Soft-drink makers unveil colorful lineup
By Theresa Howard
USA Today
Soft-drink marketers are looking to bright colors and flavorings to pump up sales.
Associated Press
They are trying to build on the surprise word-of-mouth success of Mountain Dew's Code Red (bright red, cherry flavor), and first-quarter sales gains for Diet Coke and Pepsi driven by new lemon versions.
Pepsi's newest variation is electric blue with a berry flavor.
This week brought more variations on the theme, especially aimed to reach teens, a critical consumer for the $67.1 billion soft-drink category.
"Mass-branded Pepsi could be all things to all people 30 years ago," says Dave Burwick, senior vice president, marketing, carbonated brands for Pepsi-Cola North America. "That's not the same case today."
What's new on the scene:
• Pepsi Blue. Yesterday, Pepsi unveiled an electric blue, berry-flavored version of its cola that was nine months in the making. The "berry cola fusion" is built on the Pepsi-Cola formula (which actually starts out clear, not brown). Added are the berry flavoring and Blue 1 and Red 40 food coloring. It's also slightly fizzier and goes on sale in July.
• Vanilla Coke. Coke kept the color, but added vanilla to its first new Coca-Cola brand drink in 17 years. (Only Diet Coke comes in lemon.) The rollout began yesterday and will be national May 15.
• Mr. Green. The first bubbly product from non-carbonated soft-drink leader SoBe has ginseng for "extra lift." It hits shelves May 13.
• Dr Pepper. After years of growth, the Cadbury brand dropped 1.7 percent in 2001. Looking to re-energize sales, Cadbury is expected on Friday to announce a bright red, cherry-flavored soda. It will get its own (undisclosed) name plus: "From the makers of Dr Pepper."
"Big bold (versions of existing brands) could be very important for the health of the carbonated category," says John Sicher, editor of the industry newsletter "Beverage Digest," which reports that of the top 10 soft-drink brands only three — Diet Coke, Diet Pepsi and Barq's Root Beer grew in volume last year.
In a business where a marketshare point translates to about $600 million in sales, every drop counts.
That's why Pepsi's using new versions to squeeze sales from existing brands. The prime current example for the industry is the 2001 debut of Code Red. It boosted Pepsi's Mountain Dew brand sales by 6 percent.
