Could it be 3rd time lucky for PepsiCo in mid cal beveragemarket

Speaking at the Barclays Back to School Consumer conference in Boston yesterday, Pepsi Co CFO Hugh Johnston said anecdotal feedback in test markets in Iowa and Wisconsin had been positive for Pepsi Next.

The drink, which contains 60% fewer calories than regular Pepsi follows two abortive attempts by Pepsi to appeal to customers that like the taste of full sugar colas but want to cut calories: Pepsi XL, which failed to inspire in the mid 1990s and Pepsi Edge, which was launched in 2004 but axed a year later.

Many marketers are unsure if there's a  market for a mid-calorie soft drink. However, PepsiCo believes the success of Trop50 proves otherwise.

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Diet Coke - Studio

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·Name of Company/Competitor: Coca-Cola
  Name of Campaign/Spot: Lights, Stay Extraordinary

· Date Launched: 9/3/2011

· Description: The 'Stay Extraordinary' campaign continues this fall, with shorter spots featuring city dwellers in their everyday lives

· Media Details: TV



Diet Coke - Commute

Name of Company/Competitor: Coca-Cola

·   Name of Campaign/Spot: Commute, Stay Extraordinary

·   Date Launched: 9/3/2011

·   Description: The 'Stay Extraordinary' campaign continues this fall, with shorter spots featuring city dwellers in their everyday lives

·   Media Details: TV

Diet Coke - Lights

             Name of Company/Competitor: Coca-Cola

·         Name of Campaign/Spot: Lights, Stay Extraordinary

·         Date Launched: 9/3/2011

·         Description: The 'Stay Extraordinary' campaign continues this fall, with shorter spots featuring city dwellers in their everyday lives

·         Media Details: TV

Coke Zero - And

 Name of Company/Competitor: Coke Zero
 Name of Campaign/Spot: "And"
Date Launched: 8/25/2011
Description: The commercial—running online as a :60 and on TV as a :30—follows a guy who is never satisfied from his youth into young adulthood. In the end, of course, Coke Zero stops him in his tracks.
Media Details: TV, Facebook

Diet Coke Pours on Marketing Activity

In a historic shift, Diet Coke inched past Pepsi in 2010, grabbing a 9.9% share of the carbonated soft-drink category, compared to Pepsi's 9.5% share. That caused Coca-Cola's marketing department to reevaluate how and when it markets the brand. The result is a new fall push for Diet Coke, which has traditionally spent the bulk of its budget during the first quarter. The first quarter includes "tentpole" events such as the Academy Awards and the brand's Heart Truth campaign, which ties in with New York Fashion Week, said Katie Bayne, president-general manager of sparkling beverages.
The fall campaign continues with the "Stay Extraordinary" theme that was introduced in early 2010. It includes three 15-second spots, a limited-edition can design, point-of-sale booklets that feature fashion and beauty tips, as well as coupons, a partnership with StyleCaster, and events coinciding with New York Fashion Week.

All of the ads out this fall will feature the Tucker Duckworth-designed can, which William White, group brand director for Diet Coke, says is a "reflection of the smart, self-assured and confident men and women who drink Diet Coke. ... We believe that this bold new look will catch the attention of those consumers everywhere."

The new ads air this weekend. Keep an eye out for them!

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Diet Coke's New Look for Fall

To celebrate Coca-Cola's 125th anniversary, the company will be releasing a limited-edition can slated to hit stores in early September. Retaining the can’s familiar bare-aluminum background, the new design super-magnifies a segment of the existing logo right where the “D” of Diet rests atop the “k” of Coke.The result is a modish and (for a global brand) even daring design that refuses to reveal the brand’s complete name. The new can is piece of a partnership with fashion and beauty-trend Web magazine StyleCaster.com, which has anointed the new design as one of its “new looks for fall.”

Coca-Cola 2012 Freestyle Campaign

The Coca-Cola Freestyle has been generating buzz, sales boosts and foot traffic since the futuristic machine first launched three years ago. Now, as the next-generation soda fountain reaches a critical mass -- it will be in 80 markets by year's end -- execs are readying Freestyle's first marketing campaign. Coca-Cola is working with ad agency Ogilvy & Mather to develop radio, outdoor and digital creative for the 2012 marketing campaign.

As a part of this marketing effort, Coca-Cola is also looking to develop a new Facebook app and mobile app. These apps would allow consumers to mix up and share favorite Freestyle recipes. These recipes would then be converted to a 2-D barcode which, when scanned, would immediately generate the unique blend.

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Surprising Results from the Pepsi "Summer Time" Campaign

By now most of us in the industry are familiar with Pepsi's recent "Summer Time" campaign. The new spots attempt to attack Coca-Cola head-on by spinning the familiar Coca-Cola characters (Santas and polar bears) into Pepsi hounding fools. From a creative standpoint, the ads fall short. However, some interesting data was recently released suggesting that these new spots have received an impressive social media response. Pepsi's overall share of voice relative to Coke has gone from 25% to 30%" since the spots started airing a little over a month ago (see chart below). The data has also revealed that the "Summer Time" spots have a much higher chance of eliciting a social-media response (primarly on Twitter and Facebook) when they air during certain shows.

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Pepsi has been nicking Coke's social-media share of voice (SOV)

The top 10 shows -- and the worst performers -- for social-media response to "Summer Time is Pepsi Time"

Dr Pepper to Add $30 Million to Ad Budget

Between 2008 and 2010, the beverage company's marketing budget increased 25%, from $356 million to $445 million. In 2011, execs say they'll up spending by another 5% to 6% or $25 million to $30 million.

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