• Wall Street Journal, Thursday, December 9, 2010 9:05 AM

Aiming to take a gulp out of Mountain Dew's market share, Dr Pepper Snapple Group plans to begin selling its Sun Drop citrus drink nationwide early in 2011. Dew currently dominates the citrus category with an 84.3% share.

Sun Drop's been around for 82 years and has rabid fans mostly in Southern states where it is currently available. Expanding it is part of the company's strategy to leverage interest in flavored sodas, the non-cola part of the soft drink industry in which Dr Pepper Snapple specializes.

To reach Sun Drop's target market of 15- to 17-year-olds, Dr Pepper Snapple developed a revenue-sharing agreement with MTV in which the latter has designed the drink's advertising and image, including a redesign of the can that will appear in January. The network also will feature Sun Drop in MTV programming, including reality shows such as "The Real World."

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