• Ad Age, Tuesday, March 23, 2010 10:44 AM

Admitting to analysts that last year was not a good one for the PepsiCo North American beverage business she heads up, CEO Indra Nooyi says that it nevertheless learned some lessons and that it won't make the same mistakes in the future, Natalie Zmuda reports.

"There were a couple of brand refreshes that didn't work and a couple of agency partners that were misinterpreted or misquoted, and that led to controversy in North American beverages," Nooyi said in an address opening a two-day meeting.

Among the gaffes Nooyi cited was the failure to obtain buy-in for changes from the entire organization in its effort to move quickly. The unit also learned it's not possible to stop a program mid-stream, with Nooyi citing the massive refresh of Gatorade in the midst of the recession. She also spoke about the importance of "sweating the details." But with "most of that work behind us," she painted a rosy picture for the future.

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