PURCHASE, NY — PepsiCo announced a response to Coca-Cola's PlantBottle, but unlike Coke's bottle, which is only 30 percent plant-based at the time, Pepsi says its will be completely derived from plants.
Pepsi will make its bottles out of switch grass, pine bark and corn husks, and like with Coke's PlantBottle, they're using natural materials to make PET plastic, so it can be recycled along with their current petroleum-based plastic bottles.
The beverage giant hopes to also use orange and potato peels, oat hulls and other agricultural byproducts from its Tropicana, Quaker and other operations in the future to make the bottles.
Pepsi will do a pilot run of the plant-based bottles in 2012, followed by commercialization based on the results of the test run.
While Coca-Cola beat Pepsi to putting out drinks in bottles made from plants first, Pepsi has the chance to put out the first recyclable bottle derived entirely from plants by a major company.
Coca-Cola's PlantBottles, which are also being used for Heinz ketchup and Odwalla juices, are still 70 percent petroleum-based. Scott Vitters, the company's global director of sustainable packaging, wrote in a GreenBiz.com post last year:
Our PlantBottle packaging is made by converting natural sugars found in plants into a key ingredient for making PET plastic. For those who want the technical specifics, we've innovated a way to develop plant-based MEG, a key component in PET plastic. PlantBottle is up to 30 percent plant-based because MEG is 30 percent of the total composition of PET plastic by weight. We still have more work to do to crack the code on a plant-based TA, which is the other 70 percent of PET plastic, but we know it is feasible.
The launch will be tied to a promotion done in conjunction with NBC's Celebrity Apprentice reality show. You may recall that last year, Dr Pepper Snapple Group, the parent of 7Up, used the same show to launch limited runs of Diet Snapple Trop-a-Rocka Tea and Snapple Compassionberry Tea. Apparently the folks at DPSG found that platform successful enough to continue with rollouts.
We've also heard that Snapple's sponsorship of one of BevReview's favorite reality shows, The Amazing Race, will be used to introduce new flavors Papaya Mango Tea and Diet Papaya Mango Tea later this month.
The introduction of a limited time lemon-lime product that uses "real sugar" should provide a nice comparison product to Pepsi's Sierra Mist Natural. While we like the sugar Sierra Mist, we do agree that something in the taste just seems a bit… off.
We couldn't turn up any trademark filings or early packaging art on 7Up Retro, but keep your eyes open! Remember we're just an e-mail, tweet, or Facebook post away!
A health risk? America's National Toxicology Program says both 2-MI and 4-MI found in Coke are animal carcinogens
An ingredient used in Coca-Cola and Pepsi is a cancer risk and should be banned, an influential lobby group has claimed.
The concerns relate to an artificial brown colouring agent that the researchers say could be causing thousands of cancers.
‘The caramel colouring used in Coca-Cola, Pepsi, and other foods is contaminated with two cancer-causing chemicals and should be banned,’ said the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), a health lobby group based in Washington, DC.
‘In contrast to the caramel one might make at home by melting sugar in a saucepan, the artificial brown colouring in colas and some other products is made by reacting sugars with ammonia and sulphites under high pressure and temperatures.
‘Chemical reactions result in the formation of two substances known as 2-MI and 4-MI which in government-conducted studies caused lung, liver, or thyroid cancer or leukaemia in laboratory mice or rats.’
America’s National Toxicology Program says that there is ‘clear evidence’ that both 2-MI and 4-MI are animal carcinogens, and therefore likely to pose a risk to humans.
Researchers at the University of California, Davis, found significant levels of 4-MI in five brands of cola.
The executive director of the CSPI, Michael F Jacobson, has petitioned America’s food regulator, the Food & Drug Administration, to take action.He said: ‘Carcinogenic colourings have no place in the food supply, especially considering that their only function is a cosmetic one.’
Mr Jacobson said the name ‘caramel colouring’ does not accurately describe the additives, explaining: ‘It’s a concentrated dark brown mixture of chemicals that simply does not occur in nature.’
Popular drink: The Beatles drinking bottles of coca cola in Paris in 1964. Scientists say its 'caramel colour' is a mixture of chemicals that does not occur in nature
He added that while regular caramel could not be described as healthy, ‘at least it is not tainted with carcinogens’.
U.S. regulations distinguish between four types of caramel colouring, two of which are produced with ammonia and two without it. The CSPI wants the two made with ammonia to be banned and has received backing from five prominent cancer experts, including several who have worked at the National Toxicology Program.
The type used in colas and other dark soft drinks is known as Caramel IV, or ammonia sulphite process caramel. Caramel III, which is produced with ammonia but not sulphites, is sometimes used in beer, soy sauce, and other foods.
The CSPI admitted that any risk associated with consumption of the chemicals would be extremely small. It said the ten teaspoons of sugar found in a can of regular cola would be more of a health problem.
