Soft drink maker, seeing red, will try blue cola

NEW YORK - PepsiCo., thirsting for more of the sales generated by a cherry-red version of its Mountain Dew soda, will broaden the strategy by introducing a new, blue variation of its flagship soft drink this summer. <br> <br> The Purchase, N.Y.-based company said Tuesday it will begin selling Pepsi Blue, a berry-flavored cola, in August, in a bid to reach more teens, the biggest consumers of carbonated drinks. <br> <br> Pepsi announced its new drink a day before Coca-Cola is to showcase a new vanilla version of its namesake beverage. The moves show how both soft drink makers are working to revive sales of carbonated drinks, an enormous but largely static market. <br> <br> &#34;This could well be the answers that these companies have sought in returning their cola businesses to stronger growth,&#34; said John Sicher, publisher of Beverage Digest, an industry magazine. &#34;The carbonated soft drink market is over 10 times as big as the next largest category, bottled water, so achieving healthy growth in such a big category has a huge leverage effect.&#34; <br> <br> One of the few drinks to draw new consumers recently was Mountain Dew Code Red, a cherry-flavored drink introduced by Pepsi last spring that has proven a quick success with teens. Both Code Red and Pepsi Blue have 16-year-old males as their target consumer. <br> <br> This year, Pepsi said it expects to sell about 100 million cases of Code Red, out of total Mountain Dew sales of 850 million cases. A case is a standard industry measure equivalent to 192 ounces of a drink. <br> <br> &#34;Code Red is a great success model for us to follow,&#34; said Dave Burwick, senior vice president of marketing for Pepsi-Cola North America. &#34;We basically hope Pepsi Blue can do for the (Pepsi) trademark what Code Red has done for the Mountain Dew trademark.&#34; <br> <br> The new blue soda is the product of nine months of testing and market research, during which Pepsi asked teen consumers about more than 100 possible cola variations including banana and several citrus-blends. <br> <br> Initially, a berry-flavored soda was not among the options offered, but teens in focus groups suggested the color and flavor, a blend of cola and something akin to raspberry, Burwick said. <br> <br> Like Code Red, the new flavor will be introduced first in a 20-ounce bottle sold mostly in convenience stores and vending machines, with relatively limited marketing at first. The idea is to let teen consumers discover the drink for themselves, Burwick said. <br> <br> &#34;We see this innovation as something that will continue to fuel the growth and really restore the category (of carbonated beverages) to growth,&#34; he said. <br> <br>

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