• by Karlene Lukovitz  @KLmarketdaily, March 22, 2013

Pepsi is changing its bottle shape for the first time in 16 years.

Redesigned 20-ounce and (less widely distributed) 16-ounce plastic bottles of Pepsi, Diet Pepsi, Pepsi Max and Pepsi Next will begin rolling out in April. 

The bottle features a swirled or twisted, easy-to-grip bottom. The label has been narrowed, and Pepsi’s “globe” logo has been enlarged (although not changed).

Angelique Krembs, VP-marketing for the Pepsi trademark, told Advertising Age that the new bottle was “vigorously” tested with consumers, and that the new design system will eventually be seen not just in packaging, but all of the brand’s “touch points.”

PepsiCo expects about half the country to be converted to the new bottle and feature the new design system (including point-of-sale and other marketing), by year’s end. 

A full conversion could take one to two years, and it will start in New York, followed by Chicago and parts of California and Florida, PepsiCo told AP.