However, it argued the levels of 4-MI in the tested colas still may be causing thousands of cancers in the U.S. population alone.
Earlier this week, it was claimed that Coca-Cola’s secret recipe had been leaked. It was even suggested it might be possible to recreate the taste and look on the kitchen table.
The leak claims were denied by the company, where a spokesman said: ‘Many third parties have tried to crack our secret formula. Try as they might, they’ve been unsuccessful because there is only one “Real Thing”.’
Coca-Cola and Pepsi did not respond to a request for a response to the CSPI claims.
This morning Coca-Cola rejected the CSPI’s concerns.
A spokesman said: ‘Our beverages are completely safe. CSPI’s statement irresponsibly insinuates that the caramel used in our beverages is unsafe and
maliciously raises cancer concerns among consumers.
'This does a disservice to the very public for which CSPI purports to serve.
‘Studies show that the caramel we use does not cause cancer.’
The company said its drinks do not contain 2-MEI. It said they do contain 4-MEI in trace amounts.
It said: ‘These extrapolations by CSPI to human health and cancer are totally unfounded.’
Mello Yello, Coca-Cola’s longtime competitor to PepsiCo’s Mountain Dew, is channeling the spirit of 1979 in an attempt to break out of its perennial also-ran status.
The new Mello Yello cans, which began appearing on shelves over the last few weeks, hearken back to the brand’s introduction that year with a pair of green- and light-red L’s “strolling off the edge of the can,” as Coke describes it.
The somewhat retro look is part of Coca-Cola’s plan to expand the brand’s distribution beyond its current regional footprint. The new cans, for instance, will begin showing up in cities like Philadelphia as well as in the Northwest. The redesign, which replaces a look that was closer in style to the current Mountain Dew, is meant to appeal to teens and young adults—Mello Yello’s core target—but also older consumers who may remember the brand’s original packaging. Mello Yello’s repackaging is the first major marketing attention the brand has gotten in years. (Mello Yello had no appreciable spending last year, per the Nielsen Co., which doesn’t track online spending.)
Peter Clarke, CEO of Product Ventures, a brand strategy and design firm, said the relaunch is part of a trend in which consumers are gravitating to things that are comfortable and familiar. “People are retreating like Thoreau did to Walden Pond,” he said. Designs that tend to be simple, nostalgic or have a “retro flair” are comforting, whereas “things with an edge speak to fast pace, hectic and crazy. People are already overwhelmed quite a bit,” he added.
Coca-Cola is supporting the launch via out-of-home, radio and digital ads, the latter of which launch in August. One outdoor execution reads (with a nod to the British singer-songwriter Donovan): “They call me Mello Yello.” There’s also the accompanying tagline, “The original smooth,” which appears on the can.
The company tapped New York-based design agency Stag&Hare for the new look, and Mutt Industries in Portland, Ore., handled advertising duties. Sabrina Tandon, who goes by the title senior manager of smooth, is in charge of marketing Mello Yello.
Coke sold 27 million cases of Mello Yello last year versus 630 million for Mountain Dew, according to Beverage Digest. John Sicher, the publication’s editor, said that Mountain Dew has been marketed very well by PepsiCo and as a result completely dominates the citrus segment, though Coca-Cola’s Sprite is a big player in the clear lemon-lime category. “Mountain Dew is a very strong brand; it’s done very well,” he said. “Coke is smart to try to get [into] more of the citrus segment action.”
Gerry Khermouch, editor of Beverage Business Insights, an industry publication that covers the nonalcoholic beverages industry, said Mello Yello’s redesign is a good move. “We seem to be in a period where a new generation is discovering the 1960s/70s and flaunting peace symbols, psychedelic music styles, Afros and the like,” he wrote in an e-mail. Plus, flavored carbonated soft drinks have taken off in a downturn, and both Coca-Cola and Pepsi have focused their attention there. “The big checks they were willing to write to hang onto Crush is another indicator of that,” he said, referring to both companies’ decision to buy their main North American bottlers and continue distributing Dr Pepper Snapple Group brands, including the orange-flavored soda.
PURCHASE, NY — With the goal of boosting the nation's beverage-container recycling rate by nearly 50 percent in the coming years, PepsiCo and Waste Management have launched a multi-year partnership to bring reverse vending machines to the masses.
The Dream Machines program will bring as many as 3,000 recycling machines to high-traffic areas, where individuals can recycle their cans and bottles and earn reward points or donate cash to charities.
In launching the partnership, the companies have set a goal of increasing the amount of bottles and cans that get recycled by a significant amount: With only 34 percent of non-alcoholic bottles and 25 percent of PET plastic bottles recycled annually, Pepsi and Waste Management aim to boost that number to 50 percent through increased recycling at reverse vending machines like the Dream Machines.
Here's how the system works, according to an article in the Wall Street Journal:
The machine itself is like a vending machine in reverse. A video screen plays advertising and informational videos, which are updated wirelessly and tailored to each site. A consumer first touches the screen and follows instructions, either to swipe a key fob to track rewards points or to defer registration for later, if at all.
Next the user scans the product barcode, and places the plastic or aluminum bottle (no glass yet) in the proper chute. The machine then spits out a receipt with reward points good for travel or movie tickets, or other benefits, such as coupons for Pepsi products.
The bin does not crush containers, as the sponsors' research says consumers don't like the noise. Each kiosk can hold about 300 bottles or cans. [...] The person responsible for emptying the machine gets an alert via email when the machine is nearly full. The recyclables are picked up by Waste Management.
Finding cane-sugar based sodas is becoming easier and easier these days. New, smaller soda makers are capitalizing on Coke and Pepsi’s insistence on using high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) in their drinks. Colas like Boylan’s Cane, Red Rock, and Afri-Cola have begun inching their way into mainstream stores, much to the chagrin of Coke and Pepsi.
For twenty-five years now the Coca Cola company has been using HFCS in its original formula drink. The switch from cane sugar happened during the roll out of New Coke and the company’s rebranding in 1985. Coca-Cola Classic was reintroduced a few years later, although this time with HFCS instead of sugar which became the norm across most Coke and Pepsi sodas.
Here are at least four options for finding Coke and Pepsi with cane sugar in the U.S.
Option #1: Kosher Coke & Option #2: Kosher Pepsi for Passover Now with Passover fast approaching, Kosher Coke and Kosher Pepsi are starting to appear on the shelves. These versions of Coke and Pepsi are both made with cane sugar instead of HFCS, and most reviewers say they prefer the taste. In addition they avoid the purported negative effects of HFCS including increased obesity and insulin resistance.
The kosher versions are mostly available in many urban centers, but they can be special ordered at most stores through the local bottler. Both kosher Coke and Pepsi have flown off the shelves in recent years with increased awareness of HFCS . Even non-Jews have been purchasing the special versions and stocking up on them. (Image source: bevreview.com).
Option #3: That 70’s Cola Last year, Pepsi introduced Pepsi Throwback, touted as a sentimental version of the original recipe and only sold for a limited time. It’s back again for 2010 with a new-old look and will be sold until February 22, 2010. Why the limited time frame? Who knows, but it’s a brilliant marketing move by Pepsi to position it as vintage, avoiding the HFCS argument. Mountain Dew Throwback is also available. Each of these versions add about ten calories to a twenty-ounce serving (260 vs. 250 calories). Option #4: Destapa la Felicidad Another way to find Cola-Cola with cane sugar is to seek out the Mexican formula, which is said to taste better than its American counterpart. It’s often difficult to find, but most Hispanic groceries and many restaurants are now selling it, along with some Costco and Kroger chain stores in areas with large Hispanic populations. Originally it was bootlegged in from across the border to keep local US bottlers from losing sales, but Coca-Cola now imports it into the US in small quantities.
MILWAUKEE -- Pepsi's Super Bowl streak is over after a 23-year run.
Ads for the drinks won't appear in next year's Super Bowl on CBS. Instead, the company plans to shift ad dollars to a new marketing effort that's mostly online.
Pepsi was one of the biggest advertisers in this year's game and has advertised every year since 1987. Frito-Lay, a unit of parent company PepsiCo Inc., will still have Super Bowl commercials in the 2010 game.
The company, which is based in Purchase, N.Y., spent $33 million advertising products like Pepsi, Gatorade, and Cheetos during the 2009 Super Bowl, according to TNS Media Intelligence, $15 million of it on Pepsi alone. Ad time for the NFL championship game cost about $3 million for 30 seconds, on average.
Those prices may have dipped to as low as $2.5 million per 30 seconds for the 2010 game, according to Jon Swallen, senior vice president of research for TNS Media Intelligence. Final figures won't be known until after the game, which takes place Feb. 7 and airs on CBS. The network said last week it has sold about 90 percent of the game's commercial time.
Shipper FedEx also said Thursday it will not advertise again in the Super Bowl due to costs, the same reason the company gave for sitting it out last time around.
Pepsi had been a major advertiser during the Super Bowl. According to TNS, the company spent $142.8 million on the 10 Super Bowl ads from 1999 to 2008, second only to Anheuser-Busch, which spent $216 million. The brewer of Bud Light confirmed Thursday it will have 5 minutes worth of advertising in the 2010 Super Bowl.
Pepsi recognizes Super Bowl ads can be effective for marketing, spokeswoman Nicole Bradley said, but the game doesn't work with the company's goals next year.
"In 2010, each of our beverage brands has a strategy and marketing platform that will be less about a singular event and more about a movement," she said.
