Monday, October 1, 2007

Hope in a bottle, part I


Here in North America, Coke and Pepsi seem to be fighting for number one. Fifty Fifty. There was crystal clear Coke and Pepsi clear. Cheeky cherry Pepsi and Coke. But once you move away from the North American market, you find that Coke is number one. Growing up in the third world (which after an ideological change, is now known as the developing world) I was surrounded by Coke. Red and white metal folding chairs and tables were a fixture in every local restaurant. Sitting on top of these metal tables would be red plastic napkin holders with Coca-Cola written across them. Coke was the mainstream. Pepsi not so much. For anybody growing up away from North America, Pepsi is like your best friend's brother. He looks like a little like your friend, acts similarly than your friend but some reason, he is just not as cool as your friend.
Destined to be occupying the second place, the other brother needs to find ways to distinguish himself. He wears different clothes, hangs out with different people and dances to a different tune. All in the hopes of breaking away from the "It looks like coke, it tastes like coke" attitude. It is my believe that, in the hopes of becoming a little cooler, Pepsi launched Jazz - Pepsi Diet Caramel Cream. Pepsi is inviting you to "Indulge your senses" with this new product.
In terms of the product, this is a hard sell. It is hard to find a bottle of pepsi indulging. Indulgence comes from exotic colors and flavors that stimulate our senses. A caffeinated drink in a plastic bottle is not going to cut it. People are looking for experiences. For a product to be indulging, it has to offer a whole experience to a consumer. It has to be memorable.
The first thing you will taste in Pepsi Diet Caramel Cream is caramel. It is immediately followed by that peculiar taste of sweetener. But the caramel flavor is strong enough to dominate and it manages to create a pleasant light caramel aftertaste.
The package is a strange combination of golden tones and blue. The golden color of the label and the blue on the plastic cap do not match. If the goal was to indulge your senses, the color mismatch in the bottle does anything but that. Furthermore, a golden label in a Pepsi bottle that is claiming to be indulging, is like a car salesman trying to sell me a golden Ford Focus as a luxury car. It just does not work.
After all, I can point out all the things I may not like about this product. But at the end of the day, a product like this must deliver in what is most important for people buying something to drink. It has to be tasty. And Diet Pepsi Caramel Cream is tasty. It is a little too sweet for my taste but, if you like any of the sugary drinks and you like caramel, you will like it.
Once again, the other brother is trying something new and exciting. Hoping that people will start realizing that he is not just a oddly similar version to the popular brother. Today, hope comes in a bottle with poor color combination and a taste of caramel.

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