Starting at the end of January, Pepsi will launch a TV effort with the tagline “Love Every Sip,” along with the rollout of special edition silver cans featuring the blue-and-red Pepsi logo in a heart shape.
The campaign comes after PepsiCo quietly added another artificial sweetener to Diet Pepsi to help stabilize the taste of the drink. In addition to aspartame, Diet Pepsi will now include a “very small amount” of a sweetener called “acesulfame potassium” to help the taste maintain its potency over time. The ingredient, also known as ace-K, is often used in conjunction with other artificial sweeteners and can be found in a wide array of food and newer diet sodas, noted a Miami Herald/AP story.
Before launching the new campaign, executives wanted to make sure Diet Pepsi was “as good as it can be,” said Angelique Krembs, vice president of marketing for the Pepsi brand. She said that process included testing various flavor tweaks, as well as sweetener adjustments.
Krembs said that the taste of cola is more complicated than people realize, and that mixing ingredients in different ways can alter which flavor notes are highlighted. Diet Pepsi in Great Britain, for example, has a slightly different flavor than in the US.
The two new TV spots will take place at a wedding and a cafe and star “Modern Family” actress Sofia Vergara, who the company first partnered with last year. As with the current ads, they’ll play on theme that Vergara is expressing desire for a love interest, when in fact she’s lusting after Diet Pepsi.
The ads, via TBWA/Chiat/Day, are intended to appeal primarily to women – the target demo.
This fall, Diet Coke also adopted a new look designed to fit in with “fashionistas’ fridges.” The logo began as a special edition can last year and is now the packaging across the U.S.
For now, Diet Pepsi says the look of its can will remain the same after the special edition cans featuring the heart logos run their course.
See the AP/Miami Herald story here