Notable Super Bowl ads from Pepsi over the years have included celebrities such as Cindy Crawford, Britney Spears and Will.i.am.
The nation's second-biggest soft drink maker is plowing marketing dollars into its "Pepsi Refresh Project" starting next month as its main vehicle for Pepsi. The project will pay at least $20 million for projects people create to "refresh" communities.
A Web site will go live Jan. 13 where people can list their projects, which could range from helping to feed people to teaching children to read. People can vote starting Feb. 1 to determine which projects receive money.
Pepsi estimates the effort will fund thousands of projects and says other businesses will pledge money, too.
The company does plan to hold events related to its new effort at the Super Bowl.
Pepsi's move leaves the Super Bowl soft-drink field open for rival Coca-Cola Co., which has been widely reported to be advertising this year, though Coca-Cola declined to comment. The world's biggest soft drink maker was the eighth-highest spender on Super Bowl ads from 1999 to 2008. It spent $30.5 million on two Super Bowls within that decade.
Most advertisers on the Super Bowl do not have as long a history as Pepsi, Swallen said, averaging three to four years in a row before dropping out. They will often cycle back in, though, because it is a rare chance to reach such a wide audience. The 2009 matchup between Arizona and Pittsburgh attracted 95.4 million people.
"It is arguably the one TV programming event of the year where people tune in as much for the commercials as they do for the game that's being played on the field," he said.
Not sure exactly how serious this is supposed to be. Pepsi have produced an iPhone app that breaks women down into 24 set types and provides tips on how you can pull them. Not only are there facts which show how you might impress a certain type, there's also the means to brag about your success on Facebook on Twitter.
Want to offend half the population? There's an app for that!
PURCHASE, NY—PepsiCo sent shockwaves through the carbonated beverage industry Monday when the multibillion dollar corporation announced that it would cease all advertising of its popular soda product, effective immediately.
"We know it's good, and everyone's pretty happy with the overall taste, so why spend all our time worrying about what other people think?" PepsiCo CEO Indra K. Nooyi told reporters during a press conference at the company's corporate headquarters. "Frankly, it just feels sort of weird and desperate to put all this energy into telling people what to drink. If they don't like it, then they don't like it."
Added Nooyi, "That's not really any of our business anyway."
According to Nooyi, top PepsiCo brass held a series of meetings over the past several months before unanimously agreeing Monday that they all enjoyed Pepsi, and that the company's century-old history of massive, high-budget ad campaigns, cross-promotional tie-ins, merchandising, and Super Bowl halftime extravaganzas had been "a big mistake."
Executives then released a statement to shareholders declaring that PepsiCo is now "what it should have been all along: a company that just makes soda, and doesn't get caught up in trying to make everyone like it."
Actually drinking Pepsi, not seeing expensive billboards, will tell people whether or not they like the product.
In response to a question about whether the elimination of Pepsi's marketing and advertising divisions would hurt the company's ability to compete with rival soda manufacturer Coca-Cola, Nooyi expressed no concern.
"Vying for the greatest market share shouldn't be a soft drink company's be-all and end-all," said Nooyi, who added that if she's happy at the end of the day, that's what really matters. "After all, it's not like this is some kind of Cola War or anything."
"Look, Coca-Cola is a terrific product," Nooyi continued. "Millions of people choose it over Pepsi every day. Are those people wrong? Of course not. Concepts like 'right' and 'wrong' shouldn't even apply. It's a soft drink."
Nooyi told reporters the company's $1.3 billion annual advertising budget would be put into Pepsi's savings account, spread among various charitable organizations, and divvied up into generous bonuses for the company's minimum-wage factory employees.
Claiming that "taste is subjective," Nooyi further stated that those who hadn't already heard of Pepsi were unlikely to begin drinking it now, and that the company was perfectly content to rely on word of mouth to sell its product.
"You can't taste an ad, anyway," Nooyi said. "People are going to make up their own minds regardless of whether we spend millions trying to inform them that Taylor Swift drinks Pepsi. I mean, seriously, does it really matter if Taylor Swift drinks Pepsi? She's just a human being like everybody else."
Concluding the press conference, Nooyi stated that she wasn't even sure why she was talking about any of this in the first place, asked the assembled reporters whether they didn't have better uses for their time, and suggested that everybody just go home, hug their loving spouses, and play—really, truly play—with their children before life passes them by.
"Hey, there's a slogan for you," Nooyi said. "Spend more time with your families."
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All you art collectors out there. Here is a chance to get a Giclee copy of some of Ian M Sherwin work. Ian is planning on doing a whole series of Marblehead, Massachusetts paintings. His work is amazing.
Mello Yello, Coca-Cola’s longtime competitor to PepsiCo’s Mountain Dew, is channeling the spirit of 1979 in an attempt to break out of its perennial also-ran status.
Here's how the system works, according to an article in the 
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