As part of a campaign breaking today, more than 3 million newly designed cans of Diet Pepsi Cola will be handed out across the country. A TV ad shows the cool characters on "Beverly Hills 90210"
choosing Diet Pepsi, while the uncool characters choose Diet Coke.
Pepsi is backing up its claim that its brand has "more cola taste" with a double-blind test conducted by an outside
firm on a few hundred consumers. The test--in which consumers tasted the drinks with a bite of cracker or sip of water before each sip--found that 56% believed Diet Pepsi tasted most like real cola,
while 41% chose Diet Coke. The remaining 3% picked both, neither, or couldn't decide.
Although sales declines for diet cola pale in comparison to those for regular cola, Pepsi
marketers are concerned because Diet Pepsi is sliding faster than Diet Coke. Unit case volume of Diet Coke slipped 0.1% in 2006, according to Beverage Digest, while volume of Diet Pepsi fell
1%.
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