PRODUCTS: Pepsi Grows Naturally Sweet

As part of its “Refresh Everything” campaign, Pepsi has added new fizz to its beverage portfolio by employing basic ingredients, with the recent rollout of three new products: Pepsi Natural, Pepsi Throwback and Mountain Dew Throwback. All are sweetened with natural sugar.

“We’re complementing and reinforcing our core soft drink offerings with a hat trick of innovative products,” notes Frank Cooper, VP of portfolio brands, Pepsi-Cola North America Beverages. “Pepsi Natural and the Throwback duo give consumers the opportunity to refresh how they experience soft drinks — from a premium, all-natural beverage to a fun, retro twist on two of our most popular brands. We’re continuing to offer a variety of products across different beverage categories, with a splash of nostalgia and entirely new experiences.”

An all-new premium cola, Pepsi Natural features all-natural ingredients, including lightly sparkling water, natural sugar, natural caramel and kola nut extract. The beverage’s amber color comes from natural caramel and natural apple extract. The product is initially available in a single-serve 12-ounce glass bottle or four-packs in the premium and/or natural food aisles of retail outlets in Chicago, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, Portland, Las Vegas and New York.

Pepsi Throwback and Mountain Dew Throwback are two limited-time-only products inspired by the '60s and '70s. Available in a retro-look package, the soft drinks, which debuted April 20, will be available nationally for eight weeks only.

One big, if rather obvious, cheerleader for the new products is the sugar industry. “While [Pepsi Throwback and Mountain Dew Throwback] are only on the market shelves for an eight-week period, we are confident that the consumers will like the clean, crisp taste of Pepsi Throwback and Mountain Dew Throwback, and encourage PepsiCo to continue with these two drinks,” says Andy Briscoe, president and CEO of the Washington-based Sugar Association. “If consumers voice their approval for these two drinks by buying a few cases of each, then we are hopeful that PepsiCo will continue with these two and add other sugar-based drinks in their product lineup.”

Pepsi-Cola North America Beverages, based in Purchase, N.Y., is PepsiCo’s refreshment beverage unit in the United States and Canada. Its U.S. trademarks include Pepsi, Mountain Dew, Sierra Mist, Mug, Aquafina, SoBe and IZZE. The company also makes and markets Tropicana juice drinks, Dole and Ocean Spray single-serve juices, and ready-to-drink iced teas and coffees via joint ventures with Lipton and Starbucks, respectively.
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