Cola wars begin again

Pepsi is relaunching its cola wars ad from 1995 with a new generation twist. (Click here).
Interestingly they are comparing Coke Zero with Pepsi Max.

Interesting sections of the NY Times news article:

Introduced in Britain and Italy in 1993, and widely available in Europe ever since, Pepsi Max was not introduced in the United States until 2007. The sugarless cola, which is sweetened with a combination of aspartame and acesulfame potassium, contains nearly twice the caffeine of Diet Pepsi, and also contains ginseng.

A 2009 report by Mintel, the market research firm, said the soda’s sales had been “impressive,” even during the economic downturn, “likely by attracting price-sensitive energy drink users.”

I had earlier blogged (in November 2008) about the potential of Pepsi Max in the US market (click here) due to the attractiveness to price-sensitive energy drink users. I am pleased to see that variant doing well.

Also interesting to note, from the same NYT article:

Diet Pepsi is more popular with women, but about 60 percent of Pepsi Max drinkers are men, according to Lauren Hobart, chief marketing officer of the sparkling brands division of PepsiCo. Diet sodas popular with men, like Pepsi One, Pepsi Max and Coke Zero, which many in Europe refer to as “bloke Coke,” avoid a word to which marketers believe men are averse: “diet.” (It is a widely held view in the weight-loss industry that men are more apt to say they need to “get in shape” than “go on a diet.”)

Among the company’s sugarless brands, Pepsi Max is popular with Gen X and Diet Pepsi with baby boomers.“Boomers generally grew up drinking Diet Pepsi but Gen X has been raised with more choices, and we’re trying to provide more choices that may meet their needs differently,” Ms. Hobart said.

Its interesting how demographic (gender, age) segments have distinct choice preferences and how product names can play a big role in product choice. Brand managers at both Pepsi and Coca Cola must be busy poring through their Usage & Attitude (U&A) studies to understand the segmentation better and to better target their products... Watch out for interesting positioning moves in the cola variants!!