star; Ms. Williams, the tennis champion; and Mr. Bolt, the Olympic sprinter, will also present challenges, presumably of the athletic variety. Pepsi has also signed on Jerome Jarre, a name that people over the age of 30 may not recognize but who is a bona fide star on the social networks Vine and Snapchat.
Reviving the Pepsi Challenge represents an effort by the brand to stand out by exploiting the mass recognition of a previously successful idea. Other marketers and media companies also have deployed a similar strategy, bringing back characters and ideas with built-in recognition. Pepsi’s archrival, Coca-Cola, for instance, recently announced a new yearlong campaign to celebrate thehundredth anniversaryof its iconic bottle.
And there are, of course, the movie-franchise sequels that now dominate the box office.
Yet the approach comes with a risk: that the remake of a retro idea doesn’t live up to the hype of the past. “You don’t want to milk the equity,” Mr. Jakeman said. “You actually want to add to it.”
Mr. Jakeman added that it was easier to stand out with big, bold advertising campaigns years ago, before the age of commercial skipping and the proliferation of social media. “All you had to do was make a television commercial,” he said. “It is not about one big epic television commercial anymore. It is about this continuing dialogue.”
The new advertisements come as Pepsi is aiming to expand its global presence, particularly in emerging markets. A major part of the new Pepsi Challenge involves bringing a local perspective to the global campaign and creating individual and distinct campaigns region by region.
The plan, which represents a broader push across the marketing industry, is a recognition of the global nature of the Internet but it also takes regional cultural differences into consideration.
Pepsi, for example, will challenge consumers in India to create their own Pepsi ads that could be shown during this year’s Indian Premier League cricket games, which are sponsored, as it so happens, by Pepsi. There are also plans for a music challenge in Latin America and a food-related challenge in Thailand.
“The context in which consumers live really mandated for us as a brand to be as locally relevant as possible,” said Carla Hassan, PepsiCo’s chief marketing officer for the Middle East and Africa region. “There are cultural differences and also behavioral differences. We want to make sure we’re being respectful to the cultural norms.”
One challenge Pepsi plans to introduce in several countries in the Middle East, including Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Lebanon, will ask consumers to record the sounds around them — the shouts of fruit vendors or clangs of construction, for instance — and upload them to the Pepsi Challenge website or through a mobile app developed specifically for the region. A celebrity producer will use them to create a compilation of various sounds.
“At the end of the day, people connect with things that are really personal to them,” Ms. Hassan said.
Like a wave of other brands today, Pepsi is also using the ad campaign to appeal to the millennial generation’s sense of responsibility to give back. Every time consumers use the hashtag #PepsiChallenge on their social media profiles, Pepsi will donate $1 to the Liter of Light organization, which has provided sustainable lighting to more than 18 countries, including Kenya and Colombia.
Millennials have embraced these types of click-driven, purpose-driven campaigns — the Ice Bucket Challenge, for example, exploded on the Internet last summer — but it’s not clear whether people will be as eager to support a corporate challenge.
