• WSJ (paid subscription required), Tuesday, December 6, 2005 12:27 PM

Now that Cie Nicholson is the new CMO for Pepsi-Cola North America, the marketing world is anxiously waiting to see what she will do. Nicholson is something of a whiz kid: at 41, she has already enjoyed huge successes launching PepsiCo.'s Mountain Dew Code Red and building Sierra Mist into one of the 10 best-selling soda brands in the U.S. She also brought new life to the company's ready-to-drink tea products with premium flavors and an edgy marketing plan. Now she has a whopping $400 million budget and an assignment to revive the company's flagship soft-drink business, which has suffered sales decline and been the target of criticism as part of the ongoing obesity debate. For her part, she is revealing nothing, except to say, "We always want to stay on the cutting edge." But that hasn't stopped a wave of speculation about her plans. Some observers believe she might bring comparison ads into the mix as she did when she positioned Pepsi's tea products against rival Arizona Tea in a controversial campaign that was amended after complaints from Arizona.

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