NEW YORK — Pepsi-Cola Co. hopes to reignite the cola wars
against rival Coca-Cola Co. by bringing back its Pepsi Challenge
promotional campaign for the first time in 17 years.
The nation's second biggest soft drink company kicks off the new
campaign during the Academy Awards telecast on ABC this Sunday with
a commercial featuring baseball superstar Ken Griffey Jr. hitting
baseballs that invite consumers to compare the taste of Pepsi with
its bigger rival, Coca-Coca Classic.
Pepsi-Cola plans to conduct demonstrations at ballparks, concert
arenas and other venues across the country in which consumers can
conduct blind taste tests of Pepsi and Coke and decide which tastes
better.
The campaign comes as both leading cola brands lost market share
in 1999 to non-colas such as Mountain Dew, Sprite and Dr Pepper.
Coca-Cola Classic was the top-selling brand of carbonated soft
drinks in the U.S. last year with 20.3 percent of the market, down
from 20.6 percent in 1998, while Pepsi-Cola was second at 13.8
percent, down 0.4 percentage point from a year earlier, according
to the Beverage Digest/Maxwell report.
The Pepsi Challenge first appeared in 1975 as a local promotion
in Dallas and gradually expanded nationally before halting in 1983.
But Pepsi executives say the promotions were one factor behind
Coca-Cola's ill-fated introduction of New Coke to replace
traditional Coke in 1985. A consumer outcry drove Coca-Cola to
bring back the original flavor as Coca-Cola Classic within a few
months.
One new ripple this time — consumers will also get a chance to
compare Pepsi One, a one-calorie cola, with Diet Coke.
"In either case, we have a leg up," said Dawn Hudson, the top
marketing executive for Pepsi-Cola North America which is based in
Purchase, N.Y. "But people need to figure it out for themselves."
In Atlanta, Coca-Cola spokeswoman Polly Howes said the Pepsi
Challenge was "just another sip test, nothing more."
"If there is anything we have learned over the years it is that
people like their Coca-Cola Classic just the way it is. The love
affair with Coke is still as strong as ever," she said.
