Pepsi Max

Intro

Pepsi Max was launched in 1993 by PepsiCo as an alternative to Diet Pepsi in Australia and other countries. Pepsi Max has been available in twenty countries by the end of 1994. Pepsi Max commercial slogan in Australia is “No sugar, Maximum taste” and "Don't worry, there's no sugar." Like the slogan promotes, Pepsi Max is a carbohydrate-free, sugar-free, zero-calorie soft drink.

Unlike other diet cola drinks, its target consumers tend to be young generation. Pepsi Max positions itself as a male diet drink by cooperating with some sports and video games. And it also makes the package into black to persuade men diet drinks are manly. There is some other flavoured Pepsi Max in the market as well. For example, Pepsi Max spice with ginger and cinnamon flavour, Pepsi Max Twist with lemon-lime flavour, and Pepsi Max Cappuccino which has coffee flavour.

Channel

Pepsi Max is available in almost every kind of stores, supermarkets, restaurants, vending machines, hotels, etc.

Supermarkets and retailers in shopping mall such as Woolworth, Coles and Big W are the largest distribution channels, which contribute almost half percentage of the total sales. The second biggest market places are the fast food services like KFC or Pizza shops, providing Pepsi max with their set meals.

Competitive advantages

1. Pricing strategy.

The reason why Pepsi Max positions its price a bit lower than Coke Zero is because Coke zero is launched before Pepsi Max, and Coke zero has already gained brand image and awareness among the customer. Therefore, Pepsi has to offer customers an incentive to try its new product.

2. Set channel

In food services, people usually do not have any choice or preference for the soft drinks. They will just take whatever that comes with the main food they order.

Competitors

Pepsi’s competitors are mainly non-alcoholic beverages, including soft drinks and juices. The main competitors are Coca cola, Dr Pepper and Nestlé, who have a lot of loyal customers and strong market value.

1. Coca Cola

It is the biggest competitor of Pepsi, which provides the most similar drinks with Pepsi. The sales of Coke are always more than Pepsi in most areas in the world. Furthermore, the product from Coca Cola named “cook zero” has a high similarity with Pepsi max. That makes Pepsi max has been involved in continuous commercial campaigns since it was released.

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