NEW YORK - PepsiMax, launched in the U.S. in 2007, has undergone a name change, packaging updates and two re-launches that haven??t won over public approval, but it is pursuing new product positioning that could replicate its overseas success, Advertising Age reports.
Last year, the beverage grabbed only 0.4 percent of the U.S. carbonated soft drink market, compared to 1.7 percent for the more firmly established Coke Zero.
But the proverbial gloves are now off, and PepsiMax is launching a campaign that pits itself against the other guy.
The new positioning ?" "Zero calories, maximum taste" ?" drops the word diet from its messaging, a label that it began applying, to little effect, in 2007.
"Not having diet on the can, the challenge is on us to communicate that it also has zero calories," said Lauren Hobart, chief marketing office of sparkling brands at PepsiCo.
As part of that effort, the brand is reviving a 1995 spot that shows a Pepsi driver and a Coke driver sampling the competition, with a slightly revised spot that pits the drivers against one another ?" with the Coke Zero driver enjoying a PepsiMax.
"[Consumers should] expect to see the playful rivalry come to life in future executions. ... We love that it's lighting a fire in the cola wars."
The comparative ad strategy takes sharp aim at Coke??s niche business in the zero-calorie, full-flavor category. Coke Zero, introduced in 2005, is one of the most successful beverage launches in the company??s history, the 12th-largest cola brand in the $73.9 billion U.S. carbonated soft-drink market, and four times larger than Pepsi Max.
Despite Pepsi??s new push, industry insiders say it has a long road ahead to conquer Coke Zero.
"Though [the new advertising] will help Pepsi Max, I don't think it will hurt Coke Zero," said John Sicher, editor and publisher of Beverage Digest